Detroit Medical Center could lose its neurosurgery residency program after the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education decided to withdraw its certification, effective June 30, 2020.
Here's a timeline of events so far:
1. The decision to remove the accreditation came after a September ACGME inspection that was prompted by a letter of complaint from two anonymous physicians at the hospital.
2. The letter to ACGME alleged that residents "were bullied, forced to work excessive hours and discouraged from reporting safety concerns," according to The Detroit News.
3. ACGME sent the letter to the hospital's Graduate Medical Education institutional officer, Mark Juzych, MD, and neurological surgery program director at the time, Murali Guthikonda, MD, in July and requested a response to the allegations.
4. Dr. Guthikonda, who remains the hospital's chief of neurosurgery, told The Detroit News the charges that caused the program to lose its accreditation are inaccurate.
5. He dismissed the accusations as "taken completely out of context … or blatant lies" and labeled them "an appalling, disheartening character assassination."
6. After initially deciding to let the neurosurgery residency program close, Tony Tedeschi, MD, CEO at DMC, will now appeal the decision to try to maintain the program. If the appeal fails, the hospital intends to reapply and re-establish the program.
7. The program, in conjunction with Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, includes 14 neurosurgery residents and is now under new leadership.