What the California medical board doing is completely out of their boundary. They are only a medical board, not the department of education. How can they approve or disapprove any medical schools? Do any of the board members have a degree in education?

Any educational institution can flourish or perish. How can the board guarantee that once one particular school is approved, it will withhold its standard forever? And if they want to approve any medical schools, shouldn't they also start to “regulate” those nursing schools? I don’t think that they have gone to Philippine and other countries to approve those nursing schools? There are many medical schools around the world, does the board plan to approve all the medical schools in the world? Those board members simply have too much time on their hand, and they are clearly abusing their power.

It is utterly ridiculous for them to say that “If you would like to become eligible to train in or become licensed in California, you will need to transfer into a California-recognized medical school and repeat ALL coursework you completed at St. Matthew's or any other medical school that the California Board doesn't recognize or has disapproved.”

Yes, every California wants to transfer to a California medical school. However, many well qualified Californian students are forced to go to schools at other states or outside the country, because the state does not have enough medical schools for all! We should not be judged by which school we go to, we should only be judged by the knowledge that we have. Our founding father has clearly stated “all men are created equal.” If a Californian medical student can pass all three steps of USMLE, why should s/he still be rejected by the board? Those board members obviously know that to be a good physician is a life long time of learning. Merely two years of medical basic science education certainly can’t provide enough information to be a good physician.

It is clear that many offshore students are not white, and many are immigrants. Could this be a case of racial discrimination? If all the offshore students are Caucasians, would the board still be so strict? However, the fact is that we are all citizens of USA. We can not take it any longer, we can no longer keep quiet. When we face the injustice, we have to stand up and fight against.

Therefore, we Californians should unite, and get our politicians involved. Governor Schwarzenegger himself is an immigrant, he came to this land of opportunity, and became who he is today. If he can do it, why should we residents of California be forced to live outside California in order to practice medicine?

Every Californian student should write emails or use other methods to contact the governor, senators, and their local congressmen. Each individual school can only do things under their own limitations. We have the voting power, and together, we should make California a land of opportunity, a place of equal treatment for all medical students!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
Phone: 916-445-2841
Fax: 916-445-4633
To send an Electronic Mail please visit:
http://www.govmail.ca.gov

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Contact Senator Feinstein
If you wish to phone or fax the Washington, D.C.
office:
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
TTY/TDD: (202) 224-2501
Write a letter
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
E-Mail the Senator
http://feinstein.senate.gov/email.html

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Senator Barbara Boxer
http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
She has regional offices at six cities. click on the
link to get to your individual city address.

Washington D.C.
112 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-3553

http://boxer.senate.gov/contact/webform.cfm

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California Congressional Districts
http://www.congress.com/state/ca.html

it has addresses and email addresses.


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Every California students can send the following email to the governor. Feel free to add your own information.
Be sure to get your family members involved. They have nothing to lose, but to gain a whole lot more!
Ask them to send emails to the state officers, too. We should keep on requesting for a better change until we finally achieve our goal!

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

I am a medical student at (name of your school.) in the Caribbean region. Through out the years, our medical school has educated many well qualified physicians who are practicing medicine all over the United States. My school is not approved by the California medical board; therefore, I am banned from practicing medicine for lifetime even if I have a medical license from another state.

While it is excellent that the California medical board is trying hard to provide GOOD service, shouldn’t the job of evaluating foreign medical schools be done by the Department of Education? Further more, how many of the board members actually have degrees in education? What kind of credential do they have that allow them to evaluate all the medical schools in the entire world? And is this a part of their job description? Shouldn’t they evaluate the final product – the graduated students instead of judging a person’s credential by the school that s/he graduates from?


This recognized medical school list is biased and full of errors. For example, it approved two Cuban medical schools which the board member can’t possibly visit without intentionally violating the federal laws, but none from North Korea. It also listed schools such as, “Saint John’s University” and “Aurora University French School of Medicine” in China which do not even exist. It listed Wales as a country. It intentionally named Chinese province Taiwan as “Republic of Taiwan” which contradicts with the US government's policy.


As you may know, Doctors of osteopathic can practice in all fifty states just like MDs. However, this list did not list any of the osteopathic medical schools in the US. Further more, this list did not even include California’s very own osteopathic school - “Western University of Health Sciences.” Of course, we all know that there are many graduates from Western U that are practicing medicine all over California.


So as you can see, the California medical board set up a list which it itself doesn’t even follow. This list is entirely arbitrary. It simply does not make sense why the board approved schools that they did not visit or schools that don’t even exist. Do the board members really think that those few medicals schools located in those unknown little countries can educate better future physicians than the Caribbean medical schools which are founded by Americans which use American medical textbooks from day one?

It is probably safe to say that more than 80% of the Caribbean medical school students are non-white first or second generation immigrants. As an immigrant yourself, you can certainly understand how hard it is to fulfill the American dream. It seems that the board’s list sole purpose is to prevent fellow Californians from Caribbean medical schools to practice medicine.


