UIC residency & liver fraud

[sanfilippo]

Just wondering if people out there think the recent liver fraud scandal has any implications in the future of the IM residency there, esp. when the chair man of medicine was/is chief of the liver service. i don't think it was fair that this issue was egregiously omitted during the interview day.

-s.

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[Kalel]

I think that their GI department will probably be hurt by this liver fraud. It's kind of sad, because I'm certain that they had their patient's best interest at heart, but sometimes what's best for society isn't what's best for the patient sitting in front of you. What's their status on doing transplants in general now? Liver transplants generate a huge amount of work for the GI people to do. Anyways, I don't think that it will cripple them or anything; if you liked the program, I would still rank it.

 

[jashanley]

Originally posted by sanfilippo
Just wondering if people out there think the recent liver fraud scandal has any implications in the future of the IM residency there, esp. when the chair man of medicine was/is chief of the liver service. i don't think it was fair that this issue was egregiously omitted during the interview day.

-s.

I wanted you to reflect on your reasoning behind this statement.
I find it interesting that a student from UIC would try to denegrate his own medicine program and ignore the fact that two other high profile programs from Chicago were also implicated in the scandal: NW and U of C. Both of which I noticed you ranked highly.
Do you have an interest in rubbing UIC's face in the mud?
What was your purpose for raising this issue?
The residents at UIC (and I am biased, but I think this is true) are intelligent, hard working, and provide excellent patient care. They do not need medical students who benefit from their teaching and education to turn around and spit in their faces.
You wonder why the scandal issue was not raised during your interview? Was it brought up by U of C or NW during the interviews? I doubt it. First of all, it does pertain to the liver service, but it more affects the transplant service than the quality of care the medicine/liver service provides. The liver service is strong and likely will not be affected greatly by the scandal. If you had asked about the scandal, I am certain it would have been discussed to your satisfaction. Overall, I do not believe it will affect patient care or resident education. My question: don't all programs try to put their best foot forward during recruiting? It would not benefit the program to discuss the faults of the hospital or individuals within the hospital. They are trying to hide it but they certainly wouldn't want it as a promotional ad.

I wish you luck in your match and hope that UIC has provided you the means to be an excellent resident and quality attending in the future.

 

[sanfilippo]

dr. shanley,
i did not rank uic because of the pending liver fraud case. personally, i did not want to stay at the same institution for the next 3 years of training. nor am i trying to malign uic in any way. however, the administration has not been very forthcoming toward students as to what really happened and to why some faculty have been fired or have left UIC when the investigation into the issue was still active. i have enjoyed my training overall but the administration is antediluvian and needs to be overhauled. i will leave it at that.

actually, of the people i know applying for IM from UIC, very few have ranked UIC in their top 3 or even top 5. so, you cannot blame me for 30+ future alumni deciding not to consider UIC strongly for IM residency training. moreover, you're coming into the fray from an IM/EM perspective, which may not necessarily be the same as a purely IM perspective since there are only a handful of IM/EM spots across the country.

finally, i love the patient population at uic and that will probably be the only thing i will truly miss about my soon-to-be alma mater.

-s.

 

[jashanley]

No problem. My question remains: did Northwestern or U of C mention their involvement or what is overlooked as well.

You seem to forget that scandal was above all of us: residents, students, etc... With regards to administration woes......that occurs everywhere and it isn't isolated to UIC. You will never avoid it all together.

Finally, it is a shame more UIC students don't want to stay at their own program, but understandable.
I loved my alma-mater but I also wanted to explore other opportunities. I just don't want it to wrongly influence those from outside the program. That is all.

 

[MD3s]

this UIC liver fraud is new to me... could someone please explain (briefly)

thanks.

 

[jashanley]

This is not a very credible source, biased but it will give you an idea of the story.

http://www.fightbacknews.org/2004/01winter/liverscam.htm

This other one is more credible:

http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2003/12/15/prsc1215.htm

The transplant service and not the medicine program was to blame. UIC, NW and U of C all deny the charges and all settled to avoid a long and arduous legal battle.