Attending medical school in New Mexico is a transformative experience you may never expect to undergo again. Your ability to comfort your patients and understand complex anatomical structures will be key to your ability to advance from year to year. For most students, the high standards of medical school can cause a tremendous amount of fear and anxiety, and many of them may succumb to that fear. If you find that you are in such a situation, an attorney advisor will help you navigate your options and build a defense against unwanted consequences.
Academic and Professionalism Policies for New Mexico Medical Students
Usually, medical schools provide their students with copies of their code of conduct during orientation. The specifics of what's required will change from school to school, but generally, it includes academic and professional standards they expect their students to meet. New Mexico is home to the University of Mexico's School of Medicine, which demands its students exhibit honesty and integrity, respect for others, and refrain from plagiarizing others' ideas, words, or research on their academic assignments.
If you are accused of violating these guidelines, you will be brought before your university's decision board. This board will review your file – your grades and professional standing – and determine if you should be allowed to advance to the next course, year, or rotation. And the issues that bring you before the board can vary from cheating accusations to incomplete assignments or excessive absences, the defenses for which will vary significantly. The benefit of working with an attorney advisor is knowing not only how to defend yourself against unnecessary punishments but also what to defend yourself with. For instance, do you need witness testimony? Is documentary evidence enough? Can you speak to the decision board outside of the hearing?
Remediation at New Mexico Medical Schools
Medical school might be the only graduate school where lives are actually on the line. Universities are highly aware of society's expectations of the doctors they are training. Doctors are meant to be compassionate and clever, always discovering new ways to help treat their patients. In order to ensure they are producing skilled doctors, medical schools will test their students on both their medical understanding and their professional abilities as well.
At the Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, your performance in your courses and in your clinicals will be reviewed after every semester. If you fail an exam or course, you will be given the chance to remediate it. It is important to remember that corses are Burrell are only offered once a year, so remediate it will mean potentially pushing off your graduation date. In order to be recommended for remediation, the student must be in good academic standing otherwise.
If the remediation process sounds daunting, or you are worried your school is not informing you of the option, an attorney advisor can help orchestrate it for you.
Dismissal from a New Mexico Medical Program
It can be very hard to imagine that you might be undergoing a dismissal from medical school proceeding, but the reality is there are so many paths that may have brought you to this point. Depending on your medical school, you might be brought before the dismissal panel for having a terse bedside manner, cheating, or dressing “inappropriately” during your rotations. At the University of New Mexico's School of Medicine, students can be dismissed for a myriad of reasons, including failing any step of the USMLE, behaving inappropriately during their rotation, or failing a course, exam, or rotation even after the opportunity to remediate. And at Burell College of Osteopathic Medicine, they might be dismissed for failing the COMLEX-USA or failing to progress academically on the timeline the college has outlined.
The consequences for being inadequately defended during a dismissal proceeding can have long-term effects beyond being expelled. These consequences might include:
- Personal hardships – the effect being forced to let go of your dream career may have on your mental health can be hard to recover from.
- Financial hardships – medical school is insanely expensive, forcing most medical students to take out large loans, and just because you left school doesn't mean those loans disappear. Without the prospect of a doctor's salary to greet you at the end of medical school, those loans will be hard to pay back.
- Starting from zero – if you are given admission to another school, your credits might not be transferrable, forcing you to start from zero and take out more loans to complete medical school.
Attorney advisors will work tirelessly to lessen these consequences from coming to fruition.
Appeals
When you are facing dismissal from medical school, it is important to remember that you have certain due process rights, which your school is supposed to uphold. These rights might include asking for a grade change or being able to remediate a course, facing your accuser, having the opportunity to defend yourself from accusations, and appealing the university's dismissal decision. The university should also notify you of the grounds for which an appeal can be made, how long you have to submit the appeal, and what needs to be included in your argument.
In some cases, though, medical schools forget to afford their students these due process rights, leading to unnecessary penalties. Working with an attorney advisor from the moment you hear of the proceeding will ensure the university upholds those rights, effectively protecting your future and alleviating fear.
Further, attorney advisors will be able to help you navigate next steps if your appeal is denied. For example, they may reach out to your medical school's Office of General Counsel and attempt to negotiate an alternative resolution on your behalf. Usually, these types of negotiations are much more successful than if you were to file suit against the school.
New Mexico Medical Student Defense Advisor
Getting into medical school takes time and patience, and the possibility of being dismissed never crosses your mind. When you find out you could be leaving school early, it can feel overwhelmingly scary. What do you do next? Who do you turn to?
Attorney Joseph D. Lento has devoted his career to helping students who've found themselves in similar situations. He and his team have years of experience advocating for your place in medical school. They know that the best defense to dismissal is a quick one. Call the Lento Law Firm today at 888-535-3686 to discuss your case or schedule a time online.
