hey all--
what do you think of this, appeared in the May 9 issue of the Houston Chronicle (under State news):
(Sorry, I couldn't get a link to the article and had to reproduce the whole thing. Other published views and the "offensive" piece Rao wrote can be found at:
<a href="http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/editorial/3250253.htm" target="_blank">http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/editorial/3250253.htm</a>
<a href="http://www.universitydaily.net/vnews....chive=1" target="_blank">http://www.universitydaily.net/vnews....chive=1</a>
Here's the Chronicle article:
A Houston man is suing Texas Tech University School of Medicine, claiming he was expelled for his outspoken views and for writing about an autopsy performed by a local coroner.
Sandeep Rao said a newspaper column he wrote angered the professor who performed the autopsy, Jerry Spencer, Lubbock County's chief medical examiner.
Rao's Jan. 24 article in the University Daily said that, "absent the possibility of a macabre necrophilic relationship," coroners have no chance to know patients. He wrote he did not want to "embrace" forensic medicine because it is "formulaic," "dispassionate" and "cold."
Rao said Spencer cut arteries "in a manner not unlike that seen on infomercials advertising steak knifes,"
Rao, 23, still a student in Texas Tech's MBA program, was expelled from the medical school effective April 25. He is seeking reinstatement into the medical school, from which he had planned to graduate this spring. A hearing is scheduled Friday in Lubbock.
Texas Tech spokeswoman Cindy Rugeley said Rao's expulsion "involved more than he is telling the press," but that she cannot elaborate because of student confidentiality laws.
Rao's attorney, Andrew S. Golub of Houston, said a letter from Texas Tech stated it was expelling Rao for publication of his column and for academic misconduct for selling test information to first- year medical students.
Golub said Tech officials wrote that they initially wanted to expel Rao after concluding he had violated a confidentiality agreement by writing about the autopsy, but decided to put him on probation after he appealed.
After his column was published, Rao was accused of academic misconduct and placed on probation. According to Golub, the letter said Rao was being expelled because the two allegations were "lumped together."
The fact that the academic misconduct charge resulted only in probation proves Rao was expelled for publishing the article and for his outspoken views, a violation of his First Amendment rights, Golub said.
He said Rao signed a confidentiality agreement before the January autopsy saying he would not name the dead person nor the diagnosis. However, his article did reveal the diagnosis.
Golub said the charges that Rao sold test information was false and that his client simply prepared study guides to help first-year students. The lawyer said he found the timing of this allegation "suspicious" because it came on the heels of Spencer's complaint.
Isn't the cost of living in Lubbock great! I'm just trying to kill time in classes, hoping August rolls around quickly. So when is second look weekend, sometime in June? Also, do u know when we get to list our preferences as to where we want to spend our third and fourth years? I'm thinking probably when we have to put down our deposit. Anyway, it's great to hear from a future classmate!
