Blunders Galore

While I was reading the article -- Suspect in Craig[s]list killing off the street (http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1166939&pos=breaking) -- I could not help but to reflect on some of the comments posted on this blog by University of South Dakota School of Medicine students, faculty and peripheral staff. One South Dakota physician (who I have agreed not to name)argued that the medical school applicant decision process is by no means perfect, but that he felt that the positive decisions outweighed the negative decisions. Part of his argument stressed the importance and the relevance of a one-on-one interview to "weed-out" potential applicants. Other students have commented on their perceived importance of the interview portion of the application procedure. As I was thinking about these comments, I am beginning to wonder how an individual like Philip H Markoff (age: 22), a second year medical student, gained admission to Boston University School of Medicine? Of course, the motto of innocent until proven guilty in a Court of Law applies in this (and all) cases.

Okay, before everyone blasts me on how this relates to the University of South Dakota School of Medicine, let me take a few lines to extrapolate the data line. In a quick Google search on the University of South Dakota School of Medicine there are a few ooppss hits that point to the poor judgements made by the "admissions committee." One particular embarassment surrounds a 4th year medical student at the University of South Dakota School of Medicine who removed confidential medical records from the hospital (a violation of HIPAA in itself) and then threw the records away in a public dumpster (a serious violation of HIPAA). Just happens that a reporter witnessed the event and blew-the-story wide-open.

"Documents referring to over 125 psychiatric patients of Rapid City Regional Hospital were found in a convenience store trashcan by an editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. A University of South Dakota fourth year medical student had taken papers outside of the hospital and dumped them in the trash. The documents included lists of patients in the psychiatric unit and their diagnoses along with the student's handwritten notes about some of the patients. The University's faculty committee will be recommending discipline for the student. (C. Brokaw, "S. Dakota Investigates Psych Records," Associated Press, December 30, 2001)"

Source: http://er.hipaaps.com/examples.html

Another blunder by the admissions commitee was played-out on the admission of Mr. Michael Swango into a University of South Dakota residency program. Mr. Swango "served two years in prison for feeding ant poison to six paramedics in Illinois in 1985." This individual was admiteed into the University of South Dakota School of Medicine residency program in July 1992 and dismissed in February 1993 (way to go on that one Paul Bunger!).

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/27/nyregion/medical-schools-alerted-about-intern-with-a-prison-record.html

There have been a number of people who have sent very negative e-mails to me with regard to this blog ... some of them from students and some from USD faculty (we have your IP addresses). On the flip-side, there have been more positive e-mails than negative e-mails ... but I digress. The faculty of the University of South Dakota School of Medicine have "argued" that they have performed a stellar service to the Citizens of South Dakota. In fact, many of the University of South Dakota School of Medicine Admissions Committee members are simply NOT qualified to sit in either their academic positions or on the decision making end of the medical school spectrum. Here are two specific cases where the admissions committee has made serious errors in judgement ... I wonder how many more errors are out there, and how many cover-ups the USD School of Medicine has made to date and will make in the future?