Written by Maurice Davis
Detroit Personal Injury Attorney Maurice Davis is representing Alexander Morris, the lead singer of the Motown group the Four Tops, in a racial discrimination lawsuit against a Michigan hospital.
The 53-year-old is claiming that the staff at Ascension Macomb Oakland Hospital in Warren deemed him delusional and denied him medical care after he told them he was a member of the Four Tops in a 2023 incident.
Morris is seeking more than $75,000 and a trial by jury.
In Morris’ complaint, he claims that he was restrained for nearly two hours and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The suit states that staffers “wrongfully assumed [Morris] was mentally ill” after he claimed to be a celebrity figure.
The suit names the hospital, a nurse, and a security guard as defendants.
Morris has a history of cardiac disease and was rushed to the hospital’s emergency room after experiencing chest pains and difficulty breathing while touring with the Four Tops.
Once he arrived at the hospital, Morris informed staff who he was and that he was concerned for his safety. The complaint states that employees did not believe him, took him off his oxygen treatment, and requested a psych evaluation rather than the necessary emergency treatment.
Instead of receiving oxygen treatments, Morris says he was put into a restraining jacket. His requests to remove the restraints and receive treatment at another facility were ignored. Morris also claims that the security guard made disparaging comments regarding his race.
Morris’ wife arrived at the hospital, and he told her the staff thought he was delusional, according to the complaint. Staffers did not believe her when she confirmed his identity until the couple showed a video of him performing at the Grammy Awards.
That’s when the psych evaluation was canceled, and Morris was released from the restraints, the complaint states.
Hospital staff began treating Morris. He was diagnosed with pneumonia and a heart infarction. Morris was told he may require a heart transplant. The complaint stated Morris also suffered three seizures that day.
Morris claims that he was offered a $25 gift card to a local superstore as “an apology,” but he said he refused the gift.
Attorneys Maurice Davis and Jasmine Rand told PEOPLE in a statement that their client was racially profiled when he arrived at the hospital. They said that the staff were quicker to assume “Mr. Morris was psychotic than successful because he was a Black man.”
They continued, stating that even if he was mentally ill, it was clear that he was in the middle of a medical emergency that necessitated swift medical intervention. The hospital had no excuse to deny him emergency medical treatment.”
Mr. Morris’ story has been covered by various media outlets, including PEOPLE, CNN, and TMZ.