A Colorado pediatric anesthesiologist has called Michelle Obama a "monkey face." Dr. Michelle Herren also believes the US first lady speaks "ebonic English." The doctor with white ethnicity has been asked to stop seeing patients. She has also been fired from her teaching job at a medical school.
Herren is a faculty member at University of Colorado School of Medicine. She is a practicing at Denver Health Medical Center. The physician made the comment after a Facebook user called the Us first lady eloquent. However, Herren does not consider herself racist even after making such a comment. She believes she just calls a spade a spade.
The Colorado doctor also questioned Obama's educational background. Michelle Obama graduated from Princeton University and Harvard Law School. However, according to Herren, Harvard is a place for "entitled" folks. The doctor got her degree Creighton University School of Medicine in Nebraska.
JoAnn Nietto, one of the people who saw Herren's Facebook comment, flagged it for the University of Colorado medical board. She said she was outraged to see that the person who made such a comment worked at Denver Health. The organization serves a huge number of minority population.
Denver Health has declared on its Facebook page that Herren had been asked not to see patients or provide anesthesia services at Denver Health Medical Center. It is now looking for legal options to discipline the doctor. The hospital released a statement and marked Herren's comments as an insult to its mission and values. The statement said that hospital authorities were "appalled" by Herren's comments.
"As a public entity we are constrained by both state and federal law, including the First Amendment right of free speech, to terminate any employee for their off-duty comments, regardless of how offensive their comments may be," the Denver Post quoted the statement.
Herren is going to lose her faculty appointment at University of Colorado's School of Medicine after calling Michelle Obama a "monkey face." School Spokesman Mark Couch said Herren had "compromised her ability to meet the teaching and patient care mission of the School of Medicine."
