Proposed M.D.

schmt at health
science center is an insult to
institutiort's D.O. history
Tre taryqyers sfrorttrt ha*bfodlfe nent roles in the medical profession. Recentlv.
billfuran f.D. sdrootth* rcpf* Dr. Humayrm I. Chau&rywas named president
t av.risfe'ln Fort wor$ * and chief executive officer of the Federation of
"i"irg.lrdrdy
Terc Coilege for Osteopathk Hedtcine. State Medical Boards of the United States, and Dr.
In{n E. Zeitler }r. is president of the Texas Medical
ByTAYSOT DELEI{GOCXY Board.
Sp€cial to the Star-Telegram. The health science center has uied to inte-
The University of North Texas Health Science grate fully into the local medical coTmuniw bn-
Center is about to propose the creation of a having a majority of M.D.s serving on tle fa$Itr
smaller M.D. school on campus to satisff what and chairing the departrnents of orthopedics and
school leaders call community demand. pediatrics. Yet more than 1,000 D.O.s are serving
This demand stems from hospitals that warrt Dallas-Fort Worth hospitals without anv discrim-
art allopathic medical school because they do not ination. The residenry programs have appreciat-
want to tre viewed as osteopathic entities. They ed the perfor-marce of the osteopathic college's
want to parflier with a medical school accredited graduates.
by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education What are the real reasons rvhv local hospitals
ttCME) and host residenry programs accredited are demanding the establishment of another
by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Med- medical school?
ical Education (ACGME). Itwould be a ftavestyto waste millions of tax-
Additionally, some philanthropic donors will payer dollars annually-to duplicate the parallel
give onlyto an M.D. school. administrative structure of a medical school to
Too, a misperception exists that osteopathic train future physicians who would provide the
physicians do not specialize or subspecialize. same care, just with a different degree title. D.O.s
These justifications are discriminatory and and M.D.s are fully licensed physicians account-
prejudicial toward the osteopathic community able to the same standards of medical care.
and an existing state-sponsored medical school, It took about 15 years for the Texas Legislature
Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. The col- to approve and fund a medical school in El Paso
lege has been an exemplary model in its contri- because it cost about $100 million. South Texas
butions to the care of Texas residents. It has been lawmakers have been seeking one since 1997 but
ranked among the top 50 medical schools for pri- agreed not to ask for money ftom the state te
mary-ca{e medicine since 2002 by U.S. News & build the school until 2016 as a compromise to
World Report, andHispanic Business Magazine get the authorizing bill passed this spring.
placed it in the top 20 medical schools for His- The UNT System board of regents is sched-
panics in 2005 and2007. uled to meet Friday to make lts decision on the
Furthermore, its students are as qualifisfl 65 proposed M.D. school at the health science cen-
any allopathic medical student. The admitting ter.
class of 2013 has arr average Medical College Ad- It is time for educators to stald against aa1.
mission Test score and grade-point average of form of discrimination ald value diversitv. It
29.2 and3.63, respectively. These numbers place should be noted that about 25 percent of Ameri-
t}re students equal to or better than 32 allopathic can physicians are graduates of foreign medical
schools in the nation. Also, theyhave earned the schools that are not LCME accredited.
highest scores on Comprehensive Osteopathic The center should invest its resources in part-
Medical Licensing Examination Steps 1 and 2 in nerships and startup costs with other hospitals to
the past four years and ranked in the second create additional Graduate Medical Education
quartile on ihe U.S. Medical Licensure Examina- programs that are not required to be affiliated
tion. with an LCME-accredited medical school. Nen'
Despite a limited number of clinical training GME sites would be mutuallybeneficial as osteo-
sites, graduates have securedresidencies in com- pathic college graduates provide high qualit_vand
petitive specialties and at prestigious institu. affordable care and bring funding from Medicare
tions. More than 50 graduates from the Class of to the hospitals.
'2009 were selected in competitive specialties
such as emergenry medicine; general surgery; ra- DR. TAYSON DELENGOCKY, A 2OO2 ALUM OF THE TUAS
diologlr; anesthesiology; neurolo gy; obstetrics / CoLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHTC MED|C|NE, PRACT|€ES Vt-
gynecology; orthopedics; ear, nose and throat; TREO-RETINAL SURGERY AND NEURO-OPHTHATilOIOGY
and ophthalmology. IN PEORIA, ILL., AND IS A MEMBER OF THE AMERICAfl
The discrimination against osteopaths, who OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION'S BUREAU ON INTERilATIOI+
represent only 7 percent of physicians, is base- AL OSTEOPATHIC MEDICAT EDUCATION.
less. The osteopathic profession has been the
fastest-growing medical profession in the past
tluee decades. Currently, 20 percent of U.S. med- Online at star-telegram.connlopinions
ical students are eruolled in an osteopathic med- Dayid"Srod€f Corygress needs to find realistic
ways of paying for the promises of the healtfF
ical school. The eryonential gror+.th is thanks to
care-bill.
the integration of D.O.s' holistic approach to
heahlcare into mainstream medicine. Cd Tlpnras: Extremist Muslirns dont believe in
More than 60 percent of osteopathic gadu- diversity so why should Arnerisans?
-
ates iue being uained in -{CGIfE residencv pro-
grams Furthermore. D"O.s hale assumedpromi-