St. Luke School of Medicine??????????

[smudad]

Does anyone know about or have any experience with this school and how well do the students perform in clinicals and residencies and Step 1??

[azskeptic]

Originally Posted by smudad

Does anyone know about or have any experience with this school and how well do the students perform in clinicals and residencies and Step 1??

do a google search and try and find a graduate who is licensed. I don't think you can do it. Bigger than that, do a google search of the faculty from their website www.stluke.edu and find out what you can about them....they have a resident listed as a faculty member,etc.
My guess is you can find a better choice for spending your money.
see this 'former student''s story..the story alleges they let him in with a diploma mill undergraduate degree


http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_ho.../22741125.html

Monday, December 08, 2003
Las Vegas Review-Journal

ELABORATE CON ALLEGED: Man pretended to be a doctor,
prosecutor says

35-year-old indicted on charge of practicing medicine
without license at Henderson office

By GLENN PUIT
REVIEW-JOURNAL


Andrew Elias Michael
Scheduled to go on trial in February in District Court





At his Henderson medical office, Andrew Elias Michael
told his employees he was an esteemed surgeon capable
of performing complex operations.

In this capacity, authorities allege, Michael
supervised numerous patients while they received
injections during medical procedures.

And he also gave medical advice.

But the Nevada attorney general's office says Michael
was never a doctor, just an old-fashioned con man.

"In short, (his) entire academic credentials are
founded on fraud," Nevada prosecutor Gerald Gardner
wrote in legal papers stemming from Michael's arrest
earlier this year.

There's no mention of any motive in Michael's court
file. Prosecutors have declined comment, as have
Michael's Las Vegas attorneys, Bill Terry and Linda
Norvell.

In October, a Clark County grand jury indicted the
35-year-old on a charge of practicing medicine without
a license. By that time, he was already out on bail
after his initial arrest. After the indictment,
Michael turned up in Kentucky as a fourth-year medical
student accompanying physicians on hospital rounds for
cardiothoracic patients.

When a media outlet in Kentucky reported on Michael's
pending criminal prosecution in Nevada, Michael was
dismissed from the medical student program at Central
Baptist Hospital in Lexington.

"We have been here for 50 years, and this is the first
time we've ever had a problem," said Ruth Ann
Childers, a spokeswoman for Central Baptist. "We have
since changed our policies."

Michael has pleaded innocent to the charge, and he is
scheduled to go to trial in February in District
Court. He is currently free on bail.

According to court records and grand jury transcripts,
Michael was the president of a Las Vegas company
called North American Medical Company in 2001 and
2002. The company ran Meadows Diagnostic Medical
Imaging Center, 35 S. Gibson Road in Henderson.

Listed phone numbers for both businesses are now
disconnected.

Appearing before the grand jury in October, local
radiologist Deborah Dort said she was hired at Meadows
Diagnostic by Michael in 2002.

"He told me he was a surgeon, a cardiothoracic
surgeon," Dort said. "Specifically, he told me he had
done his surgical training at Johns Hopkins
University."

A cardiothoracic surgeon performs heart surgeries such
as bypasses and T-valve replacements.

Dort said that during her job interview, Michael also
claimed to be a former military pilot who was on the
verge of obtaining a law degree. Dort said Michael
produced a business card identifying himself as a
doctor and a member of the Fellow of the American
College of Surgery, an esteemed organization for
surgeons.

Another radiologist hired by Michael, Douglas C.
Howard, told a similar account.

"He held himself to be a cardiothoracic surgeon and
trained at Johns Hopkins," Howard told the grand jury.


After being hired at Meadows Diagnostic, the
radiologists noticed some curious behavior by Michael.
In one instance, Dort said, Michael was present as she
read a chest X-ray of a patient.

"I said, `Would you like to see the chest X-ray?' "
Dort recalled. "And I put it up, and he made some
statement about, `Oh, she's the patient (with) such
and such mass in her lung,' which she did not have.

