[616c]

I assume it must be the same school, but a undergrad friend and roommate was a pre-med and came from a very interesting family. His family was all about immigration in the US, and was very tight with the Latin American community where they lived (he even grew up for a period in Mexico, and spoke perfect Mexican Spanish, as was his American father who raised him there).

He clued me into the existence of full-ride scholarships for Americans to study in medicine. American students with a full medical education in Cuba! I was very impressed. I guess it is this.

http://www.ifconews.org/node/707

This kid was amazing and very altruistic. However, he pulled his application bc of the sad reality of US medicine; he was told point blank by some med school mentors he would never practice medicine in the US with that degree, and it was pointless as he would likely redo all of his medical education and required certification/boards stateside lest he have any intention of ever practicing medicine in the States.

I am still glad, despite all the fucked up political harassment by the USG, this scholarship remains.

[jessaustin]

Preventing foreign physicians from practicing in USA is kind of the whole point of having a "profession" with lobbyists like the AMA. If they had to compete with H-1B'ers, they couldn't afford to spend so many years and dollars in training. Also health care would be much cheaper, which would step on a lot more toes than just those of the M.D.'s.

[616c]

I completely agree with you. But this was a group of doctors dissuading them. It was more an argument about stigma (that other US doctors would never hire them, regardless of him re-studying and re-boarding might not save the potential of a career).

I would love such an opportunity. I think we should also open up medicine in the US as you describe, but I also must be honest: expect the quality and knowledge of doctors on average going down. I live abroad in the MENA region, and most of the doctors here are from abroad (the first medical school in country is part of the educational complex I work in; the first graduating class will be this year or next year). Even at good hospitals, people check nationality of the doctor as a result and you always go only to doctors you friends have visited and recommend if not an emergency. Whether it is general fear or racism whatver you call it is another debate. You will notice some doctors meet minimal standards here but I would be afraid to call them doctors (one told me you have to be careful which kind of fish you eat because the Quran explains so; religion has its place but I will not tolerate that from a doctor, and I never visited her again).

Allowing doctors all over the world while maintaining a minimally required level of education and skill with such different education systems and credentials will be awful. I live that every day I visit the hospital with my son, even for a simple doctor's visit.