An Open Letter To the University of Rochester Following the Murder of Daniel Prude:
On March 23rd, 2020, a Black man named Daniel Prude was murdered by officers from the Rochester Police Department (RPD). While individual law enforcement officers were directly involved, culpability lies with all policing and healthcare entities beholden to local Rochester communities. In the days leading up to that night, Daniel Prude was also sentenced to death by our failed healthcare system.
Healthcare teams are taught to debrief after traumatic situations or deaths; so, too, must we debrief this tragic and unequivocally preventable loss of life. Daniel Prude was experiencing a mental health crisis when he was killed, and it is clear that he did not receive the support that he needed. Instead, his family’s calls for help and healing in the midst of his mental health crisis were met with violent police behavior which resulted in Daniel Prude’s death.
Not only do our current models of healthcare leave gaping holes for individuals such as Daniel to fall through, but they do so in manners which are fraught with racism. Racism is laid in the foundation of modern medicine, and it pulses within the walls of our institutions. The culture of medicine frames Black people as unengaged and apathetic while reducing Black bodies to animalistic qualities. We calculate kidney and lung function using numbers that presume Black people’s organs to be inferior.¹ ² Numerous studies show that Black patients are systemically undertreated for pain relative to their white counterparts.³ ⁴ The authors of Toward the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine write, “racist, outdated notions are taught in clinical education, solidified in research and perpetuated in practice.”⁵ Evidence of this truth is present in what we have witnessed with the murder of Daniel Prude. In the police body camera footage, one of the emergency first responders can be overheard remarking, “So, PCP can cause what we call excited delirium. … I guarantee you that’s why he coded. It’s not your guys’ fault, I mean, you’ve got to keep yourself safe.”⁶ Excited delirium is not a ratified medical term. It is, however, a phrase historically used to justify violent police acts such as physical restraint and positional suffocation of patients in crisis.⁷ ⁸ In this instance, the cultures of law enforcement and medicine worked in tandem to blame Daniel Prude for his own murder.
With an annual budget of $3.8 billion,⁹ the University of Rochester Medical Center is the largest entity of the University of Rochester, which itself is “the largest private sector employer based in Upstate New York and the sixth-largest employer in the state.”¹⁰ Despite the considerable power held by the University and the fact that the University motto is Meliora, Ever Better, our approach to addressing racism and police violence as a public health crisis has fallen short. The petitions submitted to this University have made clear that this institution has been failing its learners, its medical teams, its patients, and its surrounding communities. Our position as a leading academic medical center is compromised, and if our approach to anti-racism lacks acknowledgment of and action against police brutality, which has long served as a contributing factor to the health disparities racism has fostered, this institution will succumb to its failures.
Fortunately, the beauty of an effective debrief is that it is not one person’s responsibility to have all the answers or to correct errors previously made. Rather, a team failure calls for a rupture of hierarchy and rearrangement of power dynamics, for the laying down of ego at the feet of the collective yearning for better solutions. We must have the humility to listen to local organizers who have dedicated their lives to exploring alternative models of intersectional community safety, mental health and social support. We must invest in Indigenous methods of healing and empower those with knowledge of their practice. We must fight for justice for Daniel Prude and his family in a manner which prioritizes the needs of his family and so many others in similar situations in our communities.
On June 10th of this year, our White Coats for Black Lives chapter published a list of demands to the University of Rochester Medical Center, the first three of which called for the abolition of public safety structures centered on policing and violence. We demanded that the medical center cut all ties with the Rochester Police Department, and numerous University officials communicated that there are no existing ties between the University and the RPD. The sting of this dismissal is altogether too familiar. In an interview with the Rochester Beacon released on July 16th, 2020, then active Police Chief La’Ron Singletary stated, “We here in Rochester don’t have the problems that other agencies around the country might have.” This article was published one hundred and fifteen days AFTER the murder of Daniel Prude.
We urge the University of Rochester to learn from this example. We must take responsibility for our roles in the structures which perpetuate racism in policing and move swiftly to abolish them. We understand the discomfort evoked by phrases such as “abolition of public safety,” but let us be clear: There is no safe space for marginalized communities at the medical center and on all UR campuses when we invest in police centered approaches to public safety. We must reimagine the University public safety model. As a part of these efforts, it is urgent that the University ends all aspects of its relationship with the Rochester Police Department. In addition, this urgency must extend to include a public commitment to zero collaboration with ICE enforcement actions and to the reallocation of funds from current public safety structures towards the development and implementation of alternative, non-carceral methods of ensuring safety on the school and hospital campuses. Our demands are in line with those of the UR Abolition Coalition on River Campus, with whom we stand in support and solidarity. We call this debrief in anticipation of the publication of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Anti-Racism Action Plan, which has been promised to be finalized by the end of this month. Steadfast, we continue to say Daniel Prude’s name and call for justice in his honor.
All Black Lives Matter,
White Coats for Black Lives at the University of Rochester Medical Center
Add your signature to the #ActionsSpeakLouder Petition in support of our demands here.
10/6/20: **Lea la traducción al español de esta carta aquí.**
Citations
1: Leisman, Staci, and Reena Karani. “SGIM Forum.” SGIM Forum — SGIM Forum Newsletter, 2020. https://connect.sgim.org/sgimforum/viewdocument/can-math-be-racist-a-review-of-the.
2: Darshali A. Vyas, Leo G. Eisenstein, and David S. Jones, “Hidden in Plain Sight — Reconsidering the Use of Race Correction in Clinical Algorithms,” New England Journal of Medicine 383, no. 9 (2020): pp. 874–882, https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmms2004740.
3: Kelly M. Hoffman et al., “Racial Bias in Pain Assessment and Treatment Recommendations, and False Beliefs about Biological Differences between Blacks and Whites,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113, no. 16 (April 2016): pp. 4296–4301, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1516047113.
4: Salimah H. Meghani, Eeeseung Byun, and Rollin M. Gallagher, “Time to Take Stock: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of Analgesic Treatment Disparities for Pain in the United States,” Pain Medicine 13, no. 2 (2012): pp. 150–174, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-4637.2011.01310.x.
5: Noor Chadha et al., “Toward the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine,” Toward the Abolition of Biological Race in Medicine | Othering & Belonging Institute, May 13, 2020, https://belonging.berkeley.edu/race-medicine.
6: “Daniel Prude Video: Rochester Police Body Cam Footage (10-Min. Version),” Democrat and Chronicle (Democrat and Chronicle, September 4, 2020), https://www.democratandchronicle.com/videos/news/2020/09/04/daniel-prude-death-rochester-police-body-cam-video-10-minute-version/5710351002/.
7: Roger W. Byard, “Ongoing Issues with the Diagnosis of Excited Delirium,” Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology 14, no. 2 (March 2017): pp. 149–151, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12024-017-9904-3.
8: Michael S. Pollanen et al., “Unexpected Death Related to Restraint for Excited Delirium: a Retrospective Study of Deaths in Police Custody and in the Community,” Canadian Medical Association Journal 158, no. 12 (1998): pp. 1603–1607.
9: University of Rochester Medical Center, “Fast Facts,” Fast Facts — About Us — University of Rochester Medical Center, 2020, https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/about-us/fast-facts.aspx.
10: University of Rochester Medical Center, “About Us,” About Us — University of Rochester Medical Center, 2020, https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/about-us.aspx.