New Lead Singer of the Four Tops Sues Hospital for Discrimination

An unfortunate incident at a Michigan hospital left an acclaimed singer and member of the Four Tops feeling neglected and discriminated against, largely due to hospital staff thinking he was delusional for claiming to be who he was — and potentially because he was black. He’s now suing the hospital and its workers.

Motown Morris

If you’re from Motor City or a decades music junkie, you’ll probably be pretty familiar with the legendary group The Four Tops. Rising to prominence in the 60s, the formidable foursome blazed the Motown trail with their repertoire of soul, R&B, doo-wop, jazz, disco, and show tunes. Even if you don’t recognize their names, you’ve probably heard such hits as “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” or “Reach Out (I’ll Be There).”

The original members of the Four Tops remained together for over four decades. The quartet originally consisted of Levi Stubbs on the lead vocals, joined by the accompanying voices of Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, and Lawrence Payton. But though their music remains immortalized in America, three out of four Tops sadly passed away in the 90s and aughts. Lead singer Stubbs was replaced first by Theo Peoples from The Temptations (of “My Girl” fame) and much later by the newest addition to the group, Alexander Morris, who joined in 2018.

Medical Emergency on Tour

We’ll emphasize that the Four Tops and Temptations were both household names from the last millennium and remain relevant to the music scene presently. The two groups were in the middle of their joint tour of the country in April of last year—appropriately, in their familiar stomping grounds of Michigan — when Morris had to be rushed to the hospital.

Morris came to the emergency room of Ascension Macomb Oakland Hospital in Warren, Michigan, with difficulty breathing and pain in his chest. He was put on oxygen, and the concern was his history of heart disease. He’d had to get stints in his heart in the past and had been defibrillated. During this visit, he was diagnosed with both pneumonia and a heart infraction potentially requiring a transplant. He also suffered three seizures during his stay.

Medical Staff Didn't Believe Morris

Morris understandably had security concerns when going in public due to stalkers and fans. He let nurse Holly Jackson and hospital security guard Greg Ciesielski know that he was concerned about the security of his hospital visit because he was a member of the Four Tops. Dr. Brandon Fishman was the ER doctor on staff who met with Morris and interviewed him. The doctor, nurse, and security guard apparently didn’t believe Morris when he told them that he was one of the Four Tops. Morris had a valid ID and asked if he could prove his identity by showing it. But Ciesielski ordered him to “sit his Black ass down,” a comment made in front of multiple nursing staff, none of whom intervened to help him.

Dr. Fishman decided to remove him from oxygen and pursue a psychiatric evaluation. The security guard was instructed to put Morris into “a restraining jacket and/or a four-point restraint mechanism.” Morris’ belongings were taken from him, and he was referred to another doctor for the “psych eval.”

Morris told them he was having trouble breathing and asked for the oxygen back, but they didn’t give it to him. He asked to have the restraints taken off and for his belongings back so that he could leave and get medical treatment at a different hospital, but he was told he was not free to leave. Several security guards were called in to surround him and ensure he could not leave. He claims that he was thus “falsely imprisoned and deprived of his personal property.”

Discrimination At Play?

Morris said that during this time, “his medical condition continuously declined, and he was denied the medical treatment he desperately needed.” Morris points out that Dr. Fishman and security guard Ciesielski were white. He claims that the doctor decided to remove him from oxygen despite his “clear symptoms of cardiac distress and significant medical history.”

Morris alleges that the decision to take him off oxygen and the general disbelief of his claim to be in the Four Tops were racially influenced. He accuses the hospital personnel of racially profiling him or profiling him “based upon a perceived disability.” In his complaint, he writes that the hospital and nurse Jackson “blatantly refused” to provide him with medical treatment “due to his race and/or perceived mental disability.” Instead, he claims he “received a deliberate misdiagnosis and received a lower standard of medical care based on his race that amounted to racial discrimination and delayed his actual diagnosis.”

Wife Comes to Aid

Morris’s wife finally came to the nursing station to collect her husband’s belongings and talked to him. She informed a security officer that he was indeed a member of the Four Tops, but nothing changed. When a nurse came to her, she showed him a video of Morris and the Four Tops performing at a Grammy Awards, at which point the nurse finally believed them.

The nurse went to get the doctor, who came back and said he was canceling the psych eval. The restraining jacket was finally removed, and Morris was put back on oxygen. But in the end, Morris was offered a measly $25 gift card to Meijers grocery stores as an apology.

Aftermath and Lawsuit

Later, one of the hospital security guards allegedly contacted Morris to tell him that Ciesielski had the habit of making racist comments about Black people and also of using excessive force with patients. The security guard also told Morris that he saw employees tampering with the incident report made about Morris’s treatment and that hospital employees had been instructed not to discuss the incident. He also mentioned that Ciesielski was not disciplined for the incident.

Morris’s suit alleges discrimination from the hospital, which is illegal under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 since the hospital receives federal funding. It claims that the hospital was “vicariously” responsible for the actions of its employees but also names nurse Jackson and Ciesielski as co-defendants. He is claiming discrimination and negligence, and seeking upwards of $150,000 in damages.

Related Resources:

• Health Care Discrimination (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)
• Emergency Room Malpractice: When Can You Sue? (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
• How To Sue a Hospital (FindLaw's Learn About the Law)