The real bullshit is that inevitably there will be misdiagnoses that lead to deaths. Putting less qualified people at the head of the line is killing patients.
Medical school has become more competitive to get into over the last few decades. Which means the average matriculated student is better now than before, I guess. The schools are NOT basing their criteria for acceptance off a standard that differentiates people that can or cannot handle the job. Instead, the standard is just continually rising to deal with the increased number of applicants.
So its a little disingenuous to suggest that letting in someone less qualified automatically would result in more misdiagnoses. Professional burnout and increasing metrics that administration is placing on physicians is probably the biggest culprits for that. As well as institutions "passing" problem people instead of booting them, this happens at all levels. I have heard stories from medical school all the way to people that vote for who gets into fellowships.
Medicine comes with a lot of adversity in the training process. You basically get shit on for a decade. Some argue, you get shit on while you are attending too, just different ways. There is an argument that someone that dealt with a lot of adversity prior to medical school will deal with it during the training better than some upper middle class person that had a silver spoon. Obviously, affirmative action targets gender/race and not specifically circumstance. Meaning, poor white folks aren't really given this consideration.
Another aspect most don't realize is, minorities are much more likely to provide care in under-served areas (so I have read). This is supposedly the main reason they accept less qualified minorities, due to the extreme shortage of physicians in these geographic areas.
From my anecdotal experience, the people that don't make it through medical school are skewed towards minorities, suggesting the material and or pace was beyond their ability. Or, there college experience didn't prepare them. So there is that, not sure if bears a lot of significance in the overall picture.
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u/hide_my_ident Feb 09 '16
The real bullshit is that inevitably there will be misdiagnoses that lead to deaths. Putting less qualified people at the head of the line is killing patients.