*Houston OBGYN Dr. Tamika Cross has gone viral with her tale of discrimination on a Delta flight after a male passenger became unresponsive. Cross said she jumped in to help save him, only to find herself restrained by the flight crew who didn’t believe that a black woman could be an M.D.
Cross, a fourth-year resident physician in OBGYN, claims a Delta flight attendant discredited her skills as a doctor on a flight from Detroit to Houston. She is doing her residency at the McGovern Medical School at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. In her Facebook post, she said a female passenger screamed for help because her husband was unconscious. Cross went to the help the man, but the flight attendant blocked her.
“I raised my hand to grab her attention. She said to me, ‘Oh no sweetie put [your] 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,'” Cross wrote in a Facebook post detailing the incident. “I tried to inform her that I was a physician but I was continually cut off by condescending remarks.”
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Cross said the flight attendant denied her attempts to help multiple times. When she finally got the attendant’s attention, she allegedly said, “Oh wow, you’re an actual physician?” She then asked to see Cross’ credentials.
“[I’m an] 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,” Cross responded.
Cross says that when a white male stepped in to help, the same racist attendant claimed she saw the man’s credentials and didn’t need Cross’ assistance.
“Mind you he hasn’t shown anything to her. Just showed up and fit the ‘description of a doctor,'” Cross wrote on Facebook. The attendant eventually asked for Cross’ help minutes later, and she didn’t hesitate to examine the man.
“She needed my help and I continued to help despite the choice words I had saved up for her,” Cross wrote. “The patient and his wife weren’t the problem, they needed help and we were mid flight.”
The attendant apologized to Cross and offered her Delta SkyMiles, but she declined, and decided to report the incident instead.
“I don’t want SkyMiles in exchange for blatant discrimination. Whether this was race, age, gender discrimination, it’s not right,” Cross wrote.
You can read her full Facebook post below.
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