Black Medical School to File Suit Against Los Angeles County

The administration of the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los Angeles has announced that it plans to file a $125 million lawsuit against the county government. The historically black medical school claims the county unfairly severed its connection with the school and its teaching hospital placing its 248 medical residents in “educational limbo.”

The county downsized the hospital after it failed an inspection and was at risk of losing $200 million in federal funding. In order to maintain the funding, the hospital board voted to downsize the facility and end its role as a teaching facility.

The complaint filed by the medical school alleges that public officials “have sought and continue to seek to make Charles Drew University the scapegoat for the county’s betrayal of its obligations to the impoverished and medically underserved in our community.”

After hearing of the plans for the lawsuit, Mike Antonovich, a county supervisor who has been highly critical of the university’s performance, said, “Drew University will fail in court as they failed as a medical school.”