Trump's travel ban could prevent hundreds of medical students from landing hospital residencies

Hospitals face tricky decision between taking the most qualified students and concerns about the travel ban.

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last updated 22 February 2017

Hospitals might be unfairly rejecting qualified medical students from residencies due to concerns over how President Trump's travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries could play out, The Boston Globe reports. As many as 1,000 students could be penalized based on their country of origin, despite possibly being the most qualified students available for the positions:

Many doctors vehemently oppose the executive order but say that, as a matter of practicality, they need to ensure that anyone they hire as a medical resident is ready to work on July 1, to provide crucial patient care.As a result, hospital administrators, who on Wednesday must submit lists of the medical students they would most like to hire, have been tempted to rank students from those seven countries lower than their credentials would merit. [The Boston Globe]

The chief executive of the Association of American Medical Colleges, Dr. Darrell G. Kirch, called the decision being made by hospitals to pick between the best candidates or have residents ready by July to care for patients "impossible." Nearly one in every five physicians in the U.S. is born abroad; of 3,700 applications for 45 open residency positions at the Massachusetts General Hospital, for example, two of the final candidates include doctors from Iran and Iraq — nations that are banned under Trump's order.

"We are in a position where we're willing to take the risk right now," said Dr. Jatin M. Vyas, the director of the school's internal medicine residency program. "We are simply looking for the best talent."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.