This guy shouldn’t get a choice if a black or white nurse cares for his child. American History X
What can only be described as the total failure to have a moral conscience, Hurley Medical Center in Flint Michigan ceded to the request of racist father that no black nurses touch his baby. One of the nurses filed a discrimination lawsuit based on a note on the chart that read “No African American nurse to take care of baby.” Hurley Medical Center has recently settled the lawsuit when it should have been paid by the idiot racist that started the ordeal.
Fine the ne0-nazi
Hurley Medical Center was bowing to the monetary and physical intimidation posed by a swastika tattooed meat head that insisted that only white people care for his baby. Hurley President Gavulic said the swastika tattoo “created anger and outrage in our staff,” which raised safety concerns. Ms. Gavulic, have you ever heard of about your local law enforcement officers? They are available to handle “5150” cases like this guy who need to be put in psychiatric observation for a couple of days.
Hospitals, like any business, don’t want to rock the boat. They subscribe to the theory of “The customer is always right.” when doing the right thing might cost them money. I suppose they made a calculated decision that it would be cheaper to settle a discrimination case by the nurses than some law suit from a right wing sociopath nut case.
Dr. defends racism
What really made me sick to my stomach were racist comforting statements by Dr. Susan Goold of the University of Michigan. Dr. Goold was quoted as saying, “…There may be times when grudgingly acceding to a patient’s strongly held preferences is morally OK.” NO! It is never morally defensible to ever accommodate racist preferences. You may have to do it because you have a gun to your head, but it is never morally OK.
Dr. Goold went on to say “Those times include patients who have been so traumatized- by rape or combat, for instance – that accommodating their request would be preferable to forcing on them a caregiver whose mere presence might aggravate the situation.” What ivory tower did you just crawl down from lady? How many times were black women raped by white men and then they were interrogated by white police officers and white doctors? Those women knew that if they complained any modicum amount of justice to be had would evaporate.
Time for real action
It sounds like it would be a good time for Hurley Medical Center to grow a spine and muster up some procedures when they may have to treat neo-nazi racists. The guy was a bully who got his way. Bullies need to be stopped. There are lots of ways to neutralize a bully white supremacist.
Another apologist chimes in
Similar to racist accommodating Dr. Goold is Dan Poole who writes for the Examiner. He improperly quotes opinion columnist Walter Williams to support his view that there was no racial discrimination involved at the hospital.
Common sense suggests that not all discrimination should be eliminated, so the question is, what kind of discrimination should be permitted? I’m guessing the answer depends on one’s values for freedom of association, keeping in mind freedom of association implies freedom not to associate.
Let’s have a white world
Obviously this fellow, Mr. Poole, has a difficult time distinguishing between freedom of association and receiving critical care from a hospital to keep your baby alive. If we were to apply this twisted freedom of association to all business transactions, white supremacist could demand to talk to only white people on the phone, have only white people collect their trash and have only white officers patrol their neighborhoods.
Grow a spine, don’t give in to neo-nazi racists
Racists should not get their way. No racist demands should be met. You don’t negotiate with terrorists or racists. It is time for the white supremacist pacifiers to move into the real world and stop coddling the ignorance of racism out of customer care concerns or personal preferences. The choice to have a black or a white nurse is not equivalent to the preference of a chicken dinner or a vegetarian meal.