DEI Idolatry In Medical Schools

“Into whatsoever houses I enter, I will enter to help the sick. . . whether bond or free.” ~ from the Hippocratic oath

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Submitted by Mark W. Fowler, J.D., M.D. –

Until recently, admission to medical school was based primarily on the Medical College Admission Test and grade point average. Inasmuch as competition for medical school seats is intense, (At Tennessee there are fourteen applicants for every seat) this information combined with personal interviews was used to winnow the pool of applicants to the most promising students.   

While it was not perfect, and there are bad doctors just as there are bad people in every profession, it had one quality, which was to select those most likely to succeed as physicians. 

Most medical students are very capable.   Once admitted they tend to complete training and join the ranks of practitioners.  No doubt unsuccessful applicants with lower grades and MCAT scores might have been good physicians as well.  Such is the nature of scarcity, a ubiquitous quality in all of life.  Medical school is far more challenging physically and mentally than law school (I have done both).  Stamina and intellect are required to succeed.

Today the quality of future physicians is being threatened by the pernicious ideology of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. 

Condensed to its essence DEI holds that white society (men particularly) has denied minorities power, access to education and wealth because of racism. Pointing to poor health disparities among minorities and especially birth outcomes of women of color, idealogues hold that the problem is that white male doctors are less empathetic than women doctors of color.  

Some medical schools attempt to address these outcome disparities by admitting more minorities regardless of their fundamental capability.  This has had disastrous consequences at UCLA formerly one of the premier medical schools in the nation. 

A recent story from the Washington Free Bacon reports that nearly half of UCLA medical school students fail basic medical competency exams.  Half of them.  This represents a tenfold increase in the failure rate since 2022 and produced a decrease in rank from 6th in the country to the 18th for the medical school. 

The blame for the failures has been attributed to the arrival of Jennifer Lucero as the Dean of Admissions in 2020. Lucero prioritized the admission Black and Latino applicants over qualified white and Asian applicants.  One is compelled to wonder how pregnant minority women with complicated health issues will be better served by this cohort of physicians.

At Duke Medical School, the Dean, Dr. Mary Klotman endorsed a plan that condemned  a culture where “In the workplace, white supremacy . . .explicitly and implicitly privileges whiteness and discriminates against non-Western and non-white professionalism standards related to dress code, speech, work style, and timeliness.”  Translated, this means that showing up on time and individualism are “perniciously white “ traits. 

DEI emphasizes a “social justice “ element at the expense of clinical learning.  There is significant criticism of this by professors at UCLA and John Hopkins, which plans to end its DEI program, as well as efforts on the part of legislatures to end the practice.

Personally, I have never seen significant indicia of racism by physicians, nurses, or staff at any of the clinics or hospitals I have worked, including a state prison.  The overwhelming number of doctors care far more about identifying correctly and treating appropriately any patient than they do about the race, creed, or color of the patient.  The Hippocratic oath compels this belief.

Accordingly, most doctors prefer to be better diagnosticians than empaths.  Clarity of thought, rigor of analysis, and maintaining a detailed knowledge base are far more critical to success than empathy.  A disease process is indifferent to the race of its victim, but not to the acuity of the attending physician, where a wrong diagnosis, or incorrect treatment can be disastrous.

A realistic appraisal about differences in health outcomes would likely demonstrate a stronger relationship to patient behavior than the race of the physician.  It is not that doctors are reluctant to treat minorities, but that some minorities are reluctant to come to the doctor to begin with or engage in behaviors which are unhealthy.  Delaying obstetric care, ignoring manifestations of illness, failing to comply with medication regimens probably play a more significant role in poor outcomes than physician personal biases.

Medical knowledge and available treatments are growing rapidly.  Physicians are healers, not social engineers, and their appropriate focus is a strong science background. 

Think about this:  Do you prefer your physician know more about disease or have a good bedside manner?  Stated another way, do you want to feel better or get better?

About the Author: Mark Fowler is a Board-Certified Physician and former attorney.  His website is Mark Fowler, Right of Center.