Tamika Cross, a resident OB-GYN physician at the University of Texas-Houston, wrote on Facebook that she was blocked from helping a sick passenger

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A black female doctor has accused Delta Airlines of “blatant discrimination” after a flight attendant allegedly refused to believe that she was a physician and blocked her from helping a sick passenger.

Tamika Cross, a resident OB-GYN physician at the University of Texas-Houston, wrote in a viral Facebook post that on a recent flight from Detroit to Minneapolis, she tried to help an unresponsive man, but a flight attendant repeatedly blocked her and questioned her credentials.

Cross wrote that even after officials on the flight requested help from physicians on board, a flight attendant allegedly told her: “oh no sweetie put ur 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.”

When a white man approached and said he was a physician, the flight attendant allegedly told Cross, “Thanks for your help but he can help us.”

Delta spokeswoman Catherine Sirna told the Guardian in a statement: “Discrimination of any kind is never acceptable. 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’ story has spread on social media, with black women sharing similar stories of disrespect and discrimination in their fields.

“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.

Cross, who did not immediately respond to requests for comment, said she “jumped into Doctor mode” when she heard someone screaming for help two rows in front of her, but was “continually cut off by condescending remarks”.

After a flight attendant allegedly said “oh wow you’re an actual physician?”, Cross said the Delta employee proceeded to ask her a series of condescending questions: “She said ‘let me see your credentials. What type of Doctor are you? Where do you work? Why were you in Detroit? (Please remember this man is still in need of help and she is blocking my row from even standing up while Bombarding me with questions).”

Cross said she explained that she was in Detroit for a wedding, adding “but believe it or not they DO HAVE doctors in Detroit”.

After the ordeal was over, the flight attendant “came and apologized to me several times and offering me skymiles”, Cross wrote. “I kindly refused. This is going higher than her. I don’t want skymiles in exchange for blatant discrimination. Whether this was race, age, gender discrimination, it’s not right. She will not get away with this.”

Her story comes one week after a black female architect wrote a viral Facebook post about a humiliating experience at a bank in Seattle that allegedly questioned her employment and delayed depositing her paycheck. Trish Doolin said the bank called her company’s human resources department to determine whether the check was real.

“You just want to cry,” she wrote of her experience of “banking while Black”.

Dr. Shanté (@DrShanteSays) Standing with Dr #TamikaCross after her experience on #DeltaAirlines - Black Doctors do exist pic.twitter.com/URW8rTelhr

Patrick Hogan, a spokesman with Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, confirmed to the Guardian that paramedics were called to the plane to respond to a report that “a passenger on board had lost consciousness”.

Delta has been aggressively fielding angry comments on Facebook from customers threatening to boycott.

“As a global airline that brings hundreds of thousands of people together every day, Delta is deeply committed to treating all of our customers with respect,” the airline responded to one message, telling another, “We have been working non-stop to address this internally with the highest priority.”

Delta also recently faced accusations that it discriminated against a Muslim couple after flight attendants allegedly removed them for making the crew feel “uneasy”. Other airlines have been accused of unfairly targeting passengers for simply “flying while Muslim”.