Cardiologist is called 'racist' after slamming patient for not speaking English
Members of a family who filmed a heated encounter with a cardiologist during a visit to his office are now accusing the doctor of racist behavior after he allegedly criticized the patient for speaking Spanish instead of English.
Yuset Galura and her daughter had accompanied Galura’s mother, Maria Ramirez, to Pulse Cardiology in San Bernardino, Calif., where the alleged scuffle with Dr. Paul Ryan occurred, local news outlet KTLA5 reported.
“As soon as the doctor walked in the room, she asked him if he spoke Spanish, and that was all it took for him to snap and start insulting her about speaking Spanish, being in this country and not knowing his language,” Galura said.
Video of the allegedly racist confrontation between Galura and Ryan has been viewed more than 180,000 times on Facebook. In the footage, Galura can be heard telling Dr. Ryan, “You don’t need to do nothing, but to tell me what’s wrong with her, if she’s OK, if she’s not … then I’ll translate to my mother. You don’t need to tell me that she needs to learn English so you can communicate. Communicate through me and I’ll let her know.”
“It’s not the same,” the doctor can be heard responding in the footage.
The family said they were left in shock after the encounter. Felicia Simpson wrote in a Facebook post, “It’s one thing if he didn’t want the medical information to get all mixed up if my mom translated to my grandma, but that wasn’t the case … his ONLY issue was that my grandma doesn’t speak ‘his’ language.”
A spokesperson for Pulse Cardiology said in a statement to KTLA5 that it is conducting an independent investigation into the reported incident involving Ryan, and that he is not currently seeing patients at either of their clinics.
“The reported incident does not reflect the values of Pulse physicians, assistants and administrators,” the statement reads. “Since its inception three years ago as the Inland Empire’s premier cardiology practice, Pulse has proudly served all patients regardless of nationality with a diverse staff that is fluent in several languages, including Spanish.”
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