Doctor Tells Black Patient With Back Pain She Suffers From "Ghetto Booty"

A Tennessee woman coping with a severe lower back problem endured even more pain when a doctor diagnosed her with "ghetto booty."
Terry Ragland, 55, could not believe the words coming out of Dr. Timothy Sweo's mouth during the April appointment at Sports Orthopedics & Spine in Jackson, Tenn.

“He said ‘I know what the problem is. It’s ghetto booty,’” Ragland told WREG in Memphis. “I think I blacked out after he said ghetto booty. I think my mind was just stuck on the phrase because I couldn’t believe he said that."

Sweo had diagnosed Ragland with lumbar lordosis, but decided "to take a technical conversation regarding your lower back and make it less technical," he later wrote her after she had complained to the office manager.

To make matters worse, Sweo told her there was no remedy for her condition, even though she could manage it with pain medication.

“It says to me that he doubts what type of intellect I have, how intelligent I am to be able to understand what he conveys to me in a medical term," Ragland told WREG.
Sweo admitted off-camera to the station that he said "ghetty booty" to Ragland, who has filed a formal complaint with the state's Department of Health.

“What I was trying to explain to that patient is that she has lumbar lordosis, which is a fancy name for the curve of the lower spine that makes the buttocks protrude more," the doctor said. "In trying to explain that I said that she had ghetto booty, and she didn’t like that apparently. That was my attempt to explain why she had the back problem."

The state will determine whether the doctor will be sanctioned, according to the report.

“I think I do understand why her feelings were hurt but I don’t understand what’s offensive about it,” Sweo said.

Said Ragland: “It’s not endearing. It’s not loving. It’s not a compliment. It’s wrong in every aspect and it’s very demeaning."

Sweo has practiced general orthopedics for 12 years, according to the Sports Orthopedics & Spine website. He writes that "my goal is to provide top quality service to all our patients. To help heal injury and treat the pains of aging, with the appropriate non-surgical or surgical treatments, and to do that with great professionalism and compassion."


A doctor diagnosed "Ghetto Booty"





I didn't know there was such a thing!









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