Medical Student Expelled for Writing Column Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit [This press release describes the expulsion of a medical student in Texas because he wrote a column describing a forensic pathology examination. The controversy appears to go well beyond the specific column, which seems mild enough, and may well be based more on the student's other political activities. The only possible objection one might make to the column on the autopsy (included below) is the use of the pathologist's name, perhaps without his permission. Texas Tech's action seems both arbitrary and outrageously bizarre, and is bound to give them a very black eye. --NY Transfer] American Freedom Center www.americanfreedom.org May 3, 2002 Contacts: Andrew Golub & Geoffrey Berg, 713-526-3700 asgolub@dgbb.com gberg@dgbb.com Jonette Walker, 806-763-8843 Marc Levin, 512-453-7989 mrmarclv@aol.com Medical Student Expelled for Writing Column about Autopsy Sues Texas Tech University for First Amendment Violation Lubbock, TX, May 3--Today, Sandeep Rao, a Texas Tech University School of Medicine student, filed suit against Texas Tech in state court challenging his expulsion for exercising his First Amendment rights in the University Daily student newspaper. Rao, a second year medical student at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and a columnist at the University Daily, was expelled for writing an article about his first autopsy examination. The article is enclosed below. Rao's complaint seeks immediate reinstatement into medical school so he can take his final exams later this month. The Texas Tech School of Medicine alleges Rao's editorial entitled "Autopsy proves eye-opening" violates unwritten school policies on medical professionalism. During campus disciplinary hearings, school officials interrogated Rao regarding his other University Daily columns on topics such as the performance of the mayor of Lubbock and the war in Afghanistan. During another hearing, a school official openly encouraged hearing panelists to vote against the upcoming May 4 city-wide Lubbock referendum co-authored by Rao, which would overturn Lubbock's newly enacted ban on smoking in private businesses. Houston attorneys Andrew Golub and Geoffrey Berg with the law firm Dow Golub Berg & Beverly represent Rao. He is also represented by Lubbock attorney Jonette Walker. Marc Levin, President of the American Freedom Center, stated, "In an unprecedented and egregious decision, Texas Tech University has expelled a student for writing what was a very perceptive column that is well within the First Amendment's free speech guarantee. This expulsion represents a dagger in the heart of free speech and academic freedom. Furthermore, there was no written rule that Rao's column violated, making his expulsion completely arbitrary and a gross violation of due process." Levin continued, "We implore Texas Tech University Chancellor David Smith to reverse this unconstitutional and unconscionable expulsion immediately. If he does not, we are confident that, after considerable legal expenses for Texas Tech, the court will order Rao reinstated. Punitive damages should also be awarded to ensure that future students' free speech rights are not trampled on by this kind of Stalinist suppression perpetrated through campus kangaroo court proceedings." For further information about this lawsuit or to schedule an interview with Sandeep Rao, please contact Rao's attorneys Andrew Golub and Geoffrey Berg at 713-526-3700 or Jonette Walker at 806-763-8843. For additional comment on the public policy issues involved, please contact American Freedom Center President Marc Levin at 512-453-7989. The American Freedom Center (AFC) is a non-profit public policy institute dedicated to educating the public about the principles on which the United States was founded. Fellows at AFC have published articles and analyses relating to both domestic and foreign policy issues in periodicals such as the USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News, and the Texas Review of Law & Politics. AFC officers and fellows also frequently appear on talk radio programs. THE COLUMN: -------------------------------- "Autopsy proves to be eye-opening" By Sandeep Rao The University Daily, January 24, 2002 http://www.universitydaily.net/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/01/24/3c4f985a495ec?in_archive=1 The poem "Larynx," by Nobel Prize-winning Chilean writer Pablo Neruda, begins: Now this is it, said Death And as far as I could see Death was looking at me, at me. It serves as my answer to the question, "So, how did you spend your three-day weekend?" I arrived to a Monday morning autopsy of