Dr. Falit is a resident physician, Harvard Radiation Oncology Program, Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Halperin is chancellor and chief executive officer, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, and Provost for Biomedical Affairs for the Touro College and University System, New York, New York. Dr. Loeffler is the chair of Radiation Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Herman and Joan Suit Professor of Radiation Oncology at Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
Acad Med. 2014 Dec;89(12):1614-6. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000000397.
In 2008, the authors published a review that highlighted an emerging trend for medical schools to change their names to those of wealthy donors. Since 2008, the names of ten benefactors have been added to the medical schools receiving their gifts. Twenty-three of the 141 U.S. medical schools accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education are currently named after donors. Large donations have the potential to positively affect all stakeholders by improving the resources that are available for research, teaching, and clinical care, but the rapid increase in the naming of medical schools after wealthy benefactors raises important concerns for