Forty years of litigation involving medical students and their education: II. Issues of finance.

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 cited judicial decisions during that time, 59 (54%) involved disputes over financing medical education; 43 (73%) were litigated since 1985. This dramatic increase arises primarily from challenges to National Health Service Corps obligations and from attempts to discharge or reorganize debt under the Bankruptcy Code. Medical school graduates enjoyed very little success in these cases. Analysis of court decisions points to a need for informed counseling for medical students, particularly as to the consequences of timing in default on service obligations and of incurring loans under the Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) program as opposed to other loan sources. The growing educational debt of today's medical students foreshadows continued litigation in this area.