Does the punishment fit the crime?

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Beachlife

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I am on the latter half of finishing my residency in the Miami area. Close to home, last January 2016 a neurology resident at University of Miami Anjali Ramkissoon made national headlines for a notorious incident with an uber driver. This was caught on camera, uploaded and went viral. She was in the final year of her neurology residency and was subsequently terminated in April 2016 just prior to what I would presume would have been a June 2016 graduation.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...er-driver-viral-video-fired-article-1.2611674

I am in no way condoning her actions but I cannot help but wonder, does the punishment fit the crime? To think back to my own experiences which many others who read this may share, I have been planning out how to become a physician since I was in high school 12 years ago; shadowing doctors, identifying colleges with high medical school acceptance rates, completing all the pre-med courses, unpaid research, thousands of hours of time preparing for tests, hundreds of thousands of dollars invested awaiting repayment. I am very optimistic now that I am almost at the end of the journey of becoming an attending physician and to imagine having that taken away in one sudden swoop is a devastating thought. To this end, I am deeply sympathetic with Dr. Ramkissoon. I do not know her personally, but I know personally the hours of time, and efforts she had to have invested to be in the position she was professionally.

After some consideration and thought, I am of the opinion that her punishment of losing her residency, and thus probably her career as a budding neurologist does not fit the 'crime' of belligerently berating and perhaps physically injuring an innocent person while in an altered [intoxicated] state of mind one night of her life. We all have bad nights, and I am of the opinion that if she wasn't a physician, she would be one of many people who lost their cool and acted inappropriately on a drunken weekend night out and would not have made national headlines. I think the bottom line is that physicians, resident physicians, medical students and anyone on this journey needs to be also recognized as human beings vulnerable to stressors, that we do indeed make mistakes in our private lives and have bad days. I am in agreement perhaps that physicians need to be held to higher standards due to an oath taken to act out of the benefit for others first and that we are never really "off duty" as our personal and professional identities are sometimes deeply interwoven. With regard to this resident though, I can guess if she has matriculated this far in her program, she has the knowledge required and bedside manner to treat patients with neurological illness. She should be reprimanded for her inappropriate behavior, but perhaps with a leave of absence where she can undergo mental health counseling, community service and other sorts of punishment that do not erase the years and efforts of progress she has made.

I have read a lot of things in the media, but none from the medical community, moreso from outraged individuals who do not have a good conception of this journey of becoming an attending physician. I am intrigued in the opinions of other residents and those in the medical community and just putting this out there to see how people feel. Thank you for reading.

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I am on the latter half of finishing my residency in the Miami area. Close to home, last January 2016 a neurology resident at University of Miami Anjali Ramkissoon made national headlines for a notorious incident with an uber driver. This was caught on camera, uploaded and went viral. She was in the final year of her neurology residency and was subsequently terminated in April 2016 just prior to what I would presume would have been a June 2016 graduation.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...er-driver-viral-video-fired-article-1.2611674

I am in no way condoning her actions but I cannot help but wonder, does the punishment fit the crime? To think back to my own experiences which many others who read this may share, I have been planning out how to become a physician since I was in high school 12 years ago; shadowing doctors, identifying colleges with high medical school acceptance rates, completing all the pre-med courses, unpaid research, thousands of hours of time preparing for tests, hundreds of thousands of dollars invested awaiting repayment. I am very optimistic now that I am almost at the end of the journey of becoming an attending physician and to imagine having that taken away in one sudden swoop is a devastating thought. To this end, I am deeply sympathetic with Dr. Ramkissoon. I do not know her personally, but I know personally the hours of time, and efforts she had to have invested to be in the position she was professionally.

After some consideration and thought, I am of the opinion that her punishment of losing her residency, and thus probably her career as a budding neurologist does not fit the 'crime' of belligerently berating and perhaps physically injuring an innocent person while in an altered [intoxicated] state of mind one night of her life. We all have bad nights, and I am of the opinion that if she wasn't a physician, she would be one of many people who lost their cool and acted inappropriately on a drunken weekend night out and would not have made national headlines. I think the bottom line is that physicians, resident physicians, medical students and anyone on this journey needs to be also recognized as human beings vulnerable to stressors, that we do indeed make mistakes in our private lives and have bad days. I am in agreement perhaps that physicians need to be held to higher standards due to an oath taken to act out of the benefit for others first and that we are never really "off duty" as our personal and professional identities are sometimes deeply interwoven. With regard to this resident though, I can guess if she has matriculated this far in her program, she has the knowledge required and bedside manner to treat patients with neurological illness. She should be reprimanded for her inappropriate behavior, but perhaps with a leave of absence where she can undergo mental health counseling, community service and other sorts of punishment that do not erase the years and efforts of progress she has made.

I have read a lot of things in the media, but none from the medical community, moreso from outraged individuals who do not have a good conception of this journey of becoming an attending physician. I am intrigued in the opinions of other residents and those in the medical community and just putting this out there to see how people feel. Thank you for reading.
start your own residency and hire her.....it's not my job to tell a program director what they have to put up with
 
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