Discrimination and Identity Politics Have No Place in Medical Education

In 2019, Stanley Goldfarb, the former associate dean of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, wrote an article lamenting the change in his institution’s mission from training future doctors to treat every patient equally and nonjudgmentally to prioritizing “social justice.” In January, a Wall Street Journal editorial reported that students at the University of California School of Medicine are now required to take a course on “structural racism,” which segregates them by race, requiring them to withdraw to different areas and discuss anti-racist prompts. That same month, Jeffrey Flier, former dean of Harvard University Medical School, wrote a lengthy essay bemoaning the school’s curriculum changes. “In a rush to embed vague, contestable, and potentially harmful versions of social justice into medical education, we risk compromising the very foundation of medical training, and ultimately, patient care,” he concluded.

On March 19, Representative Greg Murphy, (R., N.C.), a medical doctor, introduced the Embracing anti-Discrimination, Unbiased Curricula, and Advancing Truth in Education (EDUCATE) Act. The bill would cut off federal funding for medical schools that force students and faculty to adopt specific beliefs, take loyalty oaths, or discriminate against students or patients by implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) classes in their curricula.

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