Delta Airlines is changing its onboard doctor policy after an incident that occurred in October. On the flight a passenger became sick and a black female OB-GYN offered her services. A flight attendant responded “We are looking for actual physicians or nurses.”
The woman, Tamika Cross, is one of many who has felt that their credentials were doubted for either being a female or a minority. Following the press around the incident, Delta asked Tamika to come discuss better ways to handle this situation in the future.
On Monday Delta announced that they will no longer require that a doctor onboard show their credentials to prove that they are a doctor, since medical professionals do not always have their credentials on them.
Allison Ausband, Delta’s senior vice president of in-flight service, released a statement about the decision.
“When situations like the one described by Dr. Cross arise, we have a responsibility to our employees and our customers to review the circumstances and our policies for opportunities to listen, learn and improve.”