a dead body in the morgue with an equal amount of anticipation and responsibility - anticipation of a medical field relatively unknown to me along with the responsibility of fulfilling a course requirement. The autopsy experience in the medical school curricula serves a dual role: one, to acquaint second-year students with the basics of forensic pathology, and two, perhaps also to encourage interest into future work as a medical examiner. The autopsy remains far removed from that of the mannequin-like presence of the corpses encountered by neophyte future physicians in the introductory anatomy lab. In contrast, the bodies in the morgue are very real: the blood - lukewarm and still fluid; the skin - soft to the touch; and a fetid smell that you can taste, that sits at the back of the palate - not the comparatively benign formaldehyde that had become a part of us during our first year. We met Mr. X [name withheld] shortly after 9 a.m. By "we," I'm referring to the four of us - myself, my partner for the autopsy, Dr. Jerry Spencer, the chief medical examiner, and his assistant, wearing a black surgical cap patterned with numerous skull and cross bones - a sight I do not imagine seeing in the pediatrics ward. Ironically, my partner for the autopsy, a fellow second-year student, Rocky Bilhartz of Huntsville, did not share my enthusiasm for the experience. With a name like Rocky, you would think he would be a bit more used to seeing blood. And, originating from a place like Huntsville, you would think he would have been more accustomed to the presence of dead people. Removng various organs from the body, Spencer attempted to identify the cause of death of this man found lying in his bed. With a few strokes of the scalpel, Spencer eventually freed the heart from the thin sac. Suspecting a cardiac problem, he then squeezes the blood out of the heart like a sponge, pooling the viscous liquid into the makeshift sink created by the eviscerated chest cavity. In a manner not unlike that seen on infomercials advertising steak knifes, Spencer proceeded to mince the black coronary arteries along their length, attempting to find occlusions. Bingo. Dr. Spencer accomplishes the mission of the autopsy. Cause of death: arteriosclerosis of the coronaries. No need for follow-ups. No need to discuss the case with the patient's family. Roll in the next body - after some cleaning up, of course. As a pre-clinical medical student, I couldn't attend the one-hour autopsy experience without noting the advantages and disadvantages of the fields of forensic pathology. Life as a medical examiner brings the obvious benefits: no pre-certifications, no inquisitive badgering from overseeing medical directors about utilization and compliance, no difficult questions from patients about new wonder drugs advertised on television. With two major network television shows involving forensic pathology, the field doesn't need any more publicity. Currently, primetime television captures the allure of Jill Hennessy of NBC's "Crossing Jordan" and the mystery of Jerry Bruckheimer's "CSI" on CBS. Yet, despite the intrigue of the field, the formulaic and dispassionate routine of the hour kept coming back, haunting me about the nature of the physician-patient relationship in this field. For me, the morning had turned into a pure exercise in medical science, devoid of human touch. As I considered the role of forensic pathology in the patient's life process, I understood the reality that the medical examiner gets only one shot with the patient, where the first visit is also the last. Moreover, while few would welcome the need to see a vascular surgeon, everything pales in comparison to a necessary visit to the medical examiner. Even the somewhat-mechanical process of surgery has what English poet James Kirkup terms "a correct compassion," a warmth shown by the technical precision necessary of high-stakes care giving. However, absent the possibility of a macabre necrophilic relationship, the idea of getting to know the patient goes out the window in the morgue. As a pre-med undergraduate, I recall the stories one of my friends often related about his tough upbringing and attitude molded by a life spent in Rochester, N.Y. "You're so cold," another once replied in response. "You should be a cop - or a doctor." Back then, the latter half of that statement never fully made sense to me. Now however, in hindsight, I've got to believe he was referring specifically to medical examiners. Theirs is not the medicine I had come to embrace. [Sandeep Rao is a second year MD/MBA student from Houston in the School of Medicine.] ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytact-05.04.02-01:48:51-14476