• Government
• Profession
• Business
• Opinion
• Health

• Health reform
• H1N1
• P4P
• EMRs
• Medicare
• Liability
• AMA House
• » More

• Book Excerpt
• Business Pitch
• Meetings
• » More

• Contract Language
• Ethics Forum
• In the Courts
• Practice Management
• Technically Speaking
• » More

• Bby date
• Regions
• Health plans
• Sections
• News briefs
• Columns
• Editorials
• Letters
• Writers
• Other years

• Search tips
• E-mail alert
• Radio
• RSS
• Mobile
• Subscribe
• Institutions
• Staff directory
• Advertising
• Permissions
• Reprints
• News media
• Site guide
• Useful links
• About
• Premium
• Contact

Doctors divided over use of affirmative action by medical schools

If the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down racial preferences, fewer minority students may get into medical school.

By Myrle Croasdale, amednews staff. June 2/9, 2003.

• PRINT|
• E-MAIL|
• RESPOND|
• REPRINTS|
• SHARE

Race is not a simple black and white issue when it comes to medical school admissions.

Proponents say the profession has a moral obligation to produce more minority doctors to ease health care disparities and keep pace with the growing minority population and that affirmative action is necessary to fulfill that obligation.

Opponents contend that it's immoral to look at any applicant's race or ethnicity and that schools should admit only the best of the best.

Yet physicians on both sides of the debate agree on one thing: The face of medical education could change dramatically if the use of racial preferences is eliminated by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court's decision, expected by July 1, in two cases filed against the University of Michigan and its use of race in admissions is expected to shape admissions for all colleges, including medical schools, for years to come.

"It will be a disaster if there is a judgment that totally eliminates race-conscious decision-making," said Jordan Cohen, MD, president of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges.

The use of racial preferences must be protected, according to the AAMC in its friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the university. One reason given is that minority physicians are more likely to practice in medically underserved areas, improving access to care for these generally poor, minority communities.

But Sally Satel, MD, author of PC, MD: How Political Correctness is Corrupting Medicine and member of the Washington, D.C.-based think thank American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, argues against the assumption that minority physicians are more likely to return to their old neighborhoods. The study that determined this view was a survey asking "Where would you practice?" not "Where do you practice?" she said. [...]