Forcing Diversity When Lives Are on the Line

Our physicians should be the best of the best

Letters to The WSJ.

"It’s heartening to see leaders of a prominent medical school acknowledge reality (“Med Schools Are Wrong on Rankings” by Fritz François and Gbenga Ogedegbe, op-ed, Feb. 16). The reason many medical schools have decided to abandon the U.S. News and World Report rankings is their inability to maintain excellence while pursuing politicized demands for racial diversity in their student bodies. 

There is no evidence that minority students who are qualified to enter medical school are being denied admission. While the Liaison Committee on Medical Education has required medical schools to increase the diversity of their classes for several years, the number of minority students has increased only minimally and remains well below the sought-after goal of equaling the proportion of blacks in America. Medical schools have had to confront the fact that an insufficient number of qualified students are available. Forcing greater diversity therefore must lead to a reduction in the merit of the students accepted.

Pursuing this approach will only undermine the academic achievements of those minority students who deserve admission to medical school and want eagerly to pursue a career in medicine. They deserve fair treatment, just as patients deserve the highest standard of care.

Stanley Goldfarb, M.D.
Chairman, Do No Harm
Bryn Mawr, Pa.

Drs. François and Ogedegbe remind me of the beauty contestant who, when asked what she would do if she wins the crown, answers: “I want to work for world peace.” Wishes and desires for diversity come in stark contrast to the reality of disease and dying. We should strive for the best of the best to be our physicians.

If you want diversity, then start by fighting poverty at an early age, not by adjusting medical-school admission standards to fit a narrative. The last time I operated on a patient, she bled red, as does everyone, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs.

Peter Weiss, M.D.

Los Angeles"