Health equality alert! Cleveland Clinic quietly removes discriminatory patient program following WILL challenge  – WisPolitics

The News: The Cleveland Clinic has quietly removed all traces of the “Minority Men’s Health Center” from its website, following a federal civil rights complaint filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on behalf of its client, Do No Harm (DNH). We believe this move signals that Cleveland Clinic is taking seriously our challenge against its racially discriminatory patient programming. 

The Quotes: WILL Associate Counsel, Cara Tolliver, stated, “We are glad to see that Cleveland Clinic is taking steps to remove racial discrimination from its patient programing. While racial identity politics are often problematic wherever they occur, in healthcare, the problem can engender serious stakes, including life and death matters. When it comes to healthcare, providers should be simply extending care efforts to all patients who need it, regardless of their race and in accordance with law—not relying on racial stereotypes as a proxy for legitimate health risks.” 

“This takedown is an initial win but Do No Harm would like to receive confirmation that patients of all races and ethnicities are now welcomed for treatment at the two Cleveland Clinic programs we highlighted in our complaint,” said Dr. Jared Ross, Senior Fellow at Do No Harm. “Do No Harm will continue working to eliminate racial bias and political ideology from all aspects of medicine.” 

Additional Background: On August 14, 2024, WILL and DNH filed a federal civil rights complaint with the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OCR), challenging two discriminatory patient programs at the Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic: the “Minority Stroke Program” and the “Minority Men’s Health Center.” Both programs aim to address stroke, diabetes, men’s health conditions, mental health issues, and other medical conditions—touting a range of benefits from disease prevention and treatment to specialized providers, transportation assistance, prescription assistance, support groups, and education events.  

But because these special programs discriminate against patients based on race and are racially motivated to provide services to some in a different manner from those provided to others, Cleveland Clinic’s programs violate the anti-discrimination provisions of Title VI and the Affordable Care Act. 

Since WILL’s challenge, it appears that Cleveland Clinic has started to make changes. The Minority Men’s Health Center webpage has been completely removed, and no mention of the program can be found on Cleveland Clinic’s website. The below archived webpage shows Cleveland Clinic’s previous webpage for the program prior to WILL’s complaint.

Cleveland Clinic’s race-based health equity initiatives aim to treat disparities, not patients and assume that one’s race says all the doctor needs to know about who needs medical care the most.  

However, discounting relevant and legitimate factors and variables for health risks and outcomes in exchange for blind deference to skin pigmentation for no other purpose than balancing broad racial disparities does not help those who need care most. Rather, this approach invokes guesswork that is the product of broad racial stereotyping, which not only is offensive, but also erodes the ability of the healthcare system to effectively health conditions. 

Cleveland Clinic can and should be operating its programming in a manner that equally prioritizes and includes all at-risk patients, without reliance on racial stereotyping and segregated distinctions. WILL’s complaint will remain pending with HHS-OCR, unless Cleveland Clinic takes further action to conform its Minority Stroke Program to federal anti-discrimination laws. 

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