Delta Changes Policy After Doctor Incident on Detroit Flight

Dec. 21--Two months after an African-American doctor's viral Facebook post alleged mistreatment by crew members when she offered to help an ill passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight from Detroit to Houston, the company has announced it will no longer require medical professionals to present identification.

The company said in a statement Monday that effective Dec. 1, Delta flight attendants are no longer required to verify medical credentials. Medical professionals will now be allowed to help based on his or her statement that the individual is indeed a physician, physician assistant, nurse, paramedic or EMT. The company also announced the launch of inclusion training for Delta employees, which will be rolled out to its "frontline employees, with some of the flight attendant groups being the first to participate."

"As part of the review, Delta found that there is no legal or regulatory requirement upon the airline to view medical professional credentials," the company said. "And, as it becomes more and more common for medical licenses to be verified online, physicians and nurses often do not carry a license with them and some states no longer issue wallet versions."

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The incident surfaced in mid-October after Dr. Tamika Cross charged in a Facebook posting that when she raised her hand to assist a man a few seats ahead of her who was having a health crisis, she was rebuffed by a flight attendant who doubted she was a physician.

"She said to me, '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.'"

But Cross said when a white male approached and produced credentials, they accepted his help. Cross could not be immediately reached for comment.

"Whether this was race, age, gender discrimination, it's not right," Cross said in the viral posting which had more than 22,000 comments and 154,000 likes.

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Delta Airlines In-Flight Service Senior Vice President Allison Ausband said the flight attendants were following standard procedure on Cross' flight but "the feedback Dr. Cross provided gave us a chance to make flying better."

Ausband said Cross also met with airline officials to discuss her experience. Cross is a fourth-year resident in the obstetrics-gynecology department of the University of Texas Health System in Houston, according to the school's website -- meaning she is licensed to practice medicine although not fully certified in her specialty.

Monday, Cross thanked Delta in a Facebook post, saying she was glad that "this unfortunate situation has brought about change in a major corporation like Delta Air Lines."

"It is great that this incident was able to produce change and hopefully make other medical professionals, regardless of who they may be, feel comfortable assisting when 30,000 feet in the air," Cross said.

Contact Katrease Stafford: kstafford@freepress.com or 313-223-4759.

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