Chicago Health Care "Profssionals" Have No respect For The Dead

Chicago Health Care "Profssionals" Have No respect For The Dead

{{And they say people are racist in the south. I was always told that the north has some bad habits.
Dave}}

I write urging all to please come & join Natives Against Racism. The links are included at the end of this article.
Local News: Civil & Human Rights
Chicago's Staff Infection
By Don dhgo - July 28, 2009

Are area "professionals" guilty of racism and privacy violations in the guise of "affection"?
Christopher Alex Cornstalk, age 44, died July 17, 2006 from natural causes in the city of Markham, Illinois, within Cook County. A funeral was held and Mr. Cornstalk was buried. The story should have ended there.

But many of the very "professionals" who had responded to Mr. Cornstalk's illness, over many decades and in several states, decided that he was not entitled to the protection of the law - in particular his right to the privacy of his name, photographs, and medical history.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 requires all professionals and organizations involved in the medical industry to guard the privacy of their patients and customers. HIPAA provides a strict confidentiality law and limit disclosure of information that could reveal a patient's identity.

Nonetheless, a number of "Chicago Rescue Workers" (emergency room, fire department and police staff from several Chicago-area cities and villages) participated in a Facebook group named "Did You Know This Alcoholic Indian?". On this Facebook group, members posted pictures, statements, details of Cornstalk's life and medical care, and specifically exposed his identity.

"What a crack up! Now - all of you, Close your eyes.can you hear him??.or should I say SMELL him!! This was my Christmas card " - wrote one Caryn Muirhead, Health Care Professional, in reference to a staged picture of Mr. Cornstalk wearing a "Santa Cornstalk" hat.

Regarding the hat, Jennier Thomas Fortson wrote: "That was y I was supposed to get $5.to replace my hat! Of course I wouldn't put it back on!!!"

Cornstalk was of Native American heritage, and the Facebook group, besides being named "Did You Know This Alcoholic Indian?" featured a graphic of a traditional Native American headdress. Native American Facebook users expressed outrage upon discovering the group.

"As a Native Woman and a former medical professional, I am outraged at the lack of professionalism and outright racism displayed in this public forum. It is unconscionable," wrote Barbara Low, a Facebook user and Native American activist.

When contacted by activists in response, the participants defended their behavior by invoking their right to free speech, claiming the group was made with affection for Cornstalk. Christie Drozd Zdzinicki, who was listed as the creator of the Facebook group, wrote in an online forum: "I can title it whatever I want because I live in the greatest country in the world where the bravest soldiers in the world protect my freedom. The fact is: he was an alcoholic and he was a Native American. That is not racist, it's true."

The group claimed participants from a number of cities across the Midwest, but the City of Chicago (some of whose employees appear to be involved in the group) responded back disavowing any involvement. One response from Larry Langford of the Chicago Fire Department reads in part that "the pictures do not show CFD [Chicago Fire Department] personnel based on our forensic study of the pictures themselves, and other than the ambulance 17 comment [where a Chicago ambulance evidently interacted with Cornstalk], the suspect posts are not from members of the Chicago Fire Department based on the names used".

Facebook took immediate action to delete the group and its pages, though activists took screenshots and transcriptions of the group itself prior to deletion. Those screenshots and other additional details (including conversations with participants) have been posted and are available on the websites noted below.

Related
http://nativesagainstracism.weebly.com/index.html
http://nativesagainstracism.forumcircle.com/index.php
Article: http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/87194/index.php

-----

Thanks to Jennefar Yellowhorse & Paulette Steves!

So come on.....whatcha waiting for!? Take a stand in unity here & now by joining thru the links below:
http://nativesagainstracism.weebly.com/index.html
http://nativesagainstracism.forumcircle.com/index.php


Teresa Anahuy
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
__._,_.___