To the OP:
This is a tough situation. You are probably correct that other programs may have better education and less hours. For example, my program's intern year has 9 blocks of "inpatient" where you work 70-75 hours or so, and 4 blocks of "elective/outpatient" which is 8-5 M-F with no weekends. Plus, one afternoon a week is an "academic 1/2 day" for interns, where they are (mostly) removed from their clinical duties for teaching. Although my interns only log 70-75 hours, I expect some/many of them do some work from home in the EMR. Theoretically they are supposed to log that, but they probably don't. So perhaps it's more than 80 hours, or perhaps not.
But your situation, giving up your spot to look for something "better", is very risky. First, your PD is being a bit of a jerk saying that you have to leave for a whole year because you signed a PGY-2 contract. That's purely vindictive, and doesn't do anyone any good. But there's probably not much you can do about it.
Second, no one is likely to consider you without an evaluation from your current PD. Look at it from my angle -- PGY-2 builds upon PGY-1, so I want someone who learned what needs to be learned and is ready for PGY-2. If your reason for leaving is "they didn't teach us well", then how am I supposed to expect that you actually have the skills needed for a PGY-2? And after a year break, you're going to find it even harder to find a spot -- programs are going to worry (correctly) that your skills will have atrophied. Last, transferring at the beginning of the PGY-2 is just a hard transition in general -- you are now expected to supervise PGY-1 interns, but you don't know the hospital / system / EMR / etc and that makes it very difficult.
Perhaps you made a bad choice taking a prematch offer. Or, perhaps if you hadn't you would have not matched at all, and then agonize over the fact that you could have taken the spot. In any case, your best option was to complete the 3 year residency -- after that, you'd be free to do whatever you want in the US as a physician. Now you've created a situation where your whole career in the US is in jeopardy. Although I find your PD's behavior, as described by you, as disappointing, I can understand it. You basically told them that they had a crappy program and you'd rather just go somewhere else. You had signed the PGY-2 contract, perhaps they had someone else in mind that they didn't take because you took the spot, and now they are unavailable. Yes, they filled your spot -- but perhaps with someone that they are not excited about. They were probably insulted (rightly or wrongly), and now don't care what happens to you.
What are the documents that the current PD is forced, by law, to provide to the exiting intern, in cases like this one?
- objective LOR, summary competence evaluation?
Employment law only requires that you confirm dates and position, and I believe the circumstances of termination (i.e. resigning vs being fired for cause vs position eliminated etc). That's all.
ACGME requires that when a resident moves from one program to another, there be a handoff from one PD to another regarding performance. But that's only after a new position has been accepted.
No PD wants to inherit someone else's problem resident, hence a letter from your current/old program is often required -- but there's no rule about this.
