Current:Home > StocksAdvocacy group sues Tennessee over racial requirements for medical boards -WealthMindset
Advocacy group sues Tennessee over racial requirements for medical boards
View
Date:2025-04-16 05:18:29
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A nonprofit dedicated to opposing diversity initiatives in medicine has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the requirements surrounding the racial makeup of key medical boards in Tennessee.
The Virginia-based Do No Harm filed the lawsuit earlier this month, marking the second legal battle the group has launched in the Volunteer State in the past year.
In 2023, Do No Harm filed a similar federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the state’s requirement that one member of the Tennessee Board of Podiatric Medical Examiners must be a racial minority. That suit was initially dismissed by a judge in August but the group has since filed an appeal to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Do No Harm is now targeting Tennessee’s Board of Medical Examiners, which requires the governor to appoint at least one Black member, and Board of Chiropractic Examiners, which requires one racial minority member.
In both lawsuits, Do No Harm and their attorneys with the Pacific Legal Foundation say they have clients who were denied board appointments because they weren’t a minority.
“While citizens may serve on a wide array of boards and commissions, an individual’s candidacy often depends on factors outside his or her control, like age or race,” the lawsuit states. “Sadly, for more than thirty-five years, Tennessee governors have been required to consider an individual’s race when making appointments to the state’s boards, commissions, and committees.”
A spokesperson for the both the medical and chiropractic boards did not immediately return a request for comment on Thursday. Gov. Bill Lee is named as the defendant in the lawsuit, due to his overseeing of state board appointments, and also did not immediately return a request for comment.
More than 35 years ago, the Tennessee Legislature adopted legislation directing the governor to “strive to ensure” that at least one member on state advisory boards are ages 60 or older and at least one member who is a “member of a racial minority.”
Do No Harm’s lawsuit does not seek overturn the age requirement in Tennessee law.
According to the suit, there are two vacancies on the Board of Medical Examiners but because all of the current members are white, Gov. Lee “must consider a potential board member’s race as a factor in making his appointment decisions.”
Do No Harm was founded by Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a kidney specialist and a professor emeritus and former associate dean at the University of Pennsylvania’s medical school. He retired in 2021 and incorporated Do No Harm — a phrase included in Hippocratic oath taken by all new physician receiving a medical degree — in 2022.
That same year, Do No Harm sued Pfizer over its program for its race-based eligibility requirements for a fellowship program designed for college students of Black, Latino and Native American descent. While the suit was dismissed, Pfizer dropped the program.
Meanwhile, Do No Harm has also offered model legislation to restrict gender-affirming care for youth which have been adopted by a handful of states.
veryGood! (492)
Related
- Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
- Indigenous tribes urge federal officials to deny loan request for Superior natural gas plant
- 'Star Wars' Red Leader X-wing model heads a cargo bay's worth of props at auction
- Spotless giraffe seen in Namibia, weeks after one born at Tennessee zoo
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Novak Djokovic wins U.S. Open, tying Margaret Court's all-time record of 24 major titles
- Horoscopes Today, September 10, 2023
- Malaysia’s Appeals Court upholds Najib’s acquittal in one of his 1MDB trial
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Rescue teams retrieve hundreds of bodies in Derna, one of the Libyan cities devastated by floods
Ranking
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- Like Canaries in a Coal Mine, Dragonflies Signal Threats to Freshwater Ecosystems
- Country singer-songwriter Charlie Robison dies at 59 after suffering cardiac arrest
- U.K. police catch terrorism suspect Daniel Khalife, who escaped from a London prison
- At site of suspected mass killings, Syrians recall horrors, hope for answers
- American explorer rescued from deep Turkey cave after being trapped for days
- Kia, Volkswagen, Subaru, and Audi among 208,000 vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here
- Man confessed to killing Boston woman in 1979 to FBI agents, prosecutors say
Recommendation
The company planning a successor to Concorde makes its first supersonic test
One peril facing job-hunters? Being ghosted
When does 'Welcome to Wrexham' Season 2 come out? Release date, trailer, how to watch
Lahaina high school team pushes ahead with season to give Maui community hope
Sam Taylor
6 people fatally shot in Greece, at a seaside town near Athens
For a woman who lost her father at age 6, remembering 9/11 has meant seeking understanding
'We weren't quitting': How 81-year-old cancer survivor conquered Grand Canyon's rim-to-rim hike