Michigan Hospital Grants No Black Nurse Request
By: WDIV
Updated: February 20, 2013
An African-American nurse claims that a Michigan hospital agreed to a man's request that no black nurses care for his newborn.
Forty-nine-year-old Tonya Battle said she "didn't even know how to react" when she learned about the request from the father in October at Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
Battle claims she was working as a registered nurse in the Flint hospital's neonatal intensive care unit caring for an infant Oct. 31, 2012, when the child's father asked to speak to her supervisor.
The father, who is not named in the suit, told the supervisor that he did not want an African American nurse taking care of his baby, the suit alleges.
The father allegedly rolled up his sleeve and showed a tattoo that was believed to be a swastika while talking with the supervisor, the suit says.
According to the lawsuit, the supervisor then reassigned the infant to a different nurse.
On Nov. 1, 2012, a decision was made to grant the father's request that no African American nurses care for his child, the suit alleges.
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