Doctor Dies From COVID-19 After Reporting Racist Treatment at Indiana Hospital

Dr. Susan Moore had made several social media posts after being hospitalized at Indiana University Hospital North, saying she experienced racist mistreatment.

moore
Publicist

Image via GoFundMe

moore

Dr. Susan Moore, a physician from Indianapolis who had publicly called out a regional hospital for racism, died of COVID-19 this week.

Dr. Moore first tested positive in late November with initial symptoms reported to include high respiratory rate, high heart rate, severe fever, and coughing up blood. Per CBS News, she died this week following a number of social media posts in which she described multiple instances of treatment while hospitalized at Indiana University Hospital North.

"That is not how you treat patients, period," Moore said in one video. "So I don't trust this hospital and I'm asking to be transferred. These people wanted to send me home with new pulmonary infiltrates and all kind of lymphadenopathy in my neck … This is how Black people get killed, when you send them home and they don't know how to fight for themselves. I had to talk to somebody—maybe the media, somebody—to let people know how I'm being treated up in this place."

Dr. Susan Moore died today from COVID, but HOW she died is unacceptable. She posted a video to Facebook from an Indiana hospital days before her death about mistreatment. "This is how black people get killed when you send them home and they don't know how to fight for themselves" https://t.co/iSF8rs7qmI pic.twitter.com/3a8qE6DhN3

— Cleavon MD 💉 💉 💉 (@Cleavon_MD) December 22, 2020

Per a separate Peoplereport, Moore was ultimately discharged, stating on social media that she was at home. In less than 12 hours, however, she had been admitted to a new hospital, St. Vincent Carmel. In her final update, Moore reported she was being taken to the ICU.

News of Moore's mistreatment prior to her death has been met with heartbreak and anger across social media, including from several of her former University of Michigan classmates:

So very sad to see this. Dr. Moore was in my medical school class @UMichAdmissions. She was kind, hard working, brilliant, and generous. Really saddened by this. https://t.co/mxbXCn2fRj

— Vidya Kumar Ramanathan, MD MPH (@RamanathanVidya) December 22, 2020

It is so hard to watch this video from our @umich medical school classmate.
Rest In Peace Dr. Susan Moore... we must all pay attention and make this better https://t.co/bOeJiMxPkQ

— helen kang morgan (@helenjkmorgan) December 22, 2020

Retweeting all the stories until everyone knows why Dr. Susan Moore and countless others did not have to die. Structural racism does not care if Black folx have degrees, if they are wealthy or poor, if they are famous or unknown. How many have to die before things change? https://t.co/8jAEAVC71w

— Jasmine R Marcelin, MD, FACP, FIDSA 🦠 (@DrJRMarcelin) December 23, 2020

A GoFundMe has been launched to help Dr. Moore's family with housing, food, and other needs. At the time of this writing, it was quickly approaching its goal of $100,000.

Latest in Life