The Impact of Immigrant Physicians
The Impact of Immigrant Physicians
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The foreign-born physician is a familiar figure these days. The fact that many of them also received their medical training overseas sometimes raises questions for patients, Shawn McMahon writes in "Fight for Equality: International Medical Graduates in the United States":
"What foreign institution, they wonder, has educated the set of eyes that examines them, the tongue that conveys the critical information, the pair of hands that will operate on them?"
The 210,000 foreign-educated physicians -- or about a quarter of the nation's doctors -- who practice here have had to pass American licensing exams and complete graduate medical education in accredited programs, McMahon writes. He describes battles immigrant doctors had to fight to overcome institutional discrimination, including the story of Indian-educated urologist Navin Shah, who practices in Maryland.
The result, McMahon writes, is a "truly symbiotic" relationship, with immigrant physicians providing care throughout America -- and now parenting much of the next generation of doctors.
-- Frances Stead Sellers
