Deaf medical student's fight against a medical school: Argenyi v. Creighton University

You may have heard of this case that began in 2009: Argenyi v. Creighton University, 703 F.3d 441 (8th Cir. 2013).

The Federal District Court finally made a judgment back on December 19, 2013. You can read the summary of his case here.

Michael Argenyi was a medical student at Creighton University Medical School in Nebraska. He has profound hearing loss and he claims the school was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act because it did not provide him with interpreters and a real time captioning service known as CART.

Here is a video demonstrating CART in the operating room:

Medical Students with Disabilities on Facebook

There is a Facebook page for medical students with disabilities and you can find it here. It appears that the page was last updated in 2011, so we hope that the administrators of the page will start posting on the page again.

Does your medical school have a Disability Officer?

Every medical school has an administrative department that deals with students who have disabilities. However, you may need to check with your medical school to see if it has a formal Disability Officer. In many schools, the Human Resources department handles issues pertaining to physical or learning disabilities.

At Mount Sinai, they have a Disability Officer and here is their description:

The Disability Officer works with all Icahn School of Medicine students in both the Medical School and the Graduate School to facilitate equal access for students with disabilities by coordinating reasonable accommodations through a variety of support services (ie: access modification, learning related technology, extended test times). 

The goal of Mount Sinai's Disability Services is to provide a physically and educationally accessible educational environment so that each student is viewed on the basis of ability, not disability. Individually designed accommodation plans and services are determined based on the documented needs of each student in conjunction with their program requirements and are created to match the specific disability-related need of each student with those program requirements in mind.

You can read more here.

Interested in tutoring medical students?

What if you could make some extra income from home?
Do you have any interest tutoring medical students?

If so, please fill out this form. We are in the process of collecting information from physicians who would like to spend some time working as tutors. We are currently looking for people who feel comfortable tutoring medical students prepare for the USMLE Step 1 exam.

Please fill out the tutoring form here.

Lawsuit claims medical school violated Americans With Disabilities Act

There's a story on LJWorld.com that starts:

"An applicant to the Kansas University School of Medicine has filed a lawsuit against the school alleging she was denied admission because of a disability, in violation of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Emily McCulley, who has been diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and uses a wheelchair, originally was admitted to the medical school on Sept. 30, 2011, according to the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas."

You can read the full story here.

St. Louis University medical school sued by former medical student with learning disability

Last week, a story appeared about a former medical student who was suing St. Louis University medical school. Here's a snippet from the story titled, "SLU is sued by ex-med student with learning disability":

St. Louis University's medical school is being sued by a former student with a learning disability who says he wasn't given enough time to complete tests.

The lawsuit, claiming violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, was filed last week in federal court in St. Louis on behalf of the student, who was identified as John Doe. The lawsuit says the student was kicked out of the SLU medical school after failing multiple timed tests required to progress through school.

The lawsuit says the student, who attended from 2002 to 2011, was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in 2009. The student did well on course work, but earned multiple failing grades on a host of standard tests, according to the suit.

You can read more here.

Medical students with learning disabilities

Recently, we've had the opportunity to communicate with a number of medical students who have learning disabilities. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about learning disabilities:

Learning disability (sometimes called a learning disorder or learning difficulty), is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors. The unknown factor is the disorder that affects the brain's ability to receive and process information. This disorder can make it problematic for a person to learn as quickly or in the same way as someone who is not affected by a learning disability. People with a learning disability have trouble performing specific types of skills or completing tasks if left to figure things out by themselves or if taught in conventional ways.

There are a number of different conditions that may impact one's learning ability. Here's another interesting point that's made in this article:

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is often studied in connection with learning disabilities, but it is not actually included in the standard definitions of learning disabilities. An individual with ADHD may struggle with learning, but he or she can often learn adequately once successfully treated for the ADHD. A person can have ADHD but not learning disabilities or have learning disabilities without having ADHD. The conditions can co-occur.

Regardless of whether ADHD is included in the standard definitions of learning disabilities, it's important to provide students with the necessary resources and support to survive medical school.

Depression in Medical School

Are medical students more prone to depression? Is the stress of medical school too burdensome? Why do medical students get depressed?

Over the years, I've spoken with a number of medical students who suffered from depression. When my wife and I were in medical school, we were both under tremendous stress. Plus, we were sleep deprived. Now, add the fact that we were treating dying patients, very sick individuals, and grieving family members. Does that seem like a recipe for depression?

