A black female doctor named Tamika Cross has accused Delta Air Lines of “blatant discrimination” after a flight attendant allegedly refused to believe she was a physician and blocked her from helping a sick passenger.
Cross, who is a resident physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Texas Health Science Center alleges the flight attendant told her:
“Oh no sweetie put your hand down, we are looking for actual physicians or nurses,” when she tried to help during the medical emergency.
Cross said someone was screaming for help two rows in front of her on a flight from Detroit to Houston on Oct. 9, when she noticed a man was unresponsive.
According to Facebook post describing the incident, which has now been shared almost 40,000 times, Cross once again volunteered to help when the flight crew paged, “any physician on board please press your button.”
“I stare at (the flight attendant) as I go to press my button. She said “oh wow you’re an actual physician?” I reply yes. She said “let me see your credentials,” Cross wrote on Facebook.
At this point, Cross wrote that the airline employee was blocking the row bombarding her with questions while the passed out passenger was still in need of help.
Cross went on to write that another passenger, a “seasoned” white male, who “fit the description of a doctor,” ending up helping the man who’d been unresponsive.
“I’m sure many of my fellow young, corporate America working women of color can all understand my frustration when I say I’m sick of being disrespected,” Cross wrote.
On Thursday, Delta announced an investigation into the matter after the news spread through social media.
“Discrimination of any kind is never acceptable,” Delta spokeswoman Catherine Sirna said in a statement. “We’ve been in contact with Dr. Cross and one of our senior leaders is reaching out to assure her that we’re completing a full investigation.”
Cross alleges after the unresponsive man woke up, the flight attendant finally asked for her help. Cross said the flight attendant later apologized several times mid-flight and asked if she wanted credit for extra air miles.
“I kindly refused,” Cross said. “This is going higher than her. I don’t want sky miles in exchange for blatant discrimination. Whether this was race, age, gender discrimination, it’s not right.”
Now, hashtags #WhatADoctorLooksLike started trending in response to Delta Air Lines incident.
Cross, meanwhile, told NBC News Thursday that she thinks the flight attendant could benefit from sensitivity training.
“Someone’s life was on the line,” she said, noting that the outcome could have been much worse. “Luckily the man was okay.”