Death of Susan Moore

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On December 20, 2020, American physician Susan Grace Moore (born October 2, 1968) died in Carmel, Indiana, from complications related to COVID-19. [1] In the weeks preceding her death, Moore, who was Black, had shared concerns that her symptoms were not being taken seriously by white medical professionals. [2]

Contents

Life

Susan Grace Moore was born in Jamaica on October 2, 1968. [1] [3] She had a degree in engineering from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. She worked for 3M as an industrial engineer for almost ten years before returning to school. [4] She was a 2002 graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School. [5] [1] Moore was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. [6] Moore worked as a family physician in Carmel, Indiana. [7] Her close family included her nineteen-year old son, Henry Muhammed, [8] and her elderly parents, both of whom she cared for at the time of her death, since they were living with dementia. [2]

Treatment for COVID-19

Admission to Indiana University Health North Hospital

Moore tested positive for COVID-19 on November 29, 2020, and was admitted to IU Health North Hospital for care. [9] On December 4, 2020 she shared a video to Facebook, [2] in which she described how white doctors refused her pain medication, which she said "...made me feel like I was a drug addict". [9] She also recalled begging for treatment with the anti-viral drug remdesivir, used to treat COVID-19 patients not on a ventilator, [10] in addition to begging for a CT scan. [2] She reported that a white doctor said, “You’re not even short of breath”, although she was at the time. [10] In the video she stated that: “I put forth and maintain, if I was white, I wouldn’t have to go through that .. This is how Black people get killed, when you send them home, and they don’t know how to fight for themselves.” [8]

On December 7, 2020, Moore was discharged from IUHNH. [9]

Admission to Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital

However just twelve hours later, she was re-admitted to hospital, this time to Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital. There she experienced improved medical treatment, according to her Facebook posts. [9] Her final Facebook post read that she was being transferred to an intensive care unit. [11] On December 10, 2020, she was intubated. [1]

Death

Moore died at Ascension-St. Vincent Hospital in Carmel on December 20, 2020. [8]

Aftermath

Moore's death is viewed by some as an example of medical racism, where her race was a defining factor in how she was perceived and the treatment she was given. [12]

In their statement after Moore's death the African American Policy Forum stated that "systemic forms of racism .. construct a reality wherein women like Dr. Moore can be stereotyped as an addict simply because they request the medication necessary to treat the excruciatingly painful side effects of a lethal disease. Here racism and sexism served to typecast Dr. Moore as someone who could be deemed unruly, intimidating, and untrustworthy at perhaps the most vulnerable moment of her life." [13]

In the period of the COVID-19 pandemic when vaccinations began and the history of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study was frequently cited as the reason for vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans, Moore was invoked as a counter-example of present-day racism that poses obstacles to accessing health care and erodes trust in it. [14] [15] [16]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Eligon, John (December 24, 2020). "Black Doctor Dies of Covid-19 After Complaining of Racist Treatment". The New York Times. Retrieved April 10, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 CNN (December 26, 2020). "Black Indiana doctor died of coronavirus weeks after accusing hospital of racist treatment". ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. Retrieved April 11, 2021.{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ↑ "Susan Grace (Moore) Moore Obituary 2020". Aaron-Ruben-Nelson Mortuary. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  4. ↑ "Black Doctor Dies of COVID After Alleging Subpar Treatment". Medscape. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  5. ↑ Maybank, Aletha; Jones, Camara Phyllis; Blackstock, Uché; Perry, Joia Crear (December 26, 2020). "Opinion: Say her name: Dr. Susan Moore". Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 27, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  6. ↑ AAPF (February 11, 2021). "AAPF Statement on the Death of Dr. Susan Moore". AAPF. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  7. ↑ AAPF (January 15, 2021). "Black Physician's COVID Death Underscores Health Disparities". AAPF. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  8. 1 2 3 agencies, Guardian staff and (December 26, 2020). "Black doctor's death becomes a symbol of racism in coronavirus care". The Guardian. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Mack, Justin L. "Dr. Susan Moore: What we know about the Black doctor's claims of racism at Carmel hospital". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  10. 1 2 Andone, Dakin (December 25, 2020). "A Black doctor died of Covid-19 weeks after accusing hospital staff of racist treatment". CNN. Archived from the original on December 25, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  11. ↑ Watts, Amanda; Hanna, Jason (January 8, 2021). "Indiana health system says experts will examine Covid-19 death of Black doctor who accused staff of racist treatment". CNN. Archived from the original on January 8, 2021. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  12. ↑ Nirappil, Fenit. "A Black doctor alleged racist treatment before dying of covid-19: 'This is how Black people get killed'". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  13. ↑ AAPF (February 11, 2021). "AAPF Statement on the Death of Dr. Susan Moore". AAPF. Retrieved April 13, 2021.
  14. ↑ Dembosky, April (April 5, 2021). "Stop blaming Tuskegee, critics say. It's not an 'excuse' for current medical racism -". KQED. Archived from the original on April 5, 2021. Retrieved April 14, 2021.
  15. ↑ Nephew, Lauren D. (February 2021). "Systemic racism and overcoming my COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy". eClinicalMedicine. 32: 100713. doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100713. ISSN   2589-5370. PMC   7816611 . PMID   33495751.
  16. ↑ Bajaj, Simar Singh; Stanford, Fatima Cody (February 4, 2021). "Beyond Tuskegee — Vaccine Distrust and Everyday Racism". New England Journal of Medicine. 384 (5): e12. doi: 10.1056/NEJMpv2035827 . ISSN   0028-4793. PMC   9908408 . PMID   33471971.
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