Medical Education and the Harm of ‘Goodly Heritage’

^{"Yale School of Medicine" by Ajay Suresh
via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC by 2.0}

This is the 12th installment in the Legacies of Eugenics series, which features essays by leading thinkers devoted to exploring the history of eugenics and the ways it shapes our present. The series is organized by Osagie K. Obasogie in collaboration with the Los Angeles Review of Books, and supported by the Center for Genetics and Society, the Othering & Belonging Institute, and Berkeley Public Health.

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EACH YEAR IN LATE August when the summer humidity in southern New England begins to dissipate, first-year medical students take their seats in a tranquil courtyard at the Yale School of Medicine. There, they take part in a ceremony observed at dozens of medical schools across the country. After listening to speeches by esteemed faculty and alumni on the ethical and humanistic aspects of medicine, they line up to receive a white coat and stethoscope to symbolize their entrance into the profession. And then they rise together as one body to recite the Hippocratic oath...