*A discrimination lawsuit was filed against the country’s most prominent doctors’ cooperative because it offers Black doctors a $100,000 sign-on bonus.
Per the website, Vituity is a “100% physician-owned, democratic partnership that provides care directly to patients when, where, and how they need it–without any conflict of interest.”
The California-based co-op treats over 8 million patients a year. Vituity offers the $100,000 signing-on bonus under its Bridges to Brilliance program to attract more Black doctors to its 450 locations nationwide. However, the campaign group Do No Harm wants a Florida judge to declare the initiative racial discrimination under the Civil Rights Act, Daily Mail reports.
Section 1981 of the Civil Rights Act “prohibits intentional race discrimination in the making and enforcement of public and private contracts.”
“Black patients want the best doctors and the best medical care, not doctors that are racially concordant,” said Do No Harm chairman Stanley Goldfarb, Daily Mail reports.
“Vituity’s Bridge to Brilliance Program, which offers physicians hiring opportunities and sign on bonuses on the basis of race, is abhorrent and rightfully illegal.”
“Medical staffing agencies like Vituity are given the important responsibility of offering medical positions to the most qualified medical professionals,” Goldfarb told Fox News.
“Like all aspects of health care, patient safety and patient concerns should be primary, not the skin color or the racial makeup of their physician,” he continued.
The lawsuit refers to a recent Supreme Court ruling that states, “racial discrimination must be condemned in all circumstances.”
According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, only 5.7% of doctors in the US identify as Black or African American, Daily Mail reports.
Vituity is accused of violating the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits health programs or facilities that receive federal funds from racially discriminating in services or benefits offered to staff or customers.
According to Daily Mail, Do No Harm says it wants to remove “the same radical movement behind critical race theory in the classroom and Defund the Police in health care.”
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