Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Why a local hospital gave in to a racist demand (NAACP is notified)
http://www.philly.com/ ^ | Fri, Oct. 03, 2003 | Oliver Prichard

Posted on 10/03/2003 4:10:44 PM PDT by getget

Why a local hospital gave in to a racist demand Supervisors said they sought only to avoid a confrontation. By Oliver Prichard Inquirer Staff Writer

For several days in early September, supervisors at Abington Memorial Hospital told African American employees to stay out of a patient's room after a man ordered that no blacks assist in the delivery of his child.

Despite a hospital policy stating that "care will be provided on a nondiscriminatory basis," maternity ward staffers accommodated the man's wishes.

The decision offended many employees and prompted hospital president Richard L. Jones Jr. to issue a statement calling the situation "morally reprehensible."

Hospital vice president Meg McGoldrick said the problems began when a pregnant woman's husband insisted that only white employees could enter his wife's room.

"The staff informed our African American employees that there was a volatile situation, and they suggested that they not interact with the family," she said. "In some cases, they actually told employees that they probably ought not to go into the room."

The supervisors had good intentions and sought only to avoid a confrontation between the man, who was white, and hospital staff, McGoldrick said. Doctors, nurses and service employees were among those affected by the decision.

"The whole incident has greatly upset many of our employees who... perceived that we were acquiescing to the family's wishes," McGoldrick said in an interview. "We were wrong. We should have followed our policy."

Citing patient privacy law, hospital officials said they could not release information about the man or his wife, or details of her medical treatment.

She was admitted the week of Sept. 7. McGoldrick would say only that the couple, accompanied by their young child, were at the hospital "several days."

The man did not threaten violence and police were not called, although hospital security monitored the situation closely, McGoldrick said.

NAACP is notified

The Philadelphia office of the NAACP received calls about the incident, but no one filed a formal complaint. J. Whyatt Mondesire, president of the Philadelphia NAACP, was not available for comment.

Efforts to reach staffers from the hospital's maternity section were unsuccessful.

Abington is a 508-bed hospital that serves patients from Montgomery and Bucks Counties and Philadelphia. Following the breach of policy, hospital administrators have taken several steps, including:

Personally apologizing to staffers who were told not to enter the patient's room.

Sending a letter on Sept. 16 to all employees and volunteers, in which Jones promised to "better address unconscionable circumstances like this."

Holding staff meetings and forming a "diversity task force" of hospital employees to develop a plan for similar problems in the future.

Hiring consultants to help managers handle sensitive cultural issues.

Revising the hospital's antidiscrimination policy to immediately notify high-level administrators when such problems occur.

'Inexcusable' decision

Despite those efforts, the decision to restrict black employees from fully performing their work for several days was "inexcusable," said Barry Morrison, director of the Anti-Defamation League's regional office in Philadelphia.

"I don't see why and how a hospital could justify accommodating a request that the professionals attending to a patient be of a particular background," Morrison said. "Certainly, it's demoralizing for the people who work there."

Carol Bayley, a medical ethicist for Catholic Health Care West, a San Francisco-based network of 41 hospitals, said Abington Hospital had failed its responsibilities to employees and the community while accommodating someone's racial preference.

"This was a fundamental disrespect of these professionals' skills and their fundamental dignities," Bayley said. "Hospitals are public citizens, and like any other big institution, they have to stand for integrity. A hospital needs to stand against this undercurrent of racism in our society."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: naacp
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-147 next last

1 posted on 10/03/2003 4:10:45 PM PDT by getget
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: getget
It's tough enough running a hospital without some ignorant amateur imposing irrational staffing decisions on the administration. It's your decision whether or not you want care but If you want care let the professionals decide how to deliver it. Or stay home.
2 posted on 10/03/2003 4:15:36 PM PDT by muir_redwoods
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: getget
It's tough enough running a hospital without some ignorant amateur imposing irrational staffing decisions on the administration. It's your decision whether or not you want care but If you want care let the professionals decide how to deliver it. Or stay home.
3 posted on 10/03/2003 4:15:59 PM PDT by muir_redwoods
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: All
Hi mom!
4 posted on 10/03/2003 4:16:05 PM PDT by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: muir_redwoods
Hate Crime Law Ruled Constitutional
Sep. 27, 2003
(Salt Lake City-AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that Utah's disputed 1992 hate-crimes law is constitutional, but the attorney who defended it says it's misnamed.

As the first definitive decision on the legality of the 1992 law, U-S District Judge Dale A. Kimball's order isn't likely to end criticism that the statute does not do what it was intended to do -- prevent hate crimes.

Assistant Attorney General Jerrold Jensen successfully defended the eleven-year-old law.

But he says it should be called the "Exercise of Rights" law.

Kimball's ruling comes out of a civil-rights case brought by an animal-rights activist charged under the law nearly three years ago. Eric Ward challenged the constitutionality of the statute, claiming it violated his First Amendment rights to free expression.

Kimball tossed out Ward's argument that the law was too broad to sustain a conviction because it failed to enumerate specific classifications of protected people.

Proponents of a more specific law, including deceased state Senator Pete Suazo and Representative David Litvack, D-Salt Lake, have tried unsuccessfully for six years to pass one through the Utah Legislature.

The most recent proposal, brought by Litvack in the 2003 legislative session, would have amended the statute to include race, color, disability, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age or gender. The measure never made it out of the House of Representatives.

