Med Schools: Four That Flunk

Hartford Courant ^ | June 29, 2003 | Jack Dolan and Andrew Julien

[CatoRenasci]

Idaho regulators investigating complaints involving 12 patients revoked Dr. Brent E. Woodfield's license after concluding that he didn't understand "the basic principles of the practice of medicine."

For Dr. Anacleto Capua, accused of misdiagnosing fatal conditions in three patients, refresher medical courses were recommended by Florida authorities concerned about his medical skills.

Hitting the books might have helped Dr. Narpat Panwar, who flunked the U.S. medical licensing exam seven times before passing - only to be accused later in New York of botching a childbirth so badly the newborn suffered brain damage.

[CatoRenasci]

This long article is grist for the anti-affirmative action mill! When you combine this with the problems with the minority physician who was admitted to UC Davis in place of Bakke, occasioning the famous case, is another.

There are several other articles in this series on the Hartford Courant website. Pretty bold for such a liberal paper.

[stainlessbanner]

Posted over here, too : )

[friendly]

The top undergraduate students have however gone into other fields (business, law), so that now 50% of the med school classes are women, up from 5% 25 years ago. Women who (wisely in my view) simply don't work as hard, take vacations, don't do 70 hour weeks, drop out to have kids, etc.

The new docs graduating are simply not as intelligent as the graduates of 25 years ago, in my experience. It is hard to imagine how bad American graduates of these Mexican and other third world hell-hole medical schools must be.

[boris]

"The schools - the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico, Howard University in Washington, Manila Central University in the Philippines and Meharry Medical College in Nashville - ranked at the bottom in separate analyses of three databases containing records of disciplinary actions against thousands of physicians across the United States."

Isn't Howard a "traditionally black" university?

--Boris

[Mamzelle]

"just license everybody" "just increase enrollment in all medical schools" "docs are deliberately limiting licensing"...PING

[texson66]

You are correct, sir!

[Mamzelle]

re: Women who (wisely in my view) simply don't work as hard, take vacations, don't do 70 hour weeks, drop out to have kids, etc.)))

Well, we all know stressed-out and overworking gal docs. BUT, in general, the increase in the number of women physicians has served to limit actual hours worked and patients seen. Women seldom go into the physically demanding specialties (ortho, neuro, gen surg), prefer the tidy office and hospital practices (radiology, internal med, opthal)-- leading to a shortage of the specialties unpreferred.

[CholeraJoe]

So is Meharry.

[Bluntpoint]

Doctors who graduate from "diverse" med schools are more open minded. Only they would view the heart organ as a possible third kidney during an operation.

I would not want a doctor restrained by outdated concepts of anatomy and physiology. Gray's Anatomy is a work of fiction forced upon us by white chauvnism.

[blau993]

Isn't Howard a "traditionally black" university?

It is, and that is both its strength and its weakness. In bygone days, Howard's professional schools produced great doctors and lawyers who performed valuable service for an African-American community that was otherwise poorly served. They could do this, because they attracted the "best and brightest" young people from the Black community, who in those days were shut out of most mainstream universities. Times have changed, however. The "best and brightest" young Black college graduates have lots of choices for law school or medical school. Some opt for the Howards of the world because of family tradition, but most do not. That leaves Howard and the other traditionally Black colleges forced to lower admission standards to fill their classrooms.

This, of course, raises the uncomfortable question of what, if any, mission these Black universities have in modern society. At the undergraduate level, these schools probably do serve a purpose. They provide a comfortable and nurturing home for Black students (many times the first family member to go to college) that might feel uncomfortable or out of place on a large multi-cultural campus. At the graduate level, however, these schools are highly suspect, and the time has probably come to question whether they still have a role.

The fact that this article elicited such a snippy response from the medical establishment is the best proof that it was right on point.

[Redbob]

I don't know about Manila & Guadalajara, but I do know what Howard University and Meharry have in common.

[Jim Noble]

I don't know about Manila & Guadalajara

I do.

They're for white kids with a lot of cash who don't make the cut.

Sort of Howards and Meharrys in reverse.

The key to evaluating an overseas medical school is, do the medical students FROM THAT COUNTRY go there?

If most of the students are Americans, chances are it's a snakepit.

[Under the Radar]

BUMP for truth.

[gas_dr]

The new docs graduating are simply not as intelligent as the graduates of 25 years ago, in my experience

And what experience would that be that you would take such an all inclusive shot at those of us who have graduated in the last 25 years. I graduated 6 years ago and consider my diagnostic skills and medicine skills superior to my predecessors simply because we know a whale of a lot more about the science of medicine than my family members who graduated 16 years ago. For example, I am proficient at reading echocardiograms intraoperatively -- something anesthesiologists even 10 years ago had never heard of. I wish you would not perpetuate this laymen myth in medicine -- in short, you are lending credence to the anyone can do it argument, and that is not true...

[friendly]

Bump

[friendly]

BTTT

[friendly]

Sorry, but it was an honor of honor to be a physician 25 years ago. Today, in our era of managed care, out of control shysters, rapidly falling Medicare and Medicaid income, $100,000-$200,000 in student loans, and poor working conditions....the finest, the smartest students usually don't go to med school.

I mean who in their right mind would put up with this cr*p?