Terry Ragland, a 55-year old Tennessee native, visited a doctor in the city of Jackson this April due to extreme pain in her lower back. But she could not believe her ears when Timothy Sweo told her the issue resided closer to another body part. “He said ‘I know what the problem is. It’s ghetto booty,’” Ragland told WREG in Memphis. “I think I blacked out after he said ghetto booty. I think my mind was just stuck on the phrase because I couldn’t believe he said that.” Dr. Sweo admits he used those words to diagnose “lumbar lordosis” to Ragland, but chose them “to take a technical conversation regarding your lower back and make it less technical,” he later wrote to his patient after she complained to the office manager. But Ragland told WREG that explanation just made her even angrier. “It says to me that he doubts what type of intellect I have, how intelligent I am to be able to understand what he conveys to me in a medical term.” Ragland has filed complaint with the state’s Department of Health. “I think I do understand why her feelings were hurt but I don’t understand what’s offensive about it,” says Sweo, who has practiced general orthopedics for 12 years.
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Tennessee Woman Files Complaint with Department of Health After "Ghetto Booty" Diagnosis
