Indiana Doctor Dies From COVID-19 Complications Weeks After Voicing Medical Mistreatment In A Series

An Indiana doctor passed away on Sunday, weeks after exposing racist treatment at an Indiana hospital.

Dr. Susan Moore of Indianapolis shared several videos to social media, voicing her frustration over racist medical care while she was in the hospital battling COVID-19. She explained that a White doctor was dismissing her pain and concerns about her treatment .She was treated so poorly that she requested to be transferred from IU Health North Hospital in Carmel, Indiana.

"I put forth and I maintain if I was White, I wouldn't have to go through that," Moore said while seemingly fighting back tears. Moore continued, “This is how Black people get killed, when you send them home, and they don’t know how to fight for themselves."

Moore tested positive for COVID-19 late last month and was admitted to IU Health North Hospital in Carmel, Indiana, according to a Facebook post.

When she was released from this hospital, she was hospitalized yet again when her temperature spiked and her blood pressure dropped. She was transferred to another hospital in the same area of Indiana, Ascension St. Vincent, where she says she received better treatment.

Though Moore received better treatment, her condition worsened and she was put on a ventilator. She died on Sunday, and many people want answers.

“I am asking for an external review of this case. We will have a diverse panel of healthcare and diversity experts conduct a thorough medical review of Dr. Moore’s concerns to address any potential treatment bias,” said Dennis Murphy, the president and CEO of Indiana University Health.

Black Americans have long expressed the medical mistreatment they face in this country, due to lack of compassion and understanding from medical professionals, which is becoming increasingly evident in the age of COVID-19, a virus that is disproportionately impacting Black people. It is why Black women lead the country in deaths during childbirth, and so many other fatal causes. Dr. Moore could still be living, had the doctors at IU Health North Hospital listened to her cries for help.

Dr. Moore is survived by her 19-year old son Muhammed.

Muhammed told the New York Times that his mother had an inflammatory disease called Sarcoidosis, which attacks the lungs. He spoke about the battle Moore faced to receive adequate treatment over the years. “Nearly every time she went to the hospital she had to advocate for herself, fight for something in some way, shape or form, just to get baseline, proper care,” he told the newspaper.

Moore graduated from the University of Michigan in 2002, She had an active medical license in Indiana at the time of her death.