5 posted on 10/03/2003 4:23:25 PM PDT by getget
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: getget
The hospital should have told him "sure, no problem we'll be back in a couple of hours when we find the next white employee who's not busy."

Bwahahaha! Would have served them right!
6 posted on 10/03/2003 4:25:21 PM PDT by Lijahsbubbe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: getget
Hiring consultants to help managers handle sensitive cultural issues.

i.e., Employees of Je$$e Inc.

7 posted on 10/03/2003 4:33:01 PM PDT by rickmichaels
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: getget
Despite a hospital policy stating that "care will be provided on a nondiscriminatory basis," maternity ward staffers accommodated the man's wishes.

Most confusing. The "care" talked about is that which is guaranteed the patient, that is, no patient will be refued care. The objection seems to be about discrimination against staffers.

What a tempest in a teapot.

8 posted on 10/03/2003 4:35:29 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Lijahsbubbe
"We're sorry, every one of our employees is at least 1/32 black, although some of them might not look it. Perhaps you might like to try another hospital? No, wait, it's the same with them too. Sorry."
9 posted on 10/03/2003 4:36:40 PM PDT by coloradan (Hence, etc.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: rickmichaels
BUMP
10 posted on 10/03/2003 4:36:59 PM PDT by GrandMoM ("What is impossible with men is possible with GOD -Luke 18:27)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: getget
Yes, but. Do you want qualified medical technicians providing assistance or those hired under an affirmative action plan? Blacks do like black medical providers and opt for whites because they know that the blacks are less qualified.

You can't have it both ways with affirmative action. Sure, a black techie may be fully qualified but, why gamble? Just because the black extortionists and their political pimps are willing to have you take the risks of black but, maybe, unqualified health care providers, doesn't mean the the patient is willing or should have to take the same risk.

11 posted on 10/03/2003 4:38:25 PM PDT by Tacis
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: getget
Hospital vice president Meg McGoldrick said the problems began when a pregnant woman's husband insisted that only white employees could enter his wife's room.

They should have told the patient to find another hospital. I think they handled it totally wrong ---- but I've seen hospitals do the same kind of caving in to Muslim's bigotry. They will demand only a particular gender for simple procedures and are often accomodated.

12 posted on 10/03/2003 4:43:20 PM PDT by FITZ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tacis
. Do you want qualified medical technicians providing assistance or those hired under an affirmative action plan?

If they can pass the certification tests then they are probably equally qualified, if they were trained hired pre-affirmative action days then they are probably more qualified. I've seen where blacks are the most qualified in their jobs ---- besides ---- would it really be fair to the whites to expect them to work extra or take call every night because a bigot comes in?

13 posted on 10/03/2003 4:46:32 PM PDT by FITZ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Tacis
Yes, but. Do you want qualified medical technicians providing assistance or those hired under an affirmative action plan? Blacks do like black medical providers and opt for whites because they know that the blacks are less qualified.

You can't have it both ways with affirmative action. Sure, a black techie may be fully qualified but, why gamble? Just because the black extortionists and their political pimps are willing to have you take the risks of black but, maybe, unqualified health care providers, doesn't mean the the patient is willing or should have to take the same risk.

You're living proof that skin color is no guarantee of competence.

14 posted on 10/03/2003 4:54:16 PM PDT by wimpycat (Down with Kooks and Kookery!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: FITZ
Bigot

"One who is unreasonably and blindly attached to a particular creed, church or party; one who is intolerant of opinions which differ from his own; a fanatic; one illiberal, or hypocritically stuborn in creed."

Cuts both ways.

15 posted on 10/03/2003 5:02:10 PM PDT by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: wimpycat
You're living proof that skin color is no guarantee of competence.

Tracis made a valid point.

I'd be interested to see you address the point that the minorities may not be qualified, but hired anyway to meet the requirments put in place by the libs. Have at it.

16 posted on 10/03/2003 5:03:00 PM PDT by Balding_Eagle (REAL men aren't Liberals)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: getget
I find that to be a reasonable request. You know for certain that white or Asian staffers were held to the highest standard. Thanks to the NAACP and their race-hustling ilk, a patient cannot have equal confidence in a black employee. I wouldn't want my own baby delivered by someone who got extra points towards qualification due to the color of their skin, or for any other reason than their medical skill and experience.
17 posted on 10/03/2003 5:04:06 PM PDT by thoughtomator (tpaine says, "Don't post to me anymore." <- guess he lost that argument. Don't kill babies, people!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tacis
Hmm and you are saying the reverse never happens? Are you saying that qualified black workers are never passed up for an unqualified white worker to maintain the status quo?

You would be right if you said it didn't happen as much as it did 40 years ago.. or espically if you said it didn't happen in the south as it did 40 years ago. But you would be dead wrong to say that it NEVER happens.
18 posted on 10/03/2003 5:04:08 PM PDT by Almondjoy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Balding_Eagle
And how would you deduce the race of someone attending to your medical needs?
19 posted on 10/03/2003 5:05:29 PM PDT by cyborg (X-tra strength industrial grade tinfoil hat for maximum zottage)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: thoughtomator
Oh really? Whites and Asians are held to the highest standards? Then they never make mistakes right? Whatever... are you and others who say these things going to have your microscope ready to determine who is black and demand to see their medical school records?
20 posted on 10/03/2003 5:06:56 PM PDT by cyborg (X-tra strength industrial grade tinfoil hat for maximum zottage)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 141-147 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson