Motown icon Alexander Morris is suing a Michigan hospital and two staff members, saying they assumed he was mentally ill and physically restrained him after he revealed his celebrity status.
Morris, a member of the Four Tops, says the shocking incident happened in April 2023, according to the lawsuit. Morris was taken to Ascension Macomb Oakland Hospital by an ambulance after reporting chest pain and difficulty breathing. There, Morris says, he was denied treatment for his illness, restrained and profiled after informing staff he was a member of the Four Tops.
After arriving at Ascension on April 7, 2023, Morris says he told a nurse and a security guard, who are also named as defendants, about his celebrity status.
Morris says the pair did not believe his claim to fame, which he brought up to clarify why he needed security. As a result, Morris claims a white doctor who is not named as a defendant “racially profiled him and/or profiled him based upon a perceived disability.”
Instead of treating him for his chest pain, the lawsuit says, the doctor immediately ordered a psychological evaluation and the security guard placed Morris in a restraining jacket.
When he offered to show staff his ID to prove he was an actual Four Tops star, the security guard, who is white, told him to “sit his Black ass down,” the suit alleges.
Morris says he was later contacted by a fellow security guard who told him the guard was not disciplined and that his comments may have been removed from the internal incident report.
While at the hospital, the Motown singer repeatedly asked to have the jacket removed and to receive treatment for his difficulty breathing. Hospital staff still refused to believe Morris after his wife showed up to the emergency room and verified his claim, the lawsuit says.
The singer was only let out of his restraints after he showed a nurse a video of him performing at the Grammys, according to the lawsuit.
Hospital staff then offered the singer a $25 gift card to a local supermarket as “an apology for the dehumanization and discrimination he faced,” the lawsuit reads. Morris is seeking $75,000 in damages from the defendants.
Maurice Davis, attorney for Morris, told The Independent his client is still shaken more than a year later.
“He’s still extremely stressed,” Davis said. “He’s in poor health, so hospital visits are part of his normal life. Every time he has to go to a hospital, a subsequent hospital visit, he’s nervous and thinking back to what happened to him.”
A spokesperson for Ascension told The Independent they will not comment on pending litigation, but that the hospital does not condone racial discrimination and is “committed to honoring human dignity and acting with integrity and compassion for all persons and the community.”
This article has been updated to include comment from Maurice Davis.
