CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center is under federal investigation after a civil rights complaint was filed for discrimination in some of its scholarship, education and training programs.
The investigation was spurred by a complaint filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL), claiming four of the medical center's programs discriminate. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Office for Civil Rights, these programs include the William K. Schubert Minority Nursing Scholarship, the Jean Turner Minority Scholarship for Medical Imaging Technology, the Biomedical Research Internship for Minority Students and the Administrative Fellowship Program.
"Our position is that this proliferation of this sort of divisive sort of identity politics is harmful to everybody in the healthcare setting," said Nathalie Burmeister, an associate attorney for WILL. "Whether it's the healthcare employees or the patients, and that's because it makes distinctions based on stereotypes."
Learn more about the investigation in the video below:
The complaint itself does not directly cite anyone who has claimed discrimination but states that these scholarships and programs are "specifically 'Designed [its Programs] for Diversity,' intentionally limiting candidate pools through the imposition of race and sex-based eligibility criteria to evaluate candidate worthiness." It continues by stating that the medical center devotes its resources, time and employees to advancing these programs.
In August 2024, WILL filed a similar complaint against the Cleveland Clinic Center, which is now under federal investigation.
“Despite a national shortage of healthcare workers, some major healthcare systems in America still want to use taxpayer funds to discriminate on the basis of race and sex against otherwise eligible candidates," said WILL associate counsel Cara Tolliver in a news release. " This is not just illegal; it’s nonsensical. The healthcare system cannot care for patients effectively, safely and efficiently when medical education and training programs prioritize irrelevant identity politics over individual merit and essential qualities. Healthcare organizations that remain determined to flout anti-discrimination laws may soon find that the new Trump-Vance Administration will not look the other way.”
The complaint alleges that these Cincinnati Children's programs discriminate against individuals based on race and sex in violation of the Affordable Care Act and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“This is really an issue that comes to individuality in terms of employees and also patient care," Burmeister said. "Our position is this is not about targeting any particular hospital or saying that people should not be receiving care. In fact, we’re saying people should be receiving care, but that should be occurring based on their individual needs.”
WILL describes itself as a "nonprofit, public interest, law and policy organization dedicated, among other things, the rule of law, individual liberty, and a robust civil society." They said this is part of their ongoing efforts that have targeted "various programs advanced by the Bide-Harris 'racial equity' agenda."
WCPO reached out to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The hospital declined to comment.
