IU Health CEO Dennis Murphy requested an external review of the case of Dr. Susan Moore, who accused the health care provider of racism before she died of complications from COVID-19.
“Like many others, I have watched the video of Dr. Susan Moore that she posted from her bed at our hospital,” Murphy wrote in a statement Dec. 24. “I am deeply saddened by her death. … I am even more saddened by the experience she described in the video. It hurt me personally to see a patient reach out via social media because they felt their care was inadequate and their personal needs were not being heard.”
Murphy said the review will be conducted by a diverse panel of health care and diversity experts to understand “not only the technical aspects of care, but also the more humanistic elements of the patient experience.”
There is no timeline for the review.
“We know the work before us and will continue to seek regular improvements to what has been a long-standing societal issue,” Murphy said. “We will focus on enhancing a culture of inclusion that seeks, welcomes and values all people.”
Moore, a physician, was at IU Health North because of complications from COVID-19 in early December. She posted a video to her Facebook page Dec. 4 alleging she was treated “like a drug addict” by a white doctor when she asked for pain medication. Moore said she was told to go home when she asked to be transferred to another hospital.
She eventually went to another hospital when her fever and heart rate spiked. Moore, 52, died Dec. 20 at Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Carmel.
“I put forth and I maintain if I was white, I wouldn’t have to go through that,” Moore said of her treatment at IU Health North.
