Two California doctors and a medical advocacy group, Do No Harm, filed a joint lawsuit Aug. 1 against the state’s medical board to terminate its mandatory “implicit bias training,” contending that it infringes on their freedom of speech rights.
The progressive training is required for all medical professionals in the Golden State who seek to advance their education. “Implicit bias” suggests medical practitioners treat patients differently based on factors like race or sexuality, possibly leading to different health outcomes.
The lawsuit targets state legislation passed in 2019, AB 241, which defines health care-linked implicit bias as subconscious “attitudes or internalized stereotypes.”
Los Angeles doctors Marilyn Singleton and Azadeh Khatibi and Do No Harm say the law instead coerces medical professionals to violate their freedom of speech rights to “compel speakers to engage in discussions on subjects they prefer to remain silent about,” according to the filing.
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California is being sued for a policy that requires all doctors to take “implicit bias training” in the state. (iStock)
Do No Harm says the law requires physicians “to adopt an ideology that is unpersuasive nor unsupported by evidence to presume all healthcare providers are infected with implicit bias and thus treat patients differently.”
“The government cannot condition a speaker’s ability to offer courses for credit on the requirement that she espouse the government’s favored view on a controversial topic. This case seeks to vindicate those important constitutional rights,” the lawsuit reads.
Currently, California physicians must adhere to the law and log 50 hours of continuing medical education courses on implicit bias training for patient care every two years to have their license renewed.
Both Singleton and Khatibi have taught continuing education for physicians and worry they’ll be forced to teach using the implicit bias course materials.
“The implicit bias requirement promotes the inaccurate belief that White individuals are naturally racist.”
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Doctors behind the lawsuit say the California law promotes the belief “that White individuals are naturally racist.” (iStock)
“The implicit bias requirement promotes the inaccurate belief that White individuals are naturally racist,” Singleton said in a news release last week. “This message can be detrimental to medical professionals and their patients as it creates an atmosphere of suspicion and animosity, which goes against the fundamental principle of doing no harm.”
Caleb Trotter, one of the Pacific Legal Foundation attorneys on the case, says implicit bias training teaches health care providers that “they should be concerned about a patient’s immutable characteristics like race, gender and sexual orientation, regardless of the characteristics’ relevance to the patient’s treatment.”
Several other states have passed laws that require implicit bias training of all medical professionals. (iStock)
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California isn’t the only state with implicit bias training courses for health care providers. Last year, a Texas nurse employed by Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health was fired for refusing to take the mandatory training.
Other states that require implicit bias training in the health care industry include Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Washington.
