Get Racial Preferences Out of Orthopedic Surgery

In the medical field, opportunities should be awarded to individuals on the basis of merit, talent, and achievement. 

This encourages the best and brightest physicians and, by extension, promotes excellence in medicine.

But the Mid Atlantic Shoulder and Elbow Society (MASES) appears to think otherwise.

To support attendance to its annual meeting in September, MASES is offering “Education Scholarships” to students interested in orthopedic surgery. These scholarships cover the cost of the meeting registration.

Yet there’s a catch.

“Preference will be given to underrepresented minorities and women considering the field of orthopedic surgery,” the scholarship description states, while qualifying this preference with the line that “all applicants will be considered.”

This qualification doesn’t change the fact that MASES is still engaging in discrimination on the basis of immutable characteristics. 

A prospective physician is no more or less deserving of an opportunity due to their race or sex. It’s hard to see why these qualities should matter at all for the field of orthopedic surgery.

MASES should drop its racial preferences at once, and make clear that race or sex will not be factors in its consideration.