"This was my first week there, (and) I thought, `Oh,
he's got her confused with someone else,' " Dort said.
"But it did strike me that a chest surgeon wouldn't
know how to read an X-ray."

Howard said Michael once came into the office to have
his own chest X-rayed.

"He did not know how to position himself to take a
chest X-ray," Howard said. "Kind of basic."

Dort said on certain occasions, Michael actually
supervised patients.

In December 2002, she said Meadows Diagnostic was
going to have to cancel a CAT scan on a patient
because a doctor would not be present to supervise a
special type of injection necessary for the procedure.


The injection, in extremely rare cases, can cause an
anaphylactic reaction, heart attack or even death.

Dort said Michael later showed up and supervised the
injection.

"He showed up with a stethoscope around his neck,"
Dort said.

In another instance, during a doctors' meeting, Dort
questioned why Meadows Diagnostic did not have a
radiology nurse on staff.

"He (Michael) mentioned that if we ever got in a
severe situation ... and we called 911 and the patient
is crashing, that I can always call him for guidance
on what to do before ... the ambulance arrive(s),"
Dort said.

Another employee of Michael's, Gayle Raveling, told
the grand jury she was scheduled to undergo a medical
procedure on her heart in November 2002 at another
facility. She said Michael spoke to her about her
heart condition and actually produced a replica of a
heart for reference as he discussed the upcoming
procedure.

"He was advising me that my left coronary artery
appeared closed, 90 percent closed," Raveling
testified. "My cardiologist hadn't told me that much
information.

"He said, `Yeah, you do need to have this procedure,'
" Raveling said.

Gradually, employees at Meadows Diagnostic became
suspicious. Dort said a private investigator in
January showed up in the business parking lot and told
an employee Michael wasn't a doctor.

Dort said she checked with Johns Hopkins and found
Michael had not studied there, according to court
documents. She immediately called the Nevada State
Board of Medical Examiners, and the agency started an
investigation.

Lynnette Krotke, chief licensing specialist for the
board, told the grand jury that the requirements for a
doctor being licensed in Nevada are extensive. But the
agency's files showed Michael had never even applied
for a license.

An investigation by the attorney general's office now
indicates, according to court records, that Michael
supervised as many as 11 injections of patients during
imaging procedures. In a motion to increase bail for
Michael filed in November, the attorney general's
office reported that at the time of his arrest,
Michael "was conducting rounds at a pediatric clinic
in Las Vegas under the pretense that he was a
third-year medical student."

Gardner stated in court documents that authorities
learned Michael is enrolled at St. Luke's Medical
School, a private institution in Liberia, Africa.

St. Luke's worldwide office is in Los Angeles, but the
school is not accredited by the American Medical
Association and does not qualify in Nevada for
licensure, Gardner said.

Gardner also wrote in his bail motion that Michael's
admission to St. Luke's was based on his "purported
degree from Hamilton University, a Wyoming-based
Internet institution that has been described as a
`diploma mill' in recent national news stories."

In addition, Gardner wrote Michael was once the
subject of a criminal investigation in 1993 amid
allegations he submitted a forged University of
Nevada, Las Vegas transcript to the Nevada State Board
of Nursing in an effort to obtain a fraudulent nursing
license.

The Review-Journal was unable to locate any evidence
of charges being filed in that case.

Michael made an unsuccessful run for a state Assembly
seat in 1996 as a Republican candidate. "We need to
get Nevadans off of welfare and back into the work
community," he said in an interview before the
election.

The allegations against Michael may resemble a movie
script, but they're not unique. In one case documented
by the San Francisco Chronicle, a man posed as a
physician in California for nearly 20 years.

The newspaper reported the man falsified the
credentials of a pharmacist and adopted the identity
of a Stockton, Calif., surgeon. He was sent to prison
five times but, upon release, resumed the con, the
newspaper reported.

