Do No Harm Files Civil Rights Complaint Against Three Healthcare Providers’ Discriminatory Residency Programs

SALT LAKE CITY, UT; March 31, 2026 – This week, Do No Harm filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging that Corewell Health, Texas Tech University (Texas Tech), and HCA Healthcare discriminate on the basis of national origin, favoring foreign-trained physicians in their internal medicine residency programs over American-trained doctors.

Since these institutions receive federal funding, Do No Harm’s complaint alleges the residency programs violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which prohibit national origin discrimination in “any health program or activity.”

“National origin discrimination is both unlawful and inconsistent with the broader American commitment to equal treatment,” said Kurt Miceli, MD, Chief Medical Officer at Do No Harm. “When residency programs favor foreign trained physicians over American trained doctors, they effectively prevent qualified Americans from accessing valuable, competitive, and prestigious learning opportunities. It is deeply concerning that these programs appear to be discriminating against graduates of U.S. medical schools. Medical institutions and their directors should be hiring residents based on their ability to deliver high quality patient care, not on national origin. We urge HHS to thoroughly investigate these programs and address this alarming display of foreign favoritism.”

Background:

Each of the internal medicine residency programs at Corewell Health, Texas Tech, and HCA Healthcare offers a valuable residency program in internal medicine.

However, all three programs exhibit a consistent pattern: each has excluded nearly all American-trained physicians from its residency; each has filled its cohorts almost exclusively with residents trained in a small set of foreign countries; and each is led by a director or directors who mirror the residents they choose—foreign-trained physicians educated in or near the small set of foreign countries from which these residencies fill their ranks.

• Corewell Health’s program in Dearborn, Michigan: Of the current 33 physicians, only one attended medical school in the United States, while the remaining 97% trained in foreign medical schools. Those residents are from, among other countries, Sudan, Pakistan, Jordan, Palestine, Bahrain, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The program’s director attended medical school in Lebanon.
• Texas Tech’s program in Amarillo, Texas: Of the current residents, 95% are from foreign medical schools. They come from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Syria and elsewhere. The program’s directors attended medical school in Iraq.
• HCA Healthcare’s program in Brandon, Florida: Of the 58 residents, over 70% were trained abroad, and in the most recent cohort, there are no American-trained residents. Residents are from, among other countries, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Turkey. The program’s directors received medical training in Egypt and Pakistan.

Residency programs with such highly imbalanced hiring patterns warrant further scrutiny.

Read the complaint against Corewell Health, Texas Tech, and HCA Healthcare.

Do No Harm, established in April 2022, has rapidly gained recognition and made significant strides in its mission to safeguard healthcare from ideological threats. It has over 50,000 members, including doctors, nurses, physicians, and concerned citizens across all 50 states and 14 countries.