The University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California, is California's second-oldest medical school, established in 1885. Students appreciate USC's Keck School of Medicine for its innovative holistic teaching approach. Keck School of Medicine seeks not just professional but also personal development to produce balanced graduates capable of sustained and leading medical practice. USC Keck offers students patient care opportunities from the program's first weeks. Keck School of Medicine's humanistic, balanced approach to the challenges of medical education generally encourages and rewards Keck students.
But Keck School of Medicine students still encounter serious, even crippling, academic progression and professionalism issues. Medical school is just hard, the most challenging of all academic and professional programs. And when life events like disability, divorce, or death in the family intervene, medical school challenges can turn into medical student issues leading to disciplinary charges and even dismissal. Retain the Lento Law Firm Education Law Team and national student defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento to meet and overcome your USC Keck School of Medicine disciplinary issues and dismissal challenges.
USC Keck School of Medicine Grounds for Dismissal
USC Keck Academic Progression Issues
The USC Keck School of Medicine Student Handbook requires students to meet the KSOM Graduation Requirements Policy. That policy serves as Keck School of Medicine's satisfactory academic progress (SAP) policy. Like other prominent medical schools, KSOM does not require a minimum cumulative grade point average. Instead, KSOM requires students to pass all courses for the four-year M.D. degree program within a maximum six-year time frame. A Student Performance Committee reviews student academic progression with authority to require remedial education or repeated school years and to dismiss students who cannot pass courses and step exams to meet academic benchmarks.
USC Keck School of Medicine Professionalism Issues
USC Keck students must also meet the school's professional and personal behavior requirements. The USC Keck School of Medicine Student Handbook references and incorporates the medical school's Student Professional Behavior and Mistreatment Policy. The Professional Behavior Policy incorporates no fewer than six other conduct codes, including the USC Principles of Community, USC Code of Ethics, Keck Code of Professional Behavior, USC Policy on Prohibited Discrimination, and USC Student Conduct Code and Policies. Those codes and policies prohibit violence, threats, drug and alcohol abuse, academic dishonesty, theft, and many other misbehaviors. But the Professional Behavior Policy also expressly reaches any "behavior that shows disrespect for the dignity of others and unreasonably interferes with the learning process." Beware of the breadth and subjectivity of USC Keck's extraordinarily regulated environment. Medical students can even face dismissal for questionable dress, hygiene, demeanor, and communication.
USC Keck School of Medicine Adjudication Process
USC Keck School of Medicine's Student Professional Behavior and Mistreatment Policy includes procedures for determining professionalism and other misconduct charges. Misconduct reports enter an online system for student affairs dean review. The student affairs dean refers complaints to the appropriate university professionalism or equity office for investigation if they do not fall within the medical school's Student Performance Committee purview. The policy expressly grants the Student Performance Committee the authority to dismiss the accused student.
USC Keck also maintains a Policy on the Dismissal of Students. Its procedures provide at least ten days' notice of a Student Performance Committee meeting at which the accused student faces dismissal. The student must present witnesses and other evidence at the meeting, or the Committee may decide on the school's evidence. The Committee tells the student at the meeting's end of its decision, followed within three days by written confirmation of dismissal or other sanction.
USC Keck School of Medicine Appeal Process
USC Keck School of Medicine offers an Appeal Process to dismissed students or students facing other serious sanctions. The Appeal Process requires the affected student to appeal to the Vice Dean for Medical Education within ten days of the adverse decision. The appeal must show a material deviation from school disciplinary procedures, new evidence not previously available, or a grossly disproportionate punishment. The Vice Dean may decide or appoint an Ad Hoc Appeals Committee to decide within ten days after the appeal hearing.
USC Keck School of Medicine Sanctions
USC Keck School of Medicine's Policy on the Dismissal of Students expressly authorizes dismissal for academic failures, failure to complete the program within six years, unprofessional conduct, or other behaviors that place others at risk. While USC Keck School of Medicine's Student Professional Behavior and Mistreatment Policy expressly grants the Student Performance Committee the authority to dismiss the accused student, other sanctions or remedial relief may instead be appropriate. The policy authorizes the Committee to impose professionalism at risk status or professionalism probation before dismissal. Counseling is another express option. But medical school officials would, in some cases, also consider remedial relief like repeated assignments and extra training in lieu of discipline. Remedial measures can protect your academic and disciplinary record, preserving your reputation and future opportunities.
USC Keck School of Medicine Student Defense Services
Do not proceed with formal appeals and hearings without skilled and experienced student defense attorney advisor representation. Retain an attorney advisor with substantial academic administrative experience. Your attorney advisor can develop and deploy a strategic plan for early voluntary dismissal of disciplinary charges, effective hearings, appeals, or negotiated relief. Your USC Keck medical education is worth the best available defense representation.
USC Keck School of Medicine Alternative Special Relief
The Lento Law Firm Education Law Team and national student defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento have helped students gain reinstatement even after they had exhausted all formal appeals and procedures. Attorney advisor Lento has the national reputation and relationships to, in some cases, negotiate with the university general counsel for special relief reinstatement. General counsel helps the school reduce litigation and regulatory risk. Retain the Lento Law Firm to explore special relief.
USC Keck School of Medicine Defense Services
The Lento Law Firm's premier Education Law Team and national student defense attorney advisor Joseph D. Lento are available at USC Keck School of Medicine for your skilled defense representation. Call 888.535.3686 or go online now for medical student defense services in Los Angeles, California.
