Delta Flight Attendants Question Black Woman’s Medical License on Flight

A black female doctor had her medical license scrutinized twice by Delta flight attendants after attempting to help a woman cope through a panic attack, The Boston Globe reports. Fatima Cody Stanford was reportedly on Delta Flight 5935 on Tuesday night when the woman sitting next to her “started to convulse and hyperventilate.” The woman reportedly told Stanford she felt “claustrophobic” on small planes and Stanford tried to calm her down. Stanford was then reportedly approached by a flight attendant, who asked to see her medical license. “So, you’re not a head doctor?” Stanford recalled the flight attendant asking her. A second woman reportedly approached Stanford and asked to see her license once more, and asked her, “This is your license?” The Globe reports the flight attendants were in violation of a Delta policy that “stopped requiring medical professionals to show their credentials before helping passengers.” The policy was reportedly implemented in 2016 after another black female doctor was not permitted to help a patient because she didn’t have her license on hand and “didn’t look like a doctor.” Delta reportedly contacted Stanford after the incident and said the attendants thought she was a therapist rather than a medical physician. They also reportedly assured her the incident was “actively under investigation.”