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Why does this woman still hold a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University?

The main defendant is [Jumana] Nagarwala, 44, of Northville, who is charged with conspiracy, genital mutilation, transporting minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, lying to a federal agent and obstructing an official proceeding. If convicted, she could face up to life in prison on the transporting minors charge. According to the indictment, Nagawala told federal agents that “she has never been present” for female genital mutilation — or FGM — on “any minor children” and that she has “no knowledge” of it ever being performed.

“Nagarwala then and there well knew she had performed FGM procedures on numerous minor girls,” the indictment states.

Yes, yes, wait for the outcome of the trial. But while she’s on trial, JHU, one of America’s preeminent medical schools, should issue a statement expressing its shock and disgust that one of its graduates has been indicted for these brutal acts, utterly at odds with any form of human morality, let alone medical ethics. And once she’s convicted, JHU should rescind her degree.

Margaret Soltan, April 27, 2017 1:28AM
Posted in: just plain gross

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7 Responses to “Why does this woman still hold a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University?”

  1. dmf Says:

    @andrewrsorkin Apr 11
    What timing! Harvard Business Review is out w/ a repudiation of “agency theory” that @duffmcdonald says ruined HBS. http://bit.ly/2o2mqR5

  2. Bernard Carroll Says:

    Thanks for that link. The Milton Friedman charade dies hard.

  3. dcat Says:

    Serious question: can a med school (or any school) rescind a degree that was legitimately earned? It would be one thing if some sort of fraud were to be discovered in their actual degree, but are there any grounds to simply take away from someone a degree that was legitimately granted? And if so, does this not open up a serious Pandora’s Box?

    I fully support the condemnation. I just do not see a real legal way forward to simply say “that degree you paid for and that we granted? You did stuff afterward that we don’t approve of, so you no longer have that degree.”

  4. Margaret Soltan Says:

    dcat: It may depend on the university, but in many cases, yes. Here’s one example.

  5. EB Says:

    However, maybe the state licensing agency for MD’s could revoke her license?

  6. Margaret Soltan Says:

    EB: Yes – assuming she is convicted, she will certainly have her license to practice revoked. She made it even easier for this to happen by having her crime be one directly related to the practice of medicine.

    But I think it’s important that in cases like this we go not just for cutting but for full removal – license, medical degree, etc.

  7. dcat Says:

    Right, but that case hardly seems like a clean example of how to revoke a degree. I get wanting to disassociate from someone, but no matter how awful the crimes, this seems like a fairly actionable case. If someone earned a degree, they earned a degree. This seems like a lousy precedent, because once you start takkng away rightfully earned degrees for one thing, who is to say you cannot take it away for lesser sins? Can Liberty take away BA’s for those who after graduating commit adultery? I don’t see the connection. Sure, it will make people feel good about their righteousness, but it seems like the sort of erasure that cannot really be justified on the merits.

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