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MAYWOOD, IL – Medical schools have an ethical obligation to change admission policies in order to accept applications from undocumented immigrants known as DREAMers, according to a perspective article in the December 2014 issue of the journal Academic Medicine.

Not allowing DREAMers to apply to medical school “represents a kind of unjustified discrimination and violates the basic ethical principle of the equality of human beings,” write co-authors Mark G. Kuczewski, PhD and Linda Brubaker, MD, MS of Loyola University Chicago Stritch of Medicine. Academic Medicine is the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

In 2012, Loyola became the first medical school in the United States to amend its admissions policies to include qualified students who have received Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status and are legally recognized as U.S. residents. In August, 2014, Loyola welcomed seven DREAMers to the class of 2018.

The students are known as DREAMers after a proposed federal law called the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors). Although the DREAM Act has yet to become law, the DACA program makes medical training, licensure and medical practice feasible, Drs. Kuczewski and Brubaker write.

The authors write that three main ethical principles and policy considerations support Dreamers’ eligibility:

“First, a belief in equality, perhaps the fundamental value in contemporary democratic society, means that these potential applicants must be considered – just like others – on their merits. Second, the medical profession’s duty of beneficence, the obligation to help patients, means that medical schools cannot turn away a significant pool of diverse talent in developing the physician workforce. Third, and related to beneficence, the value of social justice requires that medical schools seek to produce a physician workforce that better serves those communities that have been traditionally underserved, such as ethnic minorities and recent immigrants.”

Social justice means enabling the participation of all – DREAMers, recent immigrants, minorities, U.S. citizens – in the life and opportunities of the community to the extent possible. “Enabling qualified DREAMers to become physicians is therefore an ethical obligation of the medical education community.”

To be eligible for DACA status, an applicant must have arrived in the United States before age 16; have resided continuously in the U.S. for at least five years; be currently enrolled in school, have completed high school or earned a GED; have no serious criminal involvement; and be able to prove he or she was in the U.S. on June 15, 2012.

"Time to make the dream a reality"

The DACA program was created by the Obama Administration and is subject to change by a future president, Drs. Kuczewski and Brubaker write. “Our duty to serve the communities our institutions serve requires that we steward the resources available including the talent of DREAMers. It is time to make the dream a reality.”

Dr. Kuczewski is the Fr. Michael I. English Professor of Medical Ethics, director of the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy and chair of the Department of Medical Education of Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine.

Dr. Brubaker is dean and chief diversity officer and professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Loyola’s Stritch School of Medicine.

Their article is titled “Medical Education for ‘Dreamers’: Barriers and Opportunities for Undocumented Immigrants.”

About Loyola Medicine

Loyola Medicine, a member of Trinity Health, is a nationally ranked academic, quaternary care system based in Chicago's western suburbs. The three-hospital system includes Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC), Gottlieb Memorial HospitalMacNeal Hospital, as well as convenient locations offering primary care, specialty care and immediate care services from nearly 2,000 physicians throughout Cook, Will and DuPage counties. LUMC is a 547-licensed-bed hospital in Maywood that includes the William G. and Mary A. Ryan Center for Heart & Vascular Medicine, the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center, the John L. Keeley, MD, Emergency Department, a Level 1 trauma center, Illinois's largest burn center, the Nancy W. Knowles Orthopaedic Institute, a certified comprehensive stroke centertransplant center and a children’s hospital. Having delivered compassionate care for over 50 years, Loyola also trains the next generation of caregivers through its academic affiliation with Loyola University Chicago’s Stritch School of Medicine and Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing.   

Established in 1961, Gottlieb Memorial Hospital is a 247-licensed-bed community hospital in Melrose Park that includes the Judd A. Weinberg Emergency Department, the Loyola Center for Metabolic Surgery and Bariatric Care, Loyola Cancer Care & Research at the Marjorie G. Weinberg Cancer Center, acute rehabilitation, a transitional care center, childcare center and fitness center. Founded in 1919, MacNeal Hospital is a 374-licensed-bed teaching hospital in Berwyn with advanced medical, surgical and psychiatric services and a 68-bed behavioral health program.

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About Trinity Health

Trinity Health is one of the largest not-for-profit, faith-based health care systems in the nation. It is a family of 127,000 colleagues and more than 38,300 physicians and clinicians caring for diverse communities across 26 states. Nationally recognized for care and experience, the Trinity Health system includes 93 hospitals, 107 continuing care locations, the second largest PACE program in the country, 142 urgent care locations and many other health and well-being services. In fiscal year 2024, the Livonia, Michigan-based health system invested $1.3 billion in its communities in the form of charity care and other community benefit programs. For more information, visit us at www.trinity-health.org, or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, and X (formerly known as Twitter).