Medical school can be a very difficult experience, both mentally and emotionally. When I was in medical school, I remember dealing with my first patient who died in the hospital. I also remember performing CPR on a dying patient. I had to remove myself from my emotions so that I could focus on performing chest compressions on a patient who no longer had a pulse. 

The majority of US medical schools offer robust mental health services for medical students, but a number of them do not. Therefore, students who recognize signs of depression in themselves or in others should not hesitate to seek professional help. Depression can be a disability.  Make sure to seek help if you think you're depressed.

Thank you to those who responded to assist paraplegic students applying to medical school

We want to thank those of you who responded to our earlier request about assisting paraplegic students who are applying to medical school. We appreciate your willingness to be a resource and to encourage those who are aspiring to work in the medical field.

Paraplegic students pursuing medical school

We are currently trying to assist several students who are paraplegic and applying for medical school. We are looking for physicians, medical students, or others who may be able to provide any counsel or advice to these students. Please contact us. Thank you.

Disabled medical students get help from the GMC

Medical schools are to receive updated guidance to ensure that disabled students do not face unnecessary barriers in pursuing a medical career.

Research has found that disabled students are under-represented in medical schools; in 2009, less than six per cent of medical students declared a disability1 compared to 19% of working-age adults in the UK2.

The General Medical Council has worked closely with representatives of medical schools and disability experts to review its guidance, Gateways to the Professions: Advising medical schools, encouraging disabled students, to improve the support available for disabled students wishing to access medical education.

Professor Jim McKillop, Chair of the GMC Undergraduate Board and a member of the working group which reviewed the guidance, said:

"It is really encouraging to see more individuals with a disability seeking entrance to medical school and schools making appropriate adjustments to accommodate their needs, as for many years unnecessary barriers have stopped them from pursing a medical career.

"Diversity in the medical profession is clearly beneficial to individuals, patients and the profession itself and there is no reason why, with the help of reasonable adjustments, more disabled students should not be able to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and abilities through a medical career."

Read more here.

Disabled medical student sues medical school for dismissal

Here's the story (from Omaha.com):

LINCOLN — A medical student who suffers from depression has won the right to sue the University of Nebraska Medical Center and faculty members over his dismissal from school.

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that the student, identified only as John Doe, should be allowed to pursue his claim that UNMC and its staff violated his rights under the Americans With Disabilities Act in their decision to dismiss him for failing grades and lack of professionalism.

The judges stated that while they could not say that Doe’s dismissal from school “lacked a rational basis,” they ruled that he should be given his day in court.

High court opens the door for a disabled student to become a doctor

This story is from The Times of India (Mumbai)

HC orders admission of disabled boy to MBBS

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Wednesday came to the rescue of a 19-year-old disabled student aspiring to be a doctor. Rapping the state government for its casual approach towards the plight of disabled students, a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice S C Dharmadhikari directed the state to provide provisional admission to Kurla resident Tarique Khan in the MBBS course.

Three per cent of the seats are reserved for disabled candidates. As per guidelines issued by the Medical Council of India, physically challenged candidates with locomotory disability of lower limbs to the extent of 70 % are eligible for health science courses.

Read more here.

Medical students with disabilities

Here's some information from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) about medical students who have disabilities:

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has afforded new rights and protections to persons with disabilities and heightened public awareness of the needs of this population. This handbook (published in 1993) provides an overview of the ADA and the antecedent Rehabilitation Act of 1973. It is intended to assist medical schools in the review and refinement of institutional policies. It is not intended as a comprehensive treatment of all the issues that might arise under the ADA or the Rehabilitation Act, no is it intended to provide legal advice. Schools should consult legal counsel regarding any specific questions about particular situations or decisions.

The purpose of the ADA is to provide opportunities for persons with disabilities to compete with other applicants on the basis of their ability. Like the Rehabilitation Act, the ADA requires many entities—including medical schools—to provide certain accommodations to persons with disabilities so that they may enjoy the same benefits, services and opportunities as those without disabilities. Schools must judge persons on the basis of their ability to complete the educational program rather than on their status as disabled persons. Persons seeking admission must be able to perform the "essential functions" or meet the "essential eligibility requirements" of the program once they have been provided with any needed accommodation or modification. Each school must determine the "essential functions" or "essential eligibility requirements" of its educational program. Preadmission inquiry as to whether a person is disabled is not permitted, but a school may seek as much information as is needed to make a determination that an individual can perform the "essential functions" or meet the "essential eligibility requirements" of the educational program.

In 2005, the AAMC published an updated version of this document, Medical Students with Disabilities: A Generation of Practice, which includes a discussion of ADA-related case law generated since the early 1990s.

You can read the full document here (PDF)