Nevada State Medical Association Calls For Whistleblower Protection For Foreign Doctors

By Aaron Poehler

Published on January 18, 2008

The letter comes after an investigation of the “J-1” visa waiver program, which supplies foreign doctors to communities lacking adequate medical resources, found that some doctors working under the program are forced to work 100 hours per week, denied their salaries, and diverted away from low-income patients to perform more profitable procedures. Larry Matheis, executive director of the Nevada State Medical Association (NSMA), stated that these abuses often go unreported because the visas allowing the doctors to stay in the United States are sponsored by their employers and the foreign doctors fear they could lose their jobs or be deported.

Along with the extension of whistleblower protection to physicians, the NSMA, which represents approximately 1,400 Nevada physicians, recommended that J-1 visa guidelines be adopted as state regulations, that the program's advisory group's meetings be made public, and that noncompete clauses which restrict where a doctor can work after leaving their employer's practice be removed from current contracts.

Nevada State Health Division health planning program manager Lynn O’Mara stated in response that all the letter's recommendations would be discussed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) recently called for an investigation by the Homeland Security Department into abuses of the J-1 program.

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