Our state also imports nurses from all over the world. If the board wants to protect the people of California, how come the board is not trying to approve all the nursing schools all over the world? A nurse’s simple mistake can easily kill a patient.


Our great state only has so few medical schools. Each year, many of us are forced to go to other medical schools in other states. There are still some states don’t even have one single medical school even today. Some of us are forced to go to offshore medical schools because of that. Many medical schools in our country also discriminate against physician assistants, nurses, etc. Those people who want to study to be doctors have no choice, but to go to a Caribbean medical schools which are created by Americans and for American students with the same medical education format. We were not lucky enough to have a good education from day one. However, that does not mean that we can’t be good doctors. We are determined enough to study medicine in a third world country.

As you probably know, practicing medicine is a lifetime learning process. Two years of basic medical science training at another country is simply not enough. We really start to learn about medicine when we start our rotations at US hospitals for another two more years. Because California medical board banned our school, we are forced to rotate at hospitals at other states.

Further, even after we pass all three steps of United States Medical License Examinations (USMLE), and get our medical license at another state, we are still banned from practicing medicine in California for lifetime. On the other hand, the California medical board allows medical students and physicians of other countries, such as Bahrain, Burundi, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe to do rotations and practice medicine in California freely.

Our state always has a shortage of well trained physicians. Most of our graduates are specialized in family medicine and internal medicine which are really in great demand in California. Why hire physicians of other countries who may have language and cultural problems, when there are many of us who can get easily licensed at other states and who are ready to come back and serve the people of California.

Our founding father stated “all men are created equal.” And some people also say that this is a land of opportunity or even a land of second opportunity. We are not asking for special treatment. Any US medical students who pass step one of USMLE is allowed to do hospital rotations in California. Why can’t we be allowed to come back to California to do our rotation if we pass Step one. And why can’t we practice medicine if we pass all three steps of USMLE, and get a medical license at another state? The California medical board does not even give us an opportunity to prove for who we are.

So Dear Governor Schwarzenegger, we believe in you. We have great confidence that you will help us to solve this problem, and help us come back and serve our state for the benefits of our people.

Thank you very much.

You're absolutely right! It's deplorable that they should have any standards whatsoever! It's downright unconstitutional. It is UNAmerican! If a person wants to go to a for-profit overnight overseas institute who take in students who failed to gain acceptance into one of their national accredited institutes nor an already approved off-shore sight and have little more than getting a bunch of facts shoved down their throat with the only purpose to get them past the USMLE, by golly gee who are we to say that we shouldn't be weary?

You're absolutely right that this does smack of racism. Here at AUC, we try to hide our racial diversity. Us people of color have to sit in the back so if any inspector from California comes, they can't see us (hopefully they're blind because I believe we make the majority).

It is outrageous that California should have standards and checks. I'm definitely writing my congressman! Thanks!

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California free state has the authority to regulate who receives a medical license. California has higher standards than other states. The California medical board is there to ensure that Californians receive the best possible healthcare. Approving medical schools is part of that mission. If you are unhappy with this just go to a school approved by the California board.

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Lol..........

I think it may be easier for you to apply to a school which is aproved by california, but pay my regards to the governor of california.

mm, I hope that you didn't vote for Bush. He is running an entire country with a background of C from Yale, which he got in because of his dad.

You must not practice in Ca, people here forget there are 50 states. Give me a break.

If you want to practice in a particular state, you should have applied to schools that are recognized by that state's medical board. I don't personally care that you are flooding various forums with your post, but when you post here, some may assume that you are somehow affiliated with AUA and complaining about the fact that we are not yet accredited by California's medical board. This may lead visitors to make the following assumptions about us:

1. AUA students are ignorant enough to assume that the constitutional right to equality somehow requires state medical boards to disregard any standards when it comes to international medical schools.

2. AUA students think that the California Medical Board is racist because they choose to have standards.

3. AUA students think that getting California accreditation involves political activism rather than improving AUA to meet California's standards.

I'm sure there are schools where the students may agree with you, and it might be better to post in their forums.

(well i guess my post makes no sense now that it has been moved out of the AUA forum)....

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Sree

[X]FM [X]IM [X]Ob[X] Surg [X]Psych [X]Peds
Electives [X]1 [X]2 [X]3 [X]4 [*]5 [ ]6 [ ]7

Don't know what a Greenbook rotation is? Click here.
Preliminary list of state licensing requirements here.

I have submitted my e-mail. If you love California and want an opportunity to practice there, this is your chance to be heard. Also, you can let the great state of California know how wonderful St. Matthew's School of Medicine really is! I already have! I love SMU, and I am very very proud of our fantastic medical school! The students at SMU are the best, and you great folks deserve nothing less than an equal opportunity to compete anywhere! All I want is an equal opportunity to compete! That is what I am asking for! Best wishes! Go SMU!!!

Who would you have voted for? Kerry who had a worse GPA than Bush?

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Watch out, I have an ominous feeling that The Devil is about to make an appearance in this thread...