Dr. Fowler Blaming George Floyd for His Own Death is Racist, Too.
By Michele Benoit-Wilson, MD
Like many Black Americans, I’ve been consciously avoiding watching the vast majority of coverage of the George Floyd murder trial these past two weeks. As a Black mother who happens to also be a doctor, the daily reminder of how Black people, oftentimes boys as young as my sons, are victimized by the police during encounters for even minor infractions is not conducive to my mental health. But on a day that I had some down time while working, I listened and caught an unfortunate earful by someone who shares my medical degree. And I’m worried about the larger impact.
By now, most folks have either heard of or watched for themselves the defense testimony of Former Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland, Dr. David Fowler, who now earns his living as a professional expert witness. And like me, many Black Americans were aghast when he dismissed the obvious problem of George Floyd having his oxygen supply cut off by Derek Chauvin’s knee shoved into his neck. Instead, he jumped through hoops to name every other chronic ailment Mr. Floyd had to arrive at a conclusion that the cause of his death was “undetermined.”
But Dr. Fowler took it one step farther. He stated an unproven opinion that Mr. Floyd’s death may have resulted from carbon monoxide poisoning, a theory he literally pulled from the air. And the millions of Black Americans who already have a problem trusting medical doctors, trusting government health agencies, trusting those who should be above reproach…were all listening.
While common sense, supported by 9 minutes and 29 seconds of video footage, would lend credence to the charge that suffocation caused by a knee in his neck led to Mr. Floyd’s death, it’s alarming that “expert” medical opinion was permitted to give voice to an imagined theory. And like Dr. Fowler who used his given pulpit to present a hypothesis not supported by facts, medical professionals who perpetuate the notion that Black people are responsible for their own deaths when racism is the root cause are extremely harmful. Even if Dr. Fowler’s unsubstantiated claim of the role of carbon monoxide were true, his whack-a-mole allegations that drug use, high blood pressure, heart disease and carbon monoxide all coalesced at the exact moment that the perpetrator’s knee was cutting off Mr. Floyd’s oxygen supply puts the blame for George Floyd’s death solely on George Floyd.
The collision of familiar racism with a new viral pandemic has shed a fresh light on healthcare disparities that have plagued our nation since its inception. We know that Black people tend to have higher rates of chronic medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and various cancers. While the moniker “systemic determinants of health” has become the buzz-phrase to acknowledge racial and socioeconomic factors that drive health disparities, the notion that people are individually responsible for their deaths when diagnosed with these chronic conditions seems to be reserved particularly for Black people.
When we consider the opioid addiction problem in this country, we acknowledge that drug addiction has always been a leading factor of death. But it was not until the opioid epidemic hit white America that death from overdose was declared a public health emergency by the US Department of Health and Human Services in 2017. It was only after that time that our justice system started to shift from the War-on-Drugs stance that has long driven criminal justice disparities to a more sympathetic policy of offering alternatives to incarceration for drug-related nonviolent crimes. We now have a 21st century understanding of the need for strategic criminal justice reform that focuses on treatment of drug addiction because of the impact to white communities. But these interventions are not reaching Black people like George Floyd whose drug use is being used by the defense to blame him for his death despite the knee shoved in his neck.
I remain hopeful that we will see a just outcome to this trial that puts the blame for Mr. Floyd’s death solely on the shoulders of the individuals who showed a callous disregard for his life. The only other factors to blame are the racists systems that allow this to continue to happen.
Michele Benoit-Wilson is a board-certified OBGYN practicing in North Carolina. She is a wife, mother of two boys, and an avid writer on healthcare and social justice issues. She is a member of various physician advocacy groups including McStuffins Mommies and PWSOAR. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service sisterhood. Follow her on IG and Twitter @HerHealthMD.