The Connecticut Post also detailed the case of a man
accused of posing as a doctor at a clinic. The man,
arrested in April, required young patients to have
gynecological and breast examinations before they
received methadone for drug addictions, the paper
reported.

Dale L. Austin, senior vice president of the
Federation of State Medical Boards in the United
States, said Nevada and other states across the
country do a good job of enforcing laws relating to
doctor licensing, but he said when someone is intent
on deceiving the system, they can be difficult to
detect, especially when they do not apply for a
license.

"An individual who isn't licensed by the medical board
of a state doesn't normally come under the
jurisdiction of the medical board," he said.

Austin said detecting fake doctors requires diligent
regulation, public awareness and immediate reporting
by medical professionals who are suspicious of a
colleague's credentials.

"It all comes down to patient care and patient
protection," Austin said.

[dt]

Originally Posted by smudad

Does anyone know about or have any experience with this school and how well do the students perform in clinicals and residencies and Step 1??

2 different schools with the same name. 1 is in Belize, the other in Liberia/Ghana/India. The Belize one is more reputable: http://www.stluke.edu.bz/

[RajPatel]

yeah, the same way Dubya is more reputable than Dan Quayle.

[sydney]

I have heard that this school has allowed students to both get residency and licensure. What can anyone tell me about it?

[soon2bMS]

Originally Posted by smudad

Does anyone know about or have any experience with this school and how well do the students perform in clinicals and residencies and Step 1??

I'm a student at St. Luke School of Medicine. If you like to talk you may PM me and we can talk.

[mahkus]

The article of impersonation references St. Luke in Liberia, Africa and is spoken about on many boards as a diploma mill.....it is NOT referring to St. Luke;s in Belmopan, Belize...

just for clarity,
mahkus

[dt]

Originally Posted by mahkus

The article of impersonation references St. Luke in Liberia, Africa and is spoken about on many boards as a diploma mill.....it is NOT referring to St. Luke;s in Belmopan, Belize...

just for clarity,
mahkus

agreed.

[soon2bMS]

Originally Posted by mahkus

The article of impersonation references St. Luke in Liberia, Africa and is spoken about on many boards as a diploma mill.....it is NOT referring to St. Luke;s in Belmopan, Belize...

just for clarity,
mahkus

So your saying that St.luke school of medicine in Belize is a real medical school, but St. Luke school of medicine in Africa is a dipolma mill?

If your going to compare schools, then do it on realistic terms of what each school has to offer. Both schools graduates can become licensed in that country as well as some state in the US and aboard. Both schools are accredited in their home country. Both school are recognized by that countries government. Both school have clinical spots and residency spots in their home country. Both have teaching hospitals they are affliated with in the US and in thier home country. None of the schools make promises that are not real. In terms of licensed graduates in the US, well both schools are new and as of right now have no licensed graduates in the US. Both schools are not on California's ban list or any other state's ban list, for those state which have such a list. Nonetheless they do appear on the unaccredited list which means they don't have accrediation in the US. That's all foriegn medical schools. And in California and those states that follow (what are they like 10 states out of 50) the only reason for graduates of both schools not being able to practice in those states, is because they have not applied yet. Although, both have students in residency in the US. So what makes one school a diploma mill over the other?

Method of teaching medicine perhaps? What a weak reason to label a medical school a dipolma mill.

[leadsled]

Soon2beMD, Perhaps you should check this oregon website out:

http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/unaccredited.html

It states, "St. Luke School of Medicine California, Ghana, Liberia Appears to be a diploma mill. ODA has no evidence that this is a legitimate provider of postsecondary education meeting Oregon standards. May be connected to the St. Regis cluster of diploma mills. "

There are a few other medical schools mentioned on the list. I wonder if the state of Oregon's stand on not licensing graduates of these schools influences other U.S. States decisions? Also, will it effect the ability of a Physician to obtain medical malpractice insurance one day?

I am curious to read posts about other concerns that may arise from graduating schools on an Oregon State diploma mill list.