Bradley Ng
Prof. Jones
His 3450
05/13/19
Alevy v. Downstate Med Center
Approximately 50 or so odd years ago, if one were to seek medical attention from a trained doctor in the U.S.A, a Caucasian male would more than likely be the one tending to your needs. Nowadays, the cultural, gender, and ethnic backgrounds of medically trained professionals are much more diverse comparatively speaking. This ‘opening of the gate’ for minorities in the medical field can be attributed to the rise of affirmative action policies in medical schools following the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Despite their noble intention to make the medical field more inclusive, these affirmative action policies received resistance. It can be argued that affirmative action, preferential treatment based on race and/or sex, violates the very foundation of what it means to be equal. In this case, we will be discussing Alevy v. Downstate Med Center and its place in the treatment of minorities in medical education.
Prior to the 1840s, the formal medical field was strictly limited to Caucasian men. In October 1847, Elizabeth Black was accepted Geneva Medical School in New York; however, due to her unique nature of being female, her enrollment process called for a special condition. Elizabeth was only allowed to enroll as a student if all 150 of the male students unanimously agreed on her acceptance. All 150 of the male students jokingly voted yes on her enrollment, unaware that they had all unknowingly made history for a quick laugh. Thus, in 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell became the first formally trained doctor in the United States. In the case of African Americans in the medical profession, the obscure David J. Peck became the first African American to graduate from a medical school (Rush Medical College, IL) and earn a medical degree just two years prior in 1847. While both David J. Peck and Elizabeth Blackwell have different ethnic and gender backgrounds, their achievements set a precedent for minorities in a field dominated by Caucasian males.
As we shift our perspective to the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement has made meaningful progress with the ratification of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In short, the act outlaws segregation in public places and employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Come 1974, Martin C. Alevy, an honor graduate of Brooklyn College, was applying for admission to the 1974-1975 class of Downstate Medical Center, a publicly funded school located in Brooklyn, NY. Alevy performed exceptionally well in the admissions process; however, his efforts only granted him a spot on the class’s second waiting list. In a case that is now known as Alevy v. Downstate Med Center (1976), Martin C. Alevy believes he is a victim of reverse discrimination in the admission process. Alevy argued that Black and Puerto Rican applicants had a 12% higher chance over other applicants of being accepted for an admissions interview. Furthermore, Dr.Parnell, the Admissions Committee Chairman, stated that Alevy scored well above the average for the accepted minorities on the Medical College Application Test (MCAT) and that he would have more than likely been accepted if he were a minority. The court ruled that in circumstances in which a ‘special’ interest underlies policy, namely affirmative action, reverse discrimination is constitutional.
The ruling of Alevy v. Downstate Med Center (1976) gave minorities the push they needed to make headway into the Caucasian male-dominated medical field. Preceding the similar landmark case of Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke (1978) on affirmative action, Alevy v. Downstate Med Center granted legal precedence to affirmative action. Nevertheless, it can be argued that the precedence set by Alevy v. Downstate Med Center has needlessly injected racial politics in the medical field. It can be argued that affirmative action policies will divide the medical community along racial lines. It is possible that minorities, with the aid of affirmative action policies, will undermine the incentives to improve for those not supported by said policies. Furthermore, racial groups granted preferential treatment due to affirmative action policies may be seen as inferior to their non-policy supported counterparts. Lastly, the implementation of affirmative action policies opens ‘pandora’s box’ for preferential treatment. How is one to determine the criteria to be considered a minority? What minority groups should receive preferential treatment? Regardless of the potential consequences that may arise from affirmative action policies, according to statistics from 2013, 48.9% of all practicing doctors in the United States are Caucasian, 65% of which are men. If anything, Alevy v. Downstate Med Center has encouraged more minorities that may not be well represented in the medical field to pursue a career in the medical profession.
Works Cited
Court of Appeals of the State of New York. Alevy v. Downstate Med Center. 8 Apr. 1976.
Ashman, Allan. “What’s New in the Law.” American Bar Association Journal, vol. 62, no. 11, Nov. 1976, pp. 1490–1494.
“Section II: Current Status of the U.S. Physician Workforce.” AAMC Interactive Report Section II Current Status of the US Physician Workforce Comments, www.aamcdiversityfactsandfigures.org/section-ii-current-status-of-us-physician-workforce/index.html.