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submitted 5 months ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/news@lemmy.world

The lead singer of the Four Tops said a Detroit-area hospital restrained him and ordered a psychological exam after refusing to believe that he was part of the Motown music group.

Alexander Morris, who is Black, filed a lawsuit Monday against Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital in Warren, alleging racial discrimination and other misconduct during an April 2023 visit for chest pain and breathing problems.

Hospital staff “wrongfully assumed he was mentally ill when he revealed his identity as a celebrity figure,” the lawsuit says.

Morris is not an original member, but he joined the group in 2019.

The lawsuit says a nurse finally believed Morris was in the Four Tops and the psychological exam was canceled.

The hospital offered a $25 gift card as an apology, but Morris refused to accept it, the lawsuit says.

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[-] FiremanEdsRevenge@lemmy.world 240 points 5 months ago

The hospital offered a $25 gift card as an apology

The cherry on top.

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 60 points 5 months ago

That’s such an insulting concession. I bet it’s only good for use in the hospital gift shop or cafeteria.

[-] quicklime@lemm.ee 47 points 5 months ago

Good for $25 off any elective procedure costing twenty thousand dollars or more!

[-] Snowclone@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

Expired last week!!

[-] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 11 points 5 months ago

It's true use is to use as a legal argument that you accepted restitution. Luckily, he wisely declined or his suit might have been dismissed on grounds that they'd made it right already.

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[-] cygnus@lemmy.ca 157 points 5 months ago

The funniest part of this story is learning that American hospitals have gift cards. What a joke of a healthcare system.

[-] chalupapocalypse@lemmy.world 55 points 5 months ago

"Sir, we have a situation."

"Open the gift card safe."

[-] SupraMario@lemmy.world 36 points 5 months ago

"should we give him a $100 card?" "No no, that's to much, he didn't lose a limb or an organ, the $25 card should be just fine"

[-] suction@lemmy.world 32 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Madam? Madam, I need you to do 1 thing: Please drive to hospital and buy $1500 worth of gift cards, so we can make sure all the bad virus from your computer is cleaned, madam.

[-] CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 22 points 5 months ago

Ya know, I hadn't even thought of that until I read your comment. Because there's gift cards for damn near everything. But a 'gift card' for a hospital... That is weird.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 26 points 5 months ago

The worst part is a $25 gift card wouldn't even cover a lot of people's co-pays.

[-] Drusas@kbin.run 12 points 5 months ago

I can only imagine the gift card is meant to be used for things like the cafeteria and perhaps the gift shop.

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[-] meco03211@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

Yeah. They really gotta get on those punch cards. 10 surgeries and the next one is free.

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[-] cadekat@pawb.social 20 points 5 months ago

Why would the gift card be for the hospital? Could have been a prepaid credit card just as easily.

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[-] SeaJ@lemm.ee 121 points 5 months ago

They were going to put him in a mental hospital and the best they can do to say sorry is a $25 gift card...

[-] AmidFuror@fedia.io 54 points 5 months ago

They ordered an exam, but they cancelled it before it was given.

Their defense could be to describe what behavior the singer had besides stating he was one of the Four Tops that might give them concern about his mental health.

They cancelled the exam after figuring out that he actually was, so presumably it was a significant part of the decision.

[-] restingboredface@sh.itjust.works 22 points 5 months ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they charged him a cancelation fee.

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[-] littlewonder@lemmy.world 28 points 5 months ago

That feels like a $1 inheritance. Was the hospital trying to get the worst PR angle possible?

[-] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 33 points 5 months ago

It is.

If he accepted it, he'd no longer have an argument with a strong foundation. He could still sue, but a lawyer could argue they already made it right.

Exactly the same logic as a 1$ inheritance, it shows that this was dealt with, so the law doesnt have to deal with it again.

[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 12 points 5 months ago

The hospital offered a $25 gift card as an apology, but Morris refused to accept it, the lawsuit says.

[-] Khanzarate@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

Right. If he had, he'd have been screwed by the hospital later, which is why he didn't.

[-] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 100 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Americans may pay significantly more for healthcare, but at least the quality of care is terrible.

[-] m13@lemmy.world 32 points 5 months ago

Anything else would be Communism, which is bad for some reason.

[-] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 18 points 5 months ago

They heard the term "better dead than red" and then realized that they were red inside.

[-] BackOnMyBS@lemmy.world 70 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I argued like a couple having a fight with a psychiatrist about me being autistic when I was hospitalized once. We had a literal antagonized fight over me being autistic in front of two other doctors. She raised her voice at and wouldn't believe me even though I told her I had been diagnosed by a psychologist that administered the ADOS, have seen said psychologist for months, my friends that are psychologists are confident I'm autistic, and that I was in special ed classes since 4th grade. I was seeking absolutely nothing related to it; I just happened to mention it in passing when I said I didn't like sleeping at the hospital and missed my bed.

