Getting to medical school is quite hard. When you are in the program, you only want to focus on graduating and getting your M. D. degree. The exhaustive nature of the program, along with your inclination to begin practicing forces you to strive to achieve your goals as quickly as possible. But whether or not you can graduate on time depends on your overall performance.
Evaluating your performance is based on different factors including your clinical knowledge, academic performance as well as compliance with conduct standards inside and outside of the school or teaching hospital. If you fail to meet the requirements of the med school, you can be put on academic probation, suspended, or expelled from school. Thankfully, you can contest decisions that can put your medical career at risk by requesting an appeal. If you appeal a dismissal from medical school, you need an attorney to give you legal advice and assistance.
Grounds for an Appeal
In med school, you should be able to appeal decisions that are detrimental to your career. These decisions include getting a failing grade, obtaining an unsatisfactory clinical evaluation result, being under probation, or being dismissed from school. But you need to have grounds that justify such outcomes. Most schools allow grounds for appeal such as extenuating circumstances and improper conduct. You need to base your appeal on these grounds, so your request can be considered. But it can be hard to determine whether a ground applies to your case or not. An attorney can help you determine what appropriate grounds you can use for your academic appeal.
- Extenuating circumstances. You can appeal a school’s decision based on this ground if you experience unpredictable events or extenuating circumstances that stop you from making academic progress. Extenuating circumstances include medical or psychological problems, family crises, and financial issues.
- Improper conduct. You can appeal on this ground if the school staff has made mistakes or when some guidelines of the school have not been applied correctly to your case. An example of improper conduct is when a professor incorrectly marked your examination.
Why You Need a Lawyer
If the med school has made a decision that prevents you from becoming a medical professional, you need to challenge this decision and file an appeal. If you are not sure about which grounds apply to your case, contact an attorney as soon as possible. Your lawyer will help you understand what you can expect from the appeal and how to strengthen it.
