Consequences of suing your med school on residency?

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n618ft

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I'm currently barking up the chain of command at my university for a couple violations on a settlement/contract with the school. However, I've hired an attorney to begin writing a complaint and injunction against them. Hoping diplomacy works. Has anyone had any such issues?
 
This has the potential to be an epic thread. I hope more details are forthcoming.
Would love to hear more. Dealing with some Army contract issues myself. Attorney etc. they totally screwed up my situation.
 
Would love to hear more. Dealing with some Army contract issues myself. Attorney etc. they totally screwed up my situation.
PM and I can share more
 
The kid in the Cleveland case mentioned above ultimately lost his case on appeal.

I'm definitely not a lawyer, but it seems that in most lawsuits, nobody really "wins." The best lawyers are the ones who keep you from ever suing/being sued in the first place.

Very few suits against major institutions are ever successful, so tread carefully. Most get dismissed because despite how unfair or seemingly awful their actions, none of it actually broke any laws. They also have full time legal staff who both keep them from violating the law on the front end and defend them vigorously on the back end when they get sued. That said, some suits have been successful, but generally there was some pretty egregious violation and some substantial proof.

I know you can't/shouldn't share more here, but you might want to seek a legal second opinion before crossing the Rubicon with a suit.
 
Also, just because you have a right doesn't mean that there won't be informal sanctions for exercising it. Even if you win a case, medicine is a very small world and so much depends upon recommendations and references given behind closed doors and beyond discovery. You cannot begin to know which doors you may be closing on yourself by pursuing what you may later realize was a relatively insignificant grievance.

Once you are an attending, this changes somewhat. With full license and privileges to pull up stakes and practice elsewhere, you have some bargaining power in disputes. Until then, tread lightly, or at least very carefully. Don't become a story for SDN to link to.
 
Also, just because you have a right doesn't mean that there won't be informal sanctions for exercising it. Even if you win a case, medicine is a very small world and so much depends upon recommendations and references given behind closed doors and beyond discovery. You cannot begin to know which doors you may be closing on yourself by pursuing what you may later realize was a relatively insignificant grievance.

Once you are an attending, this changes somewhat. With full license and privileges to pull up stakes and practice elsewhere, you have some bargaining power in disputes. Until then, tread lightly, or at least very carefully. Don't become a story for SDN to link to.

Once you are an attending, you may be surprised how little that changes. Medicine is a small world indeed.
 
I'm currently barking up the chain of command at my university for a couple violations on a settlement/contract with the school. However, I've hired an attorney to begin writing a complaint and injunction against them. Hoping diplomacy works. Has anyone had any such issues?

So hiring an attorney is the diplomatic way?
 
Probably best to contact the LCME with a formal complaint first. I know of a case where the threat of that was somewhat successful in getting the school to retreat (though as said above, it didn't make the student any friends).

...but if you're indeed backed in to a corner, I suppose you gotta do what you gotta do.
 
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