Update 4:43 p.m.
The CEO of the Hurley Medical Center in Flint denied accusations that it kept black nurses from caring for an infant after a father made a request to do so.
From the Flint Journal:
Hurley CEO Melany Gavulic said the father was informed that his request could not be granted... Gavulic said the request was not granted and that all nurses remained available to care for his baby. “We (Hurley) value the support of the patients who entrust us with their care and the dedication of our physicians and staff,” she said. “This includes nurse Battle and her quarter century of professionalism and dedication.” Gavulic declined to comment or answer questions regarding the lawsuit.
11:24 a.m.
The Flint Journal's Ron Fonger reports that Al Sharpton's National Action Network (NAN) will hold a rally today outside the emergency room of the Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
The Rev. Charles E. Williams II, president of the Michigan chapter of NAN, said the Hurley story is being watched across the nation. "There is growing concern around the country about how this could be in 2013," Williams said today. "There will be growing pressure as Hurley continues to be quiet."
The group is protesting the treatment of an African-American nurse who claims she was barred from treating an infant after the father made a request that no black nurses be allowed to treat his child.
The Flint Journal reportsthe incident occurred last fall. The suit claims the father went to the nurse's supervisor with the request.
The father, who is not named in the suit, told the supervisor that he did not want an African American nurse taking care of his baby, the suit alleges. The father allegedly rolled up his sleeve and showed a tattoo that was believed to be a swastika while talking with the supervisor, the suit says. According to the lawsuit, the supervisor then reassigned the infant to a different nurse. On Nov. 1, 2012, a decision was made to grant the father's request that no African American nurses care for his child, the suit alleges.
In a statement, Hurley Medical Center says it "does not comment on past or current litigation."
Robin Erb of the Detroit Free Press spoke with legal scholars about the case.
Requesting care based on religious principles or sex appears to be requests hospitals try to accommodate, but others draw the line on requests based on race.
Larry Dubin, a law professor at University of Detroit Mercy’s School of Law, called the hospital’s actions, if true, “morally repugnant.” “The patient’s father has the right to select the hospital to treat the child. The father does not have the right to exercise control over the hospital in discrimination of its employees,” he said. The case “puts into tension two different facets of the law,” said Lance Gable, an associate professor specializing in health law at Wayne State University Law School. Patients choose their doctors, he notes. Some women prefer to see female gynecologists, for example. “But there are also laws prohibiting discrimination,” he added, citing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, among others.
