On March 15, 2023, Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners held it’s March Board Meeting. On the agenda for the meeting was the approval of a resolution “authorizing the Fulton County Attorney to file a complaint with the Department of Justice requesting it investigate Wellstar Health System for Health Care Redlining; and for other purposes.”
During the hearing, newly elected commissioner Bridget Thorne of District 1 opposed the resolution while offering evidence that the hospital is closing over economical issues rather than racial “redlining”. Wellstar’s Atlanta Medical Center (AMC), one of two Wellstar hospitals mentioned in the hearing, had tried to ensure the continued operations of the dilapidated structure and since as early as February 2020 by assistance and a “sale or partnership“.
Thorne said that Wellstar has “long served the vulnerable patients in our city without public financial support” and that Wellstar has “provided more indigent charity and unreimbursed healthcare than any other system in the state of Georgia.” Thorne mentioned that a necessary modernization overhaul of the aged infrastructure would require an investment of around $1 billion but that such investment is difficult when they lost $107 million in unreimbursed medical treatment in the last 12 months while the competing hospital down the street is subsidized by Fulton County with $50 to $60 million.
Rather than respond with evidence to contradict Thorne’s statement based on Wellstar’s last financial audit and statements made, Commissioner Abdur-Rahman lashed out at Thorne’s “White Privilege” and cites phone calls from constituents are her basis for argument.
Below is the “White Privilege” accusation from Commissioner Abdur-Rahman, followed by the entire segment of the hearing, in which Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr also called her out for “White Privilege.” White Jewish Commissioner Dana Barrett also opined on Thorne’s statement in the full version.
The full segment of that agenda point:
Commissioner Marvin Arrington, Jr had to get one last final jab in at Commissioner Thorne, who earlier made it clear she was of Mexican descent. Mexican-Americans are, of course, recognized as a minority ethnicity in the United States.
More gold from the child on the Fulton Board, @marvinarrington
"Do you know what a 'Karen' is?? Because you sound like a 'Karen!'"
Commissioner Thorne is a Mexican-American and made that clear earlier in the hearing.
For a seasoned attorney, you sure https://t.co/q36IJ6DUUG… pic.twitter.com/UxCEnjnzvV
— CannCon (@CannConActual) March 27, 2023
