“Effective Dec. 1, Delta flight attendants are no longer required to verify medical credentials. They can now secure a medical professional’s help based on the volunteer’s statement that he or she is a physician, physician assistant, nurse, paramedic or EMT.”
This policy change was announced in this article which was posted at Delta News Hub as the result of perceived discrimination against a doctor during a medical emergency greater than two months ago.
Delta Air Lines Policy Changes as a Result of Perceived Discrimination Against Doctor
Tamika K. Cross is an obstetrician and gynecologist chief resident at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston who volunteered to assist when a male passenger was experiencing medical difficulties aboard an airplane which operated as Delta Air Lines flight 945 from Detroit to Minneapolis back in October.
Despite giving her credentials to members of the flight crew, her volunteering for assistance to help the man was denied because two other medical professionals responded to the call.
The problem was that the other two medical professionals were white and male. Tamika Cross is black and female. What one member of the flight crew said had her “blood boiling.”
In Her Own Words
Details of the incident were imparted by Cross in her own words at her Facebook Internet web site on Sunday, October 9, 2016:
I’m sure many of my fellow young, corporate America working women of color can all understand my frustration when I say I’m sick of being disrespected.
Was on Delta flight DL945 and someone 2 rows in front of me was screaming for help. Her husband was unresponsive. I naturally jumped into Doctor mode as no one else was getting up. Unbuckle my seatbelt and throw my tray table up and as I’m about to stand up, flight attendant says “everyone stay calm, it’s just a night terror, he is alright”. I continue to watch the scene closely.
A couple mins later he is unresponsive again and the flight attendant yells “call overhead for a physician on board”. I raised my hand to grab her attention. She said to me “oh no sweetie put ur hand down, we are looking for actual physicians or nurses or some type of medical personnel, we don’t have time to talk to you” I tried to inform her that I was a physician but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks.
Then overhead they paged “any physician on board please press your button”. I stare at her as I go to press my button. She said “oh wow you’re an actual physician?” I reply yes. She said “let me see your credentials. What type of Doctor are you? Where do you work? Why were you in Detroit?” (Please remember this man is still in need of help and she is blocking my row from even standing up while Bombarding me with questions).
I respond “OBGYN, work in Houston, in Detroit for a wedding, but believe it or not they DO HAVE doctors in Detroit. Now excuse me so I can help the man in need”. Another “seasoned” white male approaches the row and says he is a physician as well. She says to me “thanks for your help but he can help us, and he has his credentials”. (Mind you he hasn’t shown anything to her. Just showed up and fit the “description of a doctor”) I stay seated. Mind blown. Blood boiling. (Man is responding the his questions and is seemingly better now Thank God)
Then this heifer has the nerve to ask for my input on what to do next about 10 mins later. I tell her we need vitals and blood sugar. She comes back to report to me a BP of 80/50 (super low, to my non medical peeps) and they can’t find a glucometer. We continue down that pathway of medical work up, but the point is she needed my help and I continued to help despite the choice words I had saved up for her. The patient and his wife weren’t the problem, they needed help and we were mid flight.
She came and apologized to me several times and offering me skymiles. I kindly refused. This is going higher than her. I don’t want skymiles in exchange for blatant discrimination. Whether this was race, age, gender discrimination, it’s not right. She will not get away with this….and I will still get my skymiles….
Response From Delta Air Lines
The policy change became effective after the conclusion of an investigation was conducted by Delta Air Lines — an airline which is committed to diversity with both its employees and its customers — into the incident in question.
“We are troubled by any accusations of discrimination and take them very seriously”, according to this article which was posted five days after the aforementioned Facebook text was posted. “The experience Dr. Cross has described is not reflective of Delta’s culture or of the values our employees live out every day. We are in the process of conducting a full investigation. We’ve reached out to Dr. Cross to speak with her directly, talked with our crew members and we’re reaching out to customers who were on board to gather as much information as we can.”
As part of the review, Delta Air Lines “found that there is no legal or regulatory requirement upon the airline to view medical professional credentials. And, as it becomes more and more common for medical licenses to be verified online, physicians and nurses often do not carry a license with them and some states no longer issue wallet versions.”
Summary
The members of the flight crew had explained that they were merely doing their job — and that may very well be true.
In general, discrimination against anyone — regardless of race, gender, age, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or other factors — should never be tolerated…
…and that goes both ways: I have never believed in diversity simply for the sake of diversity. Being selected for anything based on criteria other than his or her qualifications, talent, hard work, passion and experience as five of many factors would be potentially insulting.
I was fortunate to attend a special high school in New York in which prospective students were required to exceed the standards set for admission, from which a selection committee chose the most qualified applicants. Despite the incredible diversity which comprised the student body, everyone who attended that high school was there because each person wanted to be there and had met the appropriate stringent qualifications — and proof of that was in the work, passion, commitment and attitude demonstrated by each person. I truly enjoyed my experience in high school because of the many friendships created with incredibly talented people.
That Tamika Cross — who is as much of a volunteer and advocate as she is a doctor; and who seems to simply want the same respect which other doctors who earned it receive — was able to effect change in the medical professional credentials policy of Delta Air Lines is a positive step towards mitigating perceived discrimination in future medical emergencies aboard flights.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