Warning: sarcastic vent session

Tap for spoilerThis became the psychiatrist's last stand against Big Autism. She wasn't going to let a patient undermine her absolute authority by them giving her information that she needed to have a thorough understanding of the case. Who do I think I am to know and have an opinion about my entire life and well-being?? As soon as I got home, I threw her prescription in the trash.

I worry about all the other vulnerable patients that she treats and dont have the mental strength to stand up to her, just getting drugged up for whatever would validate her need for control over others.

Bonus: When I was receiving the discharge brief, she raised her voice at and put down a nurse that asked a question about my discharge instructions. Everyone's faces in the room were straight blank like this 😐. I guess they were used to her abuse.

[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 46 points 5 months ago

That's someone who needs to be brought before the state medical board. I hope you filed a complaint!

[-] Snowclone@lemmy.world 22 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I had a ER guy fight me on me knowing what kidneys are, and if I'm having kidney pain or not. I have really bad memory loss so I was all kinds of flustered, eventually I remember that I didn't diagnose myself, a doctor did! A doctor told me it was kidney pain. That fucking weasel wouldn't listen to me for anything. Then he eventually agreed after seeing xrays, sent me to a kidney specialist, and she looked at both doctors diagnosis and said ''these guys are idiots.... see the L the xray tech typed in next to your kidney with the dark spot, yeah that's the Left kidney, your pain is behind your right kidney, The left has never hurt, correct?'' She was correct. Turns out I had referred pain from a spinal issue. She figured it out because I was sitting weird, and she was like, why do you sit like that? ''Oh, the pain goes away when I sit like this, but it comes back when I stand up''. ''yeah that's a spinal issue, kidney pain doesn't present that way at all.'' So basically, some doctors suck at bedside manner AND being a doctor.

[-] sparkle@lemm.ee 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

A large portion of medical practicioners are absolutely fucking insane. It's no wonder people have a massive distrust of healthcare. How is it possible that medical research and medical practice have such vastly different kinds of people in them?

It's scary when you realize that a medical degree is just a degree like any other, and that a lot of those people went through college the same way as any other person, probably not paying attention 90% of the time, and cheating on most of their assignments... your likelihood of having a dysfunctional doctor is about the same as your likelihood of having a dysfunctional tech support specialist.

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[-] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's never too late to file a complaint. I'm sorry you went through that, but please help others that come after you.

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[-] HarriPotero@lemmy.world 36 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Something similar happened to this Finnish chainsaw juggler. He had just come back from performing at Kim Jong-Un's birthday and had a stubborn headache that wouldn't go away. Straight to the mental ward.

Article in Finnish, I'm sure Google translate does a decent job.

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[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 35 points 5 months ago

When asked why he is suing the hospital, Morris replied, "Can't Help Myself."

[-] sangriaferret@sh.itjust.works 13 points 5 months ago

Hospital staff said, "see you in court." Morris responded, "Reach out. I'll be there."

[-] BonesOfTheMoon@lemmy.world 31 points 5 months ago

So nobody looks at him and says hey let me just Google this guy.

[-] grue@lemmy.world 30 points 5 months ago

I just checked the Four Tops Wikipedia article, and the line that lists him as a current member of the group has a citation referencing a NY Times article from today about the same hospital incident/lawsuit filing, LOL.

[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 18 points 5 months ago

Maybe they did and Google's Shitty AI gave them the wrong answer.

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[-] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 21 points 5 months ago

I saw the four tops a long time ago, but just for the record, they killed. It was outdoors and it started raining and instead of leaving, everybody was dancing. It was impressive.

[-] AshMan85@lemmy.world 15 points 5 months ago

So wrong on so many levels

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[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 14 points 5 months ago

Everyone knows celebrities aren't real, so anybody claiming to be one must be delusional.

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 9 points 5 months ago

Can confirm. You see the guy firing people from Celebrity Apprentice? Deluded as hell.

[-] MindTraveller@lemmy.ca 14 points 5 months ago

Name a more iconic duo than realists and being wrong about reality

[-] MelonYellow@lemmy.ca 11 points 5 months ago

Yikes! But I could totally see this scenario happening lol. Maybe he came off agitated, manicky (he's in the hospital, maybe he's panicking or upset or whatever). Then he says he's famous too so the doctor was like oh ok, grandiose delusional. Check, check, and check. Assuming he doesn't already have a psych history, I don't see how they would've came to the mental illness conclusion if he was simply calmly saying who he was lol I mean that would've been really stupid

[-] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Then he says he’s famous too so the doctor was like oh ok, grandiose delusional.

I'm more convinced that they had no fucking clue who the Four Tops even were. It's 2024 and this guy is all "you don't know who I am!" and they're like "you're too fucking right we don't" because what fucking nurse just out of medical school is listening to or even knows of the existence of the fucking Four Tops.

They probably thought he was just spouting geriatric fucking nonsense.

"I don't know, something about four tops? He's only wearing one top, no undershirt."

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this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
568 points (99.5% liked)

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