Forty years of litigation involving medical students and their education: I. General educational issues.

An analysis of reported state and federal adjudication from 1950 through 1989 was undertaken to identify trends in litigation involving medical students and undergraduate medical education. Of the 110 decisions cited, 51 (46%) involved disputes over general educational issues. A majority of the decisions affecting general education involved admissions and dismissal processes. Recently courts have begun scrutinizing readmission, course repetition, and cheating. Medical schools have accommodated to judicial scrutiny of general educational issues and have prevailed more often than claimants in litigation during this period, but litigation has not decreased as precedent and procedure have become clearer. Instead, litigation has continued unabated in alternative areas and at different levels of the educational process.