Black Women Are Doctors In Real Life, Not Just on TV

Have you had an opportunity to read Dr. Tamika Cross’ recount of her experience on a recent Delta flight? You can read the full message from her here. But the gist of it is, there was a passenger on her flight who needed medical attention, and the flight attendants begin to ask for anyone who could help. When Dr. Cross offered, she was refused because the flight attendant did not believe she was a physician. Per Dr. Cross, the flight attendant said “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.” So she couldn’t have been even CPR certified, huh? The response from social media was an outpour of support from other black doctors, male and female, with hashtags like #WeDoExist and #WhatADoctorLooksLike. The goal – to show people that Black women are doctors in real life, not just on TV.

What’s interesting is that shows like Married to Medicine, though drama filled, still features real life Black female physicians. Dr. Lisa Masterson and Dr. Rachael Ross appear on The Doctors daytime talk show. Even fictional shows have depicted Black women as physicians, like the hit shows Blackish, ER from the 90s, and Grey’s Anatomy. So even if you’ve never known a Black female doctor personally – you’ve seen one on tv. Was it really that far of a stretch for that flight attendant to believe Dr. Cross was in fact Dr. Cross? Or does the fact that it’s on tv make it less real?

Delta up to this point has been my favorite airline, mostly because of those biscotti cookies you get on their morning flights. They were the airline I was on when I took my very first flight in 2015. So I was very interested to see how they would respond to these accusations. They released an extensive statement on Oct 14, which said this, in part:

“We are troubled by any accusations of discrimination and take them very seriously. 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…Three medical professionals identified themselves on the flight in question. Only one was able to produce documentation of medical training and that is the doctor who was asked to assist the customer onboard…Flight attendants are trained to collect information from medical volunteers offering to assist with an onboard medical emergency. When an individual’s medical identification isn’t available, they’re instructed to ask questions such as where medical training was received or whether an individual has a business card or other documentation and ultimately to use their best judgment.” Read the full statement here.

Where this flight attendant when wrong isn’t the fact that she asked for her credentials – it’s the fact that she didn’t ask first. It makes total sense for flight attendants to ask anyone for credentials before allowing them to administer medical treatment. But her first thought was to assume she was not a doctor, instead of to confirm that she was a doctor.

As someone who’s working in hospitals for the last 18 years, I have to be totally honest. I haven’t seen that many Black female doctors. I haven’t seen that many female doctors period. At every hospital I’ve worked at, there have been way more male physicians. In a recent meeting with about 20 physicians present, not one was Black – male or female. As soon as you say physician or doctor, the automatic assumption is that the person is male. I get it. But for a person to identify themselves as a physician, and you don’t believe them because they don’t fit the stereotype, is offensive and unprofessional.

What are your thoughts on this story? How should Delta address this employee issue if other passengers’ accounts corroborate Dr. Cross’ story? We’d love to hear from you.