[Jeff Kunerth | Sentinel Staff Writer
July 11, 2008
Dr. Alfred L. Bookhardt began his career as a physician in the 1960s, when blacks were barred from practicing at Orlando hospitals or joining the American Medical Association.
A belated apology for past discrimination by the American Medical Association is a small consolation for 79-year-old Alfred L. Bookhardt, a black physician who arrived in Orlando in the days of segregation.
"He feels it's necessary for an apology, but it's way too late for him. Being denied membership affected his lifestyle, his livelihood, his status and the opportunity to grow," said his wife, Ola Bookhardt.
The association Thursday apologized on its Web site for "its past history of racial inequality toward African-American physicians, and shares its current efforts to increase the ranks of minority physicians and their participation in the AMA..."
...At the same time the AMA was denying Bookhardt membership, Orlando hospitals were barring black doctors from joining their staffs and separating black patients from whites. At Orange Memorial Hospital -- now Orlando Regional Medical Center -- the black ward was in the basement next to the boiler room, and women having babies were placed next to men with tuberculosis.
"They went to Orange Memorial, where they were relegated to the basement with boiler pipes to deliver their children," said Geraldine Thompson, director of the Wells'Built Museum of African American History. "Many children were delivered in the elevator."]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-ama1108jul11,0,3220532.story
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