Dismissal / termination

[AlQassim]

Curious if any kind and fair PDs out there can help shed light on how to navigate dismissal after four years of residency. The circumstances are somewhat private but involved a lot of railroading.

Has anyone been successful trying to stand up for their rights? Using ACGME for example? I’ve heard a lot of negatives about the process and not many success stories, maybe there’s a sort of selection bias since those who are successful may just move on with their lives and not advertise it.

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[GoSpursGo]

Not a PD, but it's really hard to give catch-all advice in such a situation--each case is so dependent on the circumstances that led them to decide to terminate you.

In general, yes, when a program decides to terminate a resident it is almost always successful. It's not like a court of law where they have to prove that you were incompetent or otherwise performing your duties satisfactorily; rather, YOU have to prove that ISN'T the case, and/or that they didn't follow their own termination procedures appropriately. That's an extremely difficult case to make when you don't have anything more than your word against theirs.

I wish I had more encouraging news for you. I doubt you'll get much more that is helpful without additional details, but regardless of the details I do think you're facing a very uphill battle.

 

[twospadz]

Curious if any kind and fair PDs out there can help shed light on how to navigate dismissal after four years of residency. The circumstances are somewhat private but involved a lot of railroading.

Has anyone been successful trying to stand up for their rights? Using ACGME for example? I’ve heard a lot of negatives about the process and not many success stories, maybe there’s a sort of selection bias since those who are successful may just move on with their lives and not advertise it.

If your residency has a union, use their lawyer. My program fired a resident but then had to reverse the decision once the lawyer sat down with the administration and the resident given the circumstances. Trust me, if a program messed up the process and your lawyer finds a hole, many heads can roll and Im not talking about the resident's. Yes, Ive heard decisions of assistant program directors being fired for terminating a resident inappropriately at other programs. At stake is the programs name and potentially a lot of money the hospital doesn't have if they lose. Use a lawyer period. Any other job firing, a lawyer would be consulted. Residents are really neutered bunch.

 

[Mass Effect]

I second getting a lawyer to look over things. At the very least, do the free consultation. Any advice we give you will be dependent on the circumstances and type of trouble you were in -- patient care versus dishonesty/professionalism versus conflict with peers/staff/faculty versus being late to work/missing shifts.

In all of the above, the advice would be different.

 

[operaman]

Agreeing with the others so far - sitting down with a lawyer is your next step.

Unfortunately, railroading someone is not actually against the law unless the railroading was done because of your sex, race, age if you’re over 40, fmla status, whistleblower status, other retaliation, etc. Railroading someone out simply because of personality conflict is not actually unlawful.

As if proving the above were easy, most of these suits fail because even if you manage to survive summary judgement and get to a trial, you are essentially asking a judge and jury to supplement their own judgement for that of your faculty. Since judges have no experience in training physicians, they impose a very high bar before they will step in and tell a faculty which has trained hundreds of physicians that they as judges know better in this one case.

If they really screwed the pooch, failed to follow procedures, or truly discriminated based on federally protected classes, then there’s a slim chance of success. It’s worth talking with an attorney though since the stakes are so high and your time is limited.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

You are welcome to PM me, and anything there stays private. There is also a confidential question forum, and you can post details there.

As others have mentioned, the devil is in the details.

The ACGME will be of no help at all. They do not get into individual resident issues. They accredit programs.

A lawyer can help, but can also put the program on the defensive and erase any good will they may have for you.

 

[Perrotfish]

Curious if any kind and fair PDs out there can help shed light on how to navigate dismissal after four years of residency. The circumstances are somewhat private but involved a lot of railroading.

So you were in year 5? Out of how many total years?