A medical advocacy group that has made a name challenging “the disastrous consequences of identity politics” in healthcare has filed a civil rights complaint alleging that Corewell Health’s Dearborn hospital is effectively shutting out U.S.-trained medical graduates from its residency program.
The group, Do No Harm, points to numbers that speak for themselves.
Of 33 residents at Corewell Dearborn, only one attended medical school in the United States. The rest trained abroad, largely in a tight cluster of countries.
Nine are from Sudan. Eight from Pakistan. Four from Jordan. Others from Palestine, Bahrain, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The program’s director attended medical school in Lebanon.
Numbers like these demand an explanation from Corewell.
Hospital spokeswomen Julia Kendzicky and Sharon Stanton did not respond to requests for comment.
Do No Harm argues the pattern crosses a legal line. Federal law bars discrimination in programs receiving government funding based on race or national origin. Residency programs are no exception.
Do No Harm’s complaint asks that it be referred to the Justice Department for further examination.
Residency programs are not private fellowships or informal apprenticeships. They are the gateways of American medicine. They determine who gets trained, who gets licensed, and who ends up treating patients.
Corewell Dearborn serves a heavily Arab and Muslim patient population. Whether that has anything to do with how residents are selected is unclear. The hospital has a “C” rating from Leapfrog Group, a closely followed patient safety advocacy nonprofit.
In its complaint, Do No Harm alleges that two other U.S. hospitals are discriminating against U.S.-trained medical graduates.
Of Texas Tech’s current residents, Do No Harm alleges that 95% are from foreign medical schools, including Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Syria. The program’s directors attended medical school in Iraq, the complaint alleges.
Over 70% of HCA Healthcare’s residents in Brandon, Florida were trained abroad, and in the most recent cohort, there are no American-trained residents, according to the complaint. Residents are from, among other countries, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. The program’s directors received medical training in Egypt and Pakistan.
Manhattan Institute senior fellow Ilya Shapiro told Fox News that in addition to violating civil rights law, the medical programs could also be violating immigration law.
“That kind of disproportionate hiring pattern definitely raises an inference that the programs are violating the law, so HHS should indeed investigate,” Shapiro said. “In addition to the civil rights laws, there may be a violation of immigration law as well, because visas can only be granted if no qualified American can be found for the job or, in the medical context, to serve areas with a lack of doctors (not the case for internal-medicine residencies).”
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