A Kansas City, Mo., woman is suing Saint Luke’s Health System, the city of Leawood and Leawood Police for racial discrimination and civil rights violations after she says she was forcibly removed from a community hospital while in great physical pain.

Muriel Martin filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., late last week.

It’s in connection to an alleged incident that occurred in May 2021 at the St. Luke’s community hospital at 13200 State Line Road.

Problems with an IV

Martin, a 76-year-old Black woman, says she went to Saint Luke’s late at night on May 22, 2021, in “excruciating pain in her mid-section-to-lower abdomen” area, complaining of cramping, nausea and vomiting.

According to the lawsuit, hospital staff failed multiple times to hook Martin up to IV medication through an implanted port that Martin has. A doctor named in the suit then tried to insert an IV into a vein in Martin’s neck.

But Martin alleges that the doctor was “forceful” and “leaned all his weight on top of her,” which she found “extremely painful.”

As Martin pleaded for another way to get the IV in, the doctor allegedly said, “It’s obvious you don’t want to be here, why don’t you leave,” according to the lawsuit.

Leawood Police arrive

Martin said she wanted to stay to get treatment, and called her godson to tell her about the challenges she was having.

The lawsuit alleges the doctor then grabbed Martin’s phone from her and told her godson to come pick her up.

Shortly after that, Leawood police officers entered the room and told Martin to leave the facility.

Martin continued to plead that she still felt too unwell to leave and needed medical attention.

Leawood Police Officer Jacob Woods, named as one of the defendants in the suit, then “grabbed [Martin] by her shoulders and arms to lift her out of the gurney” and “shoved [her] into a wheelchair then proceeded to push her out to the front of the entrance to the emergency department.”

Martin said she did not feel well enough to drive and asked the officers if she could wait in her car until her godson arrived to pick her up.

The lawsuit says Woods responded that Martin was not allowed to stay and was also not allowed back at any St. Luke’s locations or any properties surrounding those locations.

Martin, “at this point … felt discriminated, isolated and agreed to go home but was concerned about having to drive home alone.”

She left the St. Luke’s community hospital at about 4 a.m., the lawsuit says.

‘The product of implicit bias’

The lawsuit names Saint Luke’s Health System, the city of Leawood, Officer Woods and Leawood Police Chief Dale Finger as defendants.

Martin alleges a number of violations, including racial discrimination, violations of the American with Disabilities Act and deprivation of her civil rights.

The lawsuit says her experience at Saint Luke’s was the “product of implicit bias” by hospital staff against Black people.

“White patients who seek treatment and advocate for their treatment are not forcibly removed from the hospital and the unequal treatment given to African-American patients is attributed to enduring racist cultural beliefs and practices,” the lawsuit says.

As a result of her experience, the lawsuit says Martin now “experiences serious paranoia, distress and shame” and actively avoids the Leawood area for “fear of experiencing a similar interaction.”

The lawsuit also alleges Officer Woods used excessive force in removing Martin from the hospital, a result “from the training, or lack thereof, he received in implementing and/or executing the polices [and] procedures” of the Leawood Police.

She is seeking a jury trial and asking for compensatory and punitive damages for emotional pain and suffering and to cover her attorneys’ fees.

Leawood Police said the department nor city could comment on ongoing litigation.

Saint Luke’s Health System could not immediately be reached for comment.