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Former Seattle Children’s doctor: ‘I still have love for the place that caused me harm’

Dr. Ben Danielson, former medical director at the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, talked with KING 5’s Joyce Taylor about the trial and what he hopes will change.

SEATTLE — In his first TV interview since being awarded $21 million in damages for a suit accusing Seattle Children’s hospital of discrimination and retaliation, Dr. Ben Danielson is sharing the pain of the last two years and the message he hopes his victory sends to other institutions.  

Danielson resigned from Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic at Seattle Children’s in 2020, after 21 years at the clinic created to serve Black, brown and low-income children in Seattle’s Central District. 

He accused the hospital of creating a racially hostile work environment and retaliating against him for pushing back on systemic discriminatory practices.  

An independent investigation in 2021 confirmed many of Danielson’s claims, including the hospital’s failure to investigate or address a hospital leader referring to Danielson as an N-word in 2009. 

After the jury ruled in his favor in December 2024, Seattle Children’s put out a statement expressing disappointment in the outcome.  

Danielson said he continues to deal with “a couple of decades worth of trauma” and is working to live the experiences honestly.  

“I would still say, it’s also in the space of a place that you have this love for,” he said of Seattle Children’s.  

Danielson sat down with KING 5’s Joyce Taylor to talk about the trial, what he hopes will change, and what he’s learned.  

Describing the alleged racism at Seattle Children’s 

Danielson said he was “essentially submerged” in racism at the hospital, and he saw it manifest through his personal experiences, through observing the experiences of his peers and through policies and actions that impacted families and patients he served.  

He said his own experiences with racism were “very direct, very personal, very, very traumatic,” yet he continued to hope that a place guided by data science and knowledge could change.  

“I described it once as sort of being in a large pot of water and having a heating source start to sort of heat up that water and make it come to a boil, and experiencing that as something that is all around you, sometimes directed exactly at you,” he said. 

One of the specific impacts Danielson pointed to was the code Seattle Children’s used to call out people they considered “problematic” called code purple. 

“From the very beginning the evidence was clear that it was unfair, that it was unfairly being applied to Black families,” said Danielson. 

Danielson said the data and the stories of how this code was negatively impacting families was presented to the board and leadership. 

“It was the willful ignoring of information in the context of racism that I think was really part of the deeper problem,” said Danielson. 

Danielson said the continued lack of action by the hospital leadership to address his concerns undermined his confidence, as well as made him feel outraged and a sense of shame.  

“You just wonder, ‘Is this all in my head? Is this something that is really happening? Did I really just hear that?’” he described.  

Ultimately, Danielson described feeling isolated by the system. 

Sitting through the trial 

Danielson and several of his colleagues took part in the trial, some of them as witnesses for the defense.  

Danielson described how the hospital seemed to pit Black and brown people on staff against each other at work. That same feeling came back up as some of his peers testified against him.  

“What it brought for me and brings for me today is a deep frustration with the hospital,” he said.  

Another issue that came up at trial – the use of the N-word by a hospital administrator.  

“I do wonder if it’s possible for someone who’s not Black to fully understand what the impact of that word is,” said Danielson.  

It’s a word that in the U.S., Danielson said, carries “a history of dehumanization, a story of denigration, a tale of erasure and a separation from your place in society.”  

Only one member of the jury was Black. Danielson described how she said she would not allow people in the trial to substitute “the N-word,” because she wanted people to hear the fullness of the word “n*****.”  

Not only did a hospital administrator use that word against him, Danielson said, but he also received a lecture about the good and bad N-words in the country. 

“Most harmful to me, to be honest, was also the lack of response,” said Danielson, “the ways in which I found that the hospital, its leadership, it’s culture, seemed to relegate the use of that word to the category of cussing.” 

Danielson said the jury seemed to understand the impact of using that word.  

“What these women told me, was that even if their own lived experience did not connect to this extreme denigration of being called a n***** as a Black person in this country, what they did understand absolutely was what it looked like and felt like to experience workplace hostility, to experience oppression in the workplace, to experience that kind of marginalization,” Danielson said. 

Danielson said the jury seemed to understand his experience and ultimately held the hospital accountable for their actions.  

After the verdict 

Seattle Children’s released a statement following the verdict saying that it was extremely disappointed and was exploring its next legal steps, which could include appeals.  

“I’m not surprised, based on the history of the way they’ve approached or not addressed issues of concern regarding racism within their midst, that they would continue to live in this space of denial,” said Danielson. 

He called it the purpose of the legal system to sometimes “impose accountability when someone does not want to accept accountability.” 

Danielson also believes the outcome sends a message to other institutions. He said organizations can no longer claim a lack of responsibility for systemic racism.  

“When you are faced with the evidence and the facts that it is happening in your space, in your moment, in a way that you are able to control and you do not control it, you are accountable for those actions and the impacts of those actions, or you are culpable. You're culpable,” he said. 

The whole experience has changed Danielson, who now says he’s trying to unlearn some behaviors he adopted to survive in a racist system. 

“The importance of being eloquent, composed, dressed better, just a little bit better than everybody else, just to make sure that there's more of a chance that you might be treated with respect,” he said. 

More than all of that, he’s trying to unlearn lessons ingrained from a young age, like keeping his anger bottled up and hidden.  

“By all means, no matter what else happens, make sure you are not seen as an angry Black man, because angry Black men die.” 

Despite the exhausting yearslong fight for justice, Danielson said what hasn’t changed is his faith in his communities. 

“I’ve been lifted up by their love over and over and over again.” 

Danielson is currently a faculty member in the department of psychiatry at the University of Washington. He is also the executive director of AHSAY, an organization working to put an end to youth incarceration. 

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