Can they offer a fellowship and take it away?

[Anfield rd]

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Hypothetically speaking... You've been promised a fellowship, got a signed acceptance letter, signed all the papers, , then 1 year later something happens (program director quits or dies, program is being restructured, loss of accreditation, etc), and you are told that the spot is no longer there. I've seen that happen on 2 separate occasions, and I wonder if the residents have any leverage whatsoever in cases like that. Can we sue? Request an alternative offer from the program? Or do we just have to take it?

 

[pathstudent]

Hypothetically speaking... You've been promised a fellowship, got a signed acceptance letter, signed all the papers, , then 1 year later something happens (program director quits or dies, program is being restructured, loss of accreditation, etc), and you are told that the spot is no longer there. I've seen that happen on 2 separate occasions, and I wonder if the residents have any leverage whatsoever in cases like that. Can we sue? Request an alternative offer from the program? Or do we just have to take it?

I think they can say they lost their funding or something like that and that would pretty much cover them.

YOu could try suing but seriously how can you force them to take you as a fellow?

I would just be pissed, get over it and then move on. No solid or even semi-solid program would just pull the rug out from under your feet unless they were really having big time trouble and then they would still likely do all they could to help you out.

 

[deschutes]

I have heard of one instance where a fellowship offer was withdrawn. I don't personally know of the circumstances, apart from there being concerns about the candidate's background with additional information coming to light later in the year. And that's all I know to say about it.

 

[Patrick O]

I know of a couple instances when this has happened. Most of them were due to a fellowship director leaving from the department ..... a fellowship with no fellowship director is bad thing.... and the fellow (or should I say fellow to be) loses his/her spot and has to scramble...

This is/can be a horrible situation and it can happen with all fellowships. The ones I know of in particular are dermpath because that is the fellowship I am trying to get into and I have made myself aware of these things. When looking for a fellowship you have to also consider the stability of the department and if the fellowship director plans on jetting anytime soon. As far as I know if a fellowship director does jet the fellowship accreditation could be in serious jeopardy. Fortunately it doesn't happen often but when it does it is easy to see why a fellow would be really pissed off.

 

[LADoc00]

If a PD died why would they suddenly not need a fellow in say derm?

I can understand if a program folded because simply there wasnt an expert in that specific area anymore, thats why you apply to stable programs..

 

[KCShaw]

"Hypothetically speaking..." if it really screws you then talk to a lawyer who has dealt with resident issues before, because the devil's in the details. Potentially, even discussing it with that institution's GME might be of some use. It's one thing for something catastrophic, unforseen, and uncontrollable happen to a program, and another for a program to renig on a formal, signed letter for no particular reason. Not that you'd really want to attend a program that pulled the rug on you in an illegal, or at least unethical, manner -- but we shouldn't let that sort of unprofessional behavior slide, either.

Generally speaking residents as a group have much more power than we are willing to exercise, because the cost of failure (or even the cost of success, if butting heads with the people you need recommendations from) is very high for the individual.