Can a severely disabled person make it through medical school?

[captain cripple]

I'm undergrad and suffer from whole-body osteoarthritis... that is, I have OA throughout my entire body, at 25. Right now it is early in the disease process but my condition is deteriorating and I expect to lose the ability to walk, write, type, and possible drive over the next few years. I don't expect that I will be able to do very well at most jobs. As an alternative to suicide, I've thought about trying to go to medical school. I figure our society is just liberal enough to coddle a disabled person all the way through and make whatever accommodations are necessary (not that I am necessarily in favor of this practice). I figure if I was practicing I could get a PA to do the physical work for me, and then I could make decisions and sh*... petty good plan eh? I know that disabled people have made it through med school before and what I want to unerstand is HOW? How do you dissect cadavers and whatnot if you have limited dexterity? Any insight would be appreciated.

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[TheMagicCookie]

Sorry to hear of your condition, but glad to hear that you are trying to coexist with it. My only concern is that you are putting an awful lot on the thought of going to medical school. With the amount of stress and exhaustion that a typical med student and resident goes through on a regular basis, will the extra stress of attending with a disability eventually cause the thoughts of suicide to return? Have you spoken with a counselor or therapist about your past suicidal thoughts? Might help to explain how to deal with it and whether medicine would be a good fit for you. I wish you the best of luck...keep us informed!

 

[FrickenhugeMD]

I remember reading a thread awhile back about a quadriplegic gaining acceptance into med school, and some of the questions he posed. I would assume if he can, you can. If I remember correctly he got into Johns Hopkins.... Do a search for it and you should get some answers, although alot of people on that thread were not very supportive.

Best of luck

 

[Dr Lyss]

I'm undergrad and suffer from whole-body osteoarthritis... that is, I have OA throughout my entire body, at 25. Right now it is early in the disease process but my condition is deteriorating and I expect to lose the ability to walk, write, type, and possible drive over the next few years. I don't expect that I will be able to do very well at most jobs. As an alternative to suicide, I've thought about trying to go to medical school. I figure our society is just liberal enough to coddle a disabled person all the way through and make whatever accommodations are necessary (not that I am necessarily in favor of this practice). I figure if I was practicing I could get a PA to do the physical work for me, and then I could make decisions and sh*... petty good plan eh? I know that disabled people have made it through med school before and what I want to unerstand is HOW? How do you dissect cadavers and whatnot if you have limited dexterity? Any insight would be appreciated.

I'm sensing a troll here...

but just in case, many schools have technical standards that you must be able to meet in order to attend their medical school. That being said, as long as you can handle the physical rigor and demand of medical training and being a physician you can find a school to accept you, assuming of course that you have all of the prereqs and some clinical exposure and all that jazz.

 

[Dr Lyss]

I remember reading a thread awhile back about a quadriplegic gaining acceptance into med school, and some of the questions he posed. I would assume if he can, you can. If I remember correctly he got into Johns Hopkins.... Do a search for it and you should get some answers, although alot of people on that thread were not very supportive.

Best of luck

yup I believe his username was walderness.

 

[FrickenhugeMD]

Here, I did the search for you.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=529637&highlight=quadriplegic

Hope that can provide some answers for you, if not you could always PM him and ask more specifics

 

[captain cripple]

I'm sensing a troll here...

No troll.

 

[justdoit31]

If that is what you want to do- try it...however it is sad that you said this was your alternative to suicide- I really don't think a medical school would want someone that unstable.

Also, who would you blame if your PA gave you a different interpretation of a physical exam than you would have and you made a wrong decision???

I think it would be a very tough road and that you need to make sure you are in medicine for the right reasons and I think it could be difficult to pass schools technical standards because some of them include things like being able to use fingers, etc.

 

[LizzyM]

Talk with your rheumatologist and get referrals to physical and occupational therapy if needed. What you think is going to happen in the next few years could be an overestimate of what is likely to happen and what adaptive devices and techniques may be used to make it possible for you to maintain your functional abilities. Driving, typing, and writing are all amenable to adaptive devices that most of us have never imagined. Talk to your doctor and consult with your local chapter of the Arthritis Foundation.

 

[Thrombomodulin]

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[scottyT]

yes:

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/vincent-fop-kaplan-2192231-says-disease