Remember this?
Here we go again:
https://www.boston25news.com/news/doctor-says-delta-flight-attendants-doubted-her-medical-qualifications/864105076
https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/11/02/dr-fatima-cody-stanford-tamika-cross-delta-airlines-racial-profiling/1856290002/
https://www.ajc.com/news/national/doctor-says-delta-flight-attendants-doubted-her-medical-qualifications/LmrTtYWHEjgdklLB1GE3CK/
Sad, but it plays out IRL all the time when my med school lad (as WASP as they come) is considered “the” doctor even when there are other “real” doctors in the room if they don’t “look” the part. He redirects, of course, but even then, some still look at him when they ask questions, etc. It happens even more often if the others are fellow med school students. One of my neighbors is a male nurse and he also talks about having to redirect patients IRL.
To show ID and still be questioned out the wazoo is really sad.
So, a physician, who happens to be “black” must wait and pass through several “expert” flight attendant “medical” questionnaires, in order to treat a patient? When did flight attendants begin to have medical school requirements?
Yes DELTA and REPUBLIC, way to go on taking care of your passengers.
Yes, I’m sure when you “look” young you are questioned more than “older looking” folks as well. People really show biases. My relative has been the head of HMO for many years. He “looks” very youthful but is extremely bright and fortunately does command respect. His patients have a hard time realizing that he isn’t as young as he looks. He’s been practicing medicine since the early 80s.
My internist also looks very young and fit. I suspect folks have difficulty believing how old and experienced she is as well and may also wonder if she’s REALLY an MD.
In one of the articles I read about this, it mentioned policies that require doctors and nurses to show their licenses when responding to medical crises on flights. In my state, we are not even issued physical licenses anymore (nurse). All verification is done online.
This past weekend on my flight home from NYC, they asked for medical personnel to come forward for an emergency. I hesitated, hoping a doctor would step forward before I did. A female doctor did identify herself immediately. She was a blonde white woman. I was seated within viewing of the entire thing, and no one asked her to produce credentials. This was on American.
As I suspected, it was a panic attack that occurred right as we were coming out of about 30 minutes of heavy turbulence. Thank goodness it wasn’t anything worse.
My daughter, an M.D. is brown,and without makeup could easily be mistaken as a High School kid. She has seen this article and realizes nobody is going to believe she is a Dr. if she comes forward to assist on a flight.I won’t say the words that she said about this.
That seems unfair on her part. Does everyone she meets not believe that she is actually an MD? Must be hard to have patients.
@CottonTales My med school lad pretty much says the same words (to us relating his experiences) whenever folks automatically consider him the doctor when there should be more obvious options in the room (esp when they still look at him for answers after he redirects). Make sure your D knows we don’t all feel she’s second rate.
@sylvan8798 @Creekland She has always looked very young. She is a surgical resident at a highly ranked program and gets asked almost on a daily basis for water,the book cart, or something else. She still smiles and tells them she is Dr. Cottontales, and she is their surgeon and will be removing or fixing their whatever. Her husband is my SIL Dr. Cottontales is caucausian. Never gets treated the same by patients as D does.
ETA, I think her looking like a teen probably has also has a lot to do with how she is perceived. But who didn’t love Dougie Houser?
^So if she were on in a public place (plane, sporting event, etc.) and someone needed medical assistance she wouldn’t bother offering, since no one would believe her?
If nothing else, the attendants should know there’s the Good Samaritan law that makes it okay to try to help someone no matter who you are. Right?
@sylvan8798 of course she would! I’m not in the medical field, but I don’t think she is allowed to at this point, when they are in residency? She and husband, also a Dr. just went overseas for vacation, and I don’t think they were “allowed” to do whatever on a flight due to they are residents. Maybe somebody can clarify this for sure.
ETA,something to do with being an employee of the hospital they are residents at?
My daughter is an RN and nobody asked for her credentials when she assisted, along with another RN, on a flight. Of course, people are used to women being RNs but why interfere with a patient getting care during an event on an airplane? Slowing down any assistance could be really harmful. In this case, there was an elderly woman experiencing the early signs of a stroke and they had to land the plane as soon as they safely could.
I’m glad that I am in my late 60’s, so I can dress casually. When I worked in a hospital, I wore my white jacket with initials on them. I dressed pretty formal I don’t know if it was the times, or being in Boston. I do know that my supervisor told me to always wear my long hair pulled back, or in a French Braid. I wore eyeliner and lipstick.
Perhaps your DD needs to find out wht she can do to look her age when in. A Professional setting. Of course, that doesn’t mean on.a Plane ride.
She should wear makeup to look older? Wow. She is beautiful without and doesn’t need to wear eye makeup as a surgeon wearing contacts. Her credentials and white coat with her name and M.D. should be sufficient.
Many of our HI MDs (and other health & other professionals) are Asian and look VERY young. Most are fine with looking young and providing excellent service and don’t change their appearance to appear older (other than perhaps having an attractive professional wardrobe).
Regarding the airline recommendations:
"The flight crew must make an effort to determine if the provider is a “medically qualified individual.” The AMAA defines “medically qualified individuals” as anyone who is licensed or otherwise qualified to provide assistance including physicians, nurses, physician’s assistants, and paramedics. The flight crew is asked to make a good-faith effort to verify credentials, which can include asking for proof of licensure. Airline policy will dictate what type of proof is required. Providing this documentation does not mean that you are acting in a formal medical capacity and does not compromise legal protections that are provided for volunteer responders "
A resident is an doctor (MD or DO) but they are rarely yet board certified. Remember that a resident has a minimum of 3 years of residency (at least in the disciplines I am aware of) so there can be a world of difference (experience) between an intern (1st year resident) and a 3rd year. However if that’s all the medical expertise you have on a plane in an emergency and they are volunteering to help, they will have much more knowledge than all the non-medical people on the plane!
A few years ago H, a physician, volunteered to assist a passenger on a Frontier Airlines flight. The flight attendant asked for his credentials, which he did not have on him. After consulting another attendant who came and questioned H about his medical background, they took him to the patient, an older man who’d fallen, hit his head, passed out. (Fortunately he came to–just had too much to drink. H was afraid it was a stroke or heart attack!) H looks like a stereotypical TV commercial doctor-- older, white, male, glasses, balding…still they questioned him twice–I was wondering about the delay in getting to the patient! (I was thinking, “Really, you won’t let him help without a copy of his license? I guess you don’t need help, then.”) Overnight flight over remote area. Everyone was sleeping–I woke H when I saw that no one else was volunteering. The airline gave him $75 voucher for use toward a future flight for about one hour of his time. Never used it.
My DH has never had a wallet-sized medical license, to my knowledge. The current one is always in a standard-sized frame in his office. He’s been an MD for 40 years and doesn’t travel with professional documentation on vacation. He wears badges on a lanyard at work but would never have those with him when traveling. Maybe he could find some kind of proof on his iPhone, if necessary, but would be pretty unhappy to have to do that in an emergency situation.
I’m impressed that the MD in the story (who teaches at Harvard Med, no less) kept her cool when questioned AFTER showing her license.
@atomom , crazy that your husbands credentials were questioned. And some wonder why my D and SIL already know why they would be! Flight attendant training needs to be updated.