Hospital Segregation in South Challenged by N.A.A.C.P Suit

    THE NEW YORK TIMES, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1962. 

Hospital Segregation in South Challenged by N.A.A.C.P. Suit 

Medical Bias Charged 
By CLAUDE SITTON 
Special to The New York Times, 

GREENSBORO, N. C., Feb.| 
12—Racial barriers in Federal-| 
ly assisted hospital were cnal-| 
lenged today in a suit filed in| 
Federal district court here. 

The suit, which Strikes at] 
segregation and discrimination | 
in various forms, marks the) 
first such attack on the “sepa-| 
rate-but-equal” provisions of the| 
1946 Hill-Burton Act. 

The program has provided} 
Federal financing to help con-| 
struct more than 2,000 medical- 
care facilities in the eleven Old) 
South states, Authorities on ra- 
cial matters contend that vir-| 
tually all of these institutions 
discriminate against Negroes in 
one way or another. 

The possibly far-reaching im- 
plications of the legal action 
lwere underscored by Jack 
Greenberg, general counsel for 
the N. A. A.C. P. Legal De- 
fense and Educational Fund, 
Inc,, with headquarters in New 

a 
“We would hope that this suit 

and others like it would re-| 
sult in the integration of health| 
services throughout the South,” 
Mr. Greenberg said when 
reached by telephone. 

He and other fund lawyers 
brought the suit in behalf of| 

Fesidents of that face a8 9 class, 
Named as defendants were the 
Moses H. Cone Memorial Hos- 
pital and Wesley Long Commu- 
tity Hospital end their admin- 
strator 

‘The suit was filed this morn- 
ing with the clerk of the Unit- 
ed States District Court for the 
Middle District of North Caro- 
lina by Conrad O. Pearson of 
Durham, N. C. 

He is legal counsel for the 
State Conference of Branches 
of the National Association for 
the ‘advancement of Colored 

ople. 
vere complaint noted that the! 
two, Greensboro hospitals had| 
received Fedi 
the state aeeey charged with 
administering the _ Hill-Burton 
program, that they were 
licensed by the state and that 
they had tax-exempt status. 

Both hospitals were accused 
of denying use of their facili- 
ties to Negro doctors and den- 
tists. Cone segregates Negro 
patients and does not 
admit them at all, according to 
the accusations. 

Dentist’s Letter to Hospitals 
One of the plaintiffs, Dr. G. C. 

Simkins Jr., a dentist, who is 

president of the Greensboro 
Branch of the hee 
wrote the institutions in March, 
1960. He pointed out that neith- 
er would admit Negro physi- 
cians and dentists. 

‘As a result, his letter said, 
a Negro patient desiring to 
enter Cone would have to dis- 
charge his Negro doctor or den- 

+ tist and accept treatment from 
a white staff member. 

for admission to eleven Negroes — 
six physicians, three dentists 
and two patients — and other 

the staffs of the hospitals were 
filed in April, 1960, by the six 

One of the key provisions| 
under attack: states that, as 
a condition for receiving Feu- 
eral sid, applicants must as- 
sure th: 
Buch hospital or addition 

‘The suit contended that an-|to a hospital will be mave| 
other Binnie, A. J. ‘Taylor, available to all persons resid- was from a ric| ing in the territorial ares of 
ulcer and resid to enter either|the applicant, without _dis- 
Con where ‘the best| crimination ae aan on soe 
facilities for’ treatment in the| creed or color, but an excep- 
Greensboro area are available.”| tion a oe where spit | 

Dental Case Noted ties are provided for separate 
Donald R. Lyons, the second] population groups, if the plan| 

patient among the plaintiffs,!makes equitable provision on 
Er saia to require hospitali-| the basis of need for facilities 
zation for removal of an impact-| for each such group.” 
ed tooth. The suit said that Cone, ‘The _ principle “involved 1s 
ay Long were the only hos-|similar to that which pre- 
pitals in the Greensboro area vailed in the public education 
with dental facilities, field until it was overturned 

It contended that Long would 
not admit Mr. Lyons because 
he was a Negro and that his 
dentist, Dr. Simkins, could not 
perform the ae at Cone, | 
also because of ract 

‘The sweeping nature of the| 
requested injunction wa3 
emphasized in a paragraph that 
asked that the defendants be 

physicians and three dentists. 
Cone officials declined to ac- 
cept them, according to the suit, 
while those at Long promised 
“due consideration” but took 
no further action. 

by the Supreme Court in its 
1954 decision against public 
school segregation. 

‘Most Hill-Burton hospitals in 
the South admit Negroes ‘and 
then, place them in segregated] 
Niginee inception of the Hull 
Burton program the eleven! 
Southern states have received| 
$562,921,000 of the $1,550,214,-| 
062 spent or obligated by the| 

prohibited from: Federal Government, a Public] 
“Continuing to enforce the | Health Service report, shows. 

policy, practice, custom and are Ala-| 
Be Arkansas, Florida, Geor- 

ana, _ Mississippi, 
| North Tine South Caro-| 

na | ‘Tennessee, ‘Texas and Vir- 
ginia. 

usage of denying admission to| 
patients on the basis. of race 

any way conditioning or | 
abridging the admission to 
use of, the said facilities . 
the basis of race.” 

The court was also asked to 
issue a declaratory judgment 
that the separate but equal 
provisions of the Hill-Burton | 
Act violated the constitutional 
guarantees of due process and 
equal protection.