The lead singer of the Four Tops said a Detroit-area hospital restrained him and ordered a psychological exam after refusing to believe that he was part of the Motown music group.
Alexander Morris, who is Black, filed a lawsuit Monday against Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital in Warren, alleging racial discrimination and other misconduct during an April 2023 visit for chest pain and breathing problems.
Hospital staff “wrongfully assumed he was mentally ill when he revealed his identity as a celebrity figure,” the lawsuit says.
Morris is not an original member, but he joined the group in 2019.
The lawsuit says a nurse finally believed Morris was in the Four Tops and the psychological exam was canceled.
The hospital offered a $25 gift card as an apology, but Morris refused to accept it, the lawsuit says.
Accusing people who disagree with you of mental illness is fucked, and that’s what these doctors did. False beliefs, or beliefs the doctors think are false, aren’t a mental illness. Had an actual psychologist been in the room, they would have explained that a mental illness necessarily causes harm or distress to the patient. If someone believes he’s a famous singer, and there’s no other sign of trouble, then doctors have no business with the man except to solve the problem he came to have treated.