Editing Charles R. Drew (section)

== Death ==
[[File:Dr Charles Richard Drew by Charles Alston.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration of Drew by [[Charles Alston]] in the collection of the [[National Archives and Records Administration|National Archives]]]]

Beginning in 1939, Drew traveled to [[Tuskegee]], [[Alabama]], to attend the annual free clinic at the [[John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital]].<ref>{{citation
  | title     = Charles Drew: Pioneer in Medicine
  | first    = Anne E.
  | last    = Schraff
  | year      = 2003
  | publisher = Enslow Publishing, Inc.
}}</ref> For the 1950 Tuskegee clinic, Drew drove along with three other black physicians. Drew was driving around 8 a.m. on April 1. Still fatigued from spending the night before in the operating theater, he lost control of the vehicle. After careening into a field, the car somersaulted three times. The three other physicians sustained minor injuries. Drew was trapped with severe wounds; his foot had become wedged beneath the brake pedal.

When reached by emergency technicians, he was in shock and barely alive due to severe leg injuries. Drew was taken to [[Alamance Regional Medical Center|Alamance General Hospital]] in [[Burlington, North Carolina]].<ref name="ferris.edu">{{cite web
 |url         = http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/june04.htm
 |title       = Question of the Month: The Truth About the Death of Charles Drew
 |date        = June 2004
 |publisher   = [[Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia]]
 |access-date  = November 19, 2013
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20131212204306/http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/june04.htm
 |archive-date = December 12, 2013
}}</ref> He was pronounced dead a half hour after he first received medical attention. Drew's funeral was held on April 5, 1950, at the [[Nineteenth Street Baptist Church (Washington, D.C.)|Nineteenth Street Baptist Church]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]

Despite a popular myth to the contrary, once repeated on an episode ("[[Dear Dad... Three]]") of the hit TV series ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'' and in the novels ''[[Carrion Comfort]]'' and ''[[The 480]]'', Drew's death was not the result of his having been refused hospital access because of his race. According to John Ford, one of the passengers in Drew's car, Drew's injuries were so severe that virtually nothing could have been done to save him. Ford added that a blood transfusion might have actually killed Drew sooner.<ref name="ferris.edu"/><ref>{{cite web
  | url        = http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1092/did-the-black-doctor-who-invented-blood-plasma-die-because-white-doctors-wouldnt-treat-him
  | title      = Did the black doctor who invented blood plasma die because white doctors wouldn't treat him?
  | date       = November 1989
  | website  = [[The Straight Dope]]
  | access-date = February 18, 2014
}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
  | url        = https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz-DTSXeLRYC&pg=112
  | last1      = Sluby
  | first1     = Patricia Carter
  | title      = The Inventive Spirit of African Americans: Patented Ingenuity
  | pages      = 112–113
  | year       = 2004
  | publisher  = Greenwood Publishing Group
  | isbn       = 978-0275966744
  | oclc       = 260101002
  | access-date = February 18, 2014
}}</ref> This myth spread, however, because it was not then uncommon for black people to be refused treatment because there were not enough "Negro beds" available or the nearest hospital only serviced whites.<ref>{{cite journal|url=
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/07/30/desegregation-the-hidden-legacy-of-medicare|title=Desegregation: The Hidden Legacy of Medicare|first=Steve|last=Sternberg|date=July 29, 2015|journal=[[U.S. News & World Report]]|access-date=November 19, 2021}}</ref>