Medical withdrawal from your college or university may be necessary. Just be aware that medical withdrawal can come with both benefits and risks. The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team can help you weigh the benefits and risks while also helping you navigate your school's procedures for the best withdrawal terms. Call 888.535.3686 now or use our contact form to tell us about your case.
Complete Withdrawal for Medical Reasons
First, understand what medical withdrawal typically involves. Medical withdrawals usually mean a complete withdrawal from school for at least the current term in which the student has enrolled while the student recovers under treatment. The withdrawal may come at any time during the term, whether before courses begin, soon after they begin, mid-way through the term, or near the term's end before the final exam or last submission. Once the school grants a medical withdrawal, the registrar will typically mark the student's transcript with a “W” for each course from which the student medically withdrew. The “W” won't count against the student's grade-point average as a failing grade. Arizona State University's Medical and Compassionate Withdrawal Policy provides a good example, although each college and university will have their own policy. Read your school's policy carefully. Get our help to interpret, apply, and satisfy it for your best outcome.
Selective Withdrawal for Medical Reasons
Depending on your circumstances, though, you may not need to withdraw from all courses, only selective courses. Some schools offer a selective withdrawal policy, permitting a student to withdraw from only some, but not all, of the student's courses. The concern with selective withdrawal is that the student may be using the policy as an excuse to get out of courses the student is failing when the school's course-drop policy would not permit it. Expect to have to make a stronger medical case if you seek selective rather than complete withdrawal. The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee's medical withdrawal policy is an example, stating, “If a student requests a late drop for one or more courses for medical reasons under this policy while remaining enrolled in others, the medical circumstances must be especially well-documented to explain the selective nature of the academic impact….” The university gives, as an example, breaking a leg justifying withdrawal only from a dance course while not from non-physical courses.
The Institutional Role of Medical Withdrawals
Medical withdrawal policies are necessary because colleges and universities typically sharply limit a student's ability to withdraw once the term commences. Course withdrawals can mean students on a waitlist to register for the course have missed an available seat. Course withdrawals can also mean lost tuition revenue for the school. In administrators' views, course withdrawals may also mean that students are professor shopping, trying to see where they can do best with the least effort rather than applying themselves to the course through thick and thin. So, schools generally limit withdrawals. The University of Michigan's course withdrawal policy is an example, permitting students to withdraw with a 100% tuition refund in the first three weeks, only a 50% tuition refund in the next three weeks, and no tuition refund after the sixth week. On the other hand, schools must generally recognize and respect student medical emergencies. Not to do so would be heartless. Hence, the common medical and compassionate withdrawal policies.
Medical Conditions Requiring Withdrawal
Generally, any medical condition that so substantially interferes with safe and successful studies may qualify for medical withdrawal. College and university policies may give an example or two. The University of Wisconsin medical withdrawal policy cited above gives breaking a leg or suffering hospitalization as examples. However, school policies do not attempt to list all qualifying conditions. They instead refer to a general definition. The Arizona State University policy cited above gives no examples, instead authorizing medical withdrawal simply for “a serious illness, injury or other significant personal situation that prevents you from continuing your classes.” The University of Illinois' Policy and Procedures for Medical Withdrawal provides a similar example, authorizing withdrawal “for the treatment of a physical or mental health condition that significantly impacts their ability to function safely or successfully as a member of our community.” That said, common conditions requiring or authorizing medical withdrawal may include:
- serious physical injuries from motor vehicle accidents, sports and recreation, workplace events, military service, or other traumatic events;
- severe mental and emotional harm or disturbance from domestic violence, other criminal assaults, death of an immediate family member, and other sudden tragic losses;
- serious illnesses and disabilities from infectious disease, exposures, or chronic progressive diseases; and
- prolonged confining, disabling, or invasive treatment for organ failure and replacement, cancer chemotherapy or radiation, and the like.
Medical Withdrawal Procedures
Qualifying under your school's medical withdrawal policy will likely require more than an email or in-person request to the registrar. Your college or university may require you to complete a special form in which you make specific representations. The University of Illinois' medical withdrawal policy cited above is an example. It requires that you petition the school with, among other things, your medical history, medical condition, how the condition interferes with your studies, current treatment, future treatment plan, and how you will spend time away from school addressing your medical condition. The University of South Carolina's hardship withdrawal procedure differs, requiring that you submit a similar online petition but then attend a thirty-minute appointment to support your petition. Don't get lost in your school's procedures. Let us help you make the required showing.
Medical Withdrawal Documentation Requirements
Medical withdrawal policies and procedures like the several ones cited above generally require supporting documentation. The above University of Illinois policy, for example, requires that you submit recent records from your treating physician describing your medical history, medical condition, current treatment, current medications, future treatment plan, and expected outcome. The above University of South Carolina policy, for another example, requires that your treating physician send healthcare documentation to school officials directly rather than having you provide the documentation. You may also have to authorize school officials to share your medical documentation among responsible school officials and even obtain additional documentation or consultation directly from your medical care providers. Obtaining thorough medical documentation can take significant administrative skill. Let our attorneys help you get the medical records you need to support your medical withdrawal.
Medical Withdrawal Decision
Medical withdrawal is not automatic. Your college or university likely has an official or panel of officials to decide whether your withdrawal petition and documentation meets the school's withdrawal standard. The decision may involve medical personnel connected with the school. The University of Illinois withdrawal policy cited above is an example. The university first sends the student's withdrawal petition to the university's health center for medical review. The health center must reply with “their recommendation for medical withdrawal, the effective date of withdrawal, any conditions the student must meet before returning to the university, and the rationale for those conditions.” The university's associate dean of students may disagree, send the recommendation back for reconsideration, or overrule the recommendation for non-medical reasons. Other schools permit a senior academic official to make the withdrawal decision. The University of Tennessee is an example. Its policy allows the college dean or designee to confirm the withdrawal.
Involuntary Medical Withdrawal
When you think of medical withdrawal, you probably think of deciding on your own whether to withdraw from school. But school officials may pressure you to withdraw if your medical condition appears to threaten your safety or the safety of others on or about campus or indicates that you cannot meet program requirements. Colleges and universities may claim the right to force a student's involuntary withdrawal. The University of Tennessee's medical withdrawal policy provides an example, allowing the college dean and vice chancellor to send a student to the university's Health Sciences Center for individual evaluation. The dean and vice chancellor may force medical withdrawal if medical personnel determine that “the student's continued participation in its educational programs would require modifications that would be unreasonable or would fundamentally alter the nature of those programs” and the student cannot otherwise meet program requirements. Examples could include:
- medical conditions requiring hospitalization, preventing in-person attendance for required classroom or clinical instruction;
- infectious, transmissible diseases requiring isolation, preventing in-person attendance for required classroom or clinical instruction; and
- mental health conditions such as paranoid schizophrenia or traumatic brain injury, posing risks of emotional dyscontrol and violent outbreak.
Compassionate Withdrawal
Your desire to withdraw from your college or university program may have as much or more to do with an issue evoking the school's compassion than with a clear medical issue. That issue may adversely affect your mental, emotional, and physical ability to study but not quite qualify for medical withdrawal. In that case, your school may be among those that extend the medical withdrawal policy to reach compassionate withdrawal grounds. The Arizona State University policy cited above is an example. It permits withdrawal not only on medical grounds but also on compassionate grounds for a “significant personal situation that prevents you from continuing your classes.” Arizona State University's policy requires petition and documentation, much like the strict requirements for medical withdrawal. The University of Georgia has a similar policy for hardship withdrawal when “a student experiences significant personal hardship (e.g., medical or family emergency, prolonged illness).” These and other policies suggest that any one or more of the following may be compassionate withdrawal grounds:
- death of a close family member causing grief and requiring funeral attendance and other family obligations;
- job change requiring a move or significant additional hours and obligations;
- the illness or hospitalization of a spouse, child, parent, or other dependent for whom the student must care; and
- separation, divorce, arrest, criminal charge, or similar legal issues limiting time and resources and requiring attention.
Medical Withdrawal Appeals
If you lose your medical withdrawal petition and the school denies your withdrawal, you may well have a right to appeal that decision. Policies like the one cited above at the University of Illinois provide for an appeal of a denial from the initial decision maker to a higher official or panel of officials within the school. At the University of Illinois, appeals go from the associate dean of students to the dean of students. Appeals generally require swift action and clear articulation of the error in the initial decision. At the University of Illinois, for instance, you have just five days within which to file your appeal. The appeal official reviews the petition and may have the authority to consult with medical officials. You would also likely have an appeal available to you if the school forces you to withdraw.
Alternative Special Relief for Medical Withdrawal
Appeal policies will often state that the appeal decision is final. The University of Illinois policy cited above is an example, stating that the appeal decision “is final and is not subject to further review.” Yet if you lost your medical withdrawal petition and appeal, our Student Defense Team may be able to help you obtain alternative special relief. Our attorneys have developed the reputation and relationships with school general counsel offices, outside retained counsel, and other school oversight officials. Those officials help the school reduce regulatory and litigation risks. They may have the authority to overrule other school officials, providing a student with special relief. We may be able to show those oversight officials that your request for medical withdrawal implicates important legal rights and other interests. We may be able to help you gain medical withdrawal even if the dean of students, registrar, or other officials denying your petition and appeal have already ruled against you. Let us help.
Premier Team Available to Help with Medical Withdrawal
The Lento Law Firm's Student Defense Team has helped hundreds of students nationwide to obtain school withdrawal, successfully defend against school misconduct charges, or obtain other similar relief. Call 888.535.3686 now or use our contact form to tell us about your medical withdrawal issues. Let us provide the skilled and experienced help you need.
