Table 7.

Due Process Considerations in Student Dismissal Cases.

Due process is a constitutional right that has been incorporated into case law and accrediting body standards.

Both UME and GME institutions need well-defined criteria that outline academic and professionalism standards and the consequences of not meeting their standards.

Documentation by faculty is critical if litigation is initiated. Courts will look to the written record in making determinations.19,35

At the UME level, it is worth having a faculty committee review the performance of students at the end of a clerkship, where the grade is both objective and subjective in nature in contrast to courses or licensing exams that are objective in nature, to preclude complaints that grading decisions are arbitrary and capricious.

At the GME level, departmental review of resident performance annually, before new contracts are signed or when resident performance does not meet department standards, diminishes substantive due process claims.

Residents for the most part are treated as students versus employees.

Framing the dismissal as an academic decision limits the amount of due process needed in contrast to nonacademic (disciplinary action) decisions.

Written notice, with the consequences of committee action, to students with acknowledgment of receipt of the notice by the student and the opportunity to meet diminishes procedural due process claims for academic dismissals.

Due process requires that institutional guidelines are followed. In rendering a decision at a departmental or institutional level, the totality of a student’s record should be reviewed. The appeal process should be outlined in the institutional policy.

The Courts recognize that institutions have the right to modify their educational requirements.

The Courts recognize that disparities may arise in dealing with students on a case-by-case basis given that promotion decisions are made by committee consensus and based on review of the totality of a student’s record.50

Implicit in the student’s contract with the university upon matriculation is the student’s agreement to comply with the university’s rules and regulations, which the university is entitled to modify to exercise properly its educational responsibility.

Student handbooks and catalogs should include the phrase that policies are subject to modification and apply to accepted and current students.

Abbreviations: GME, graduate medical education; UME, undergraduate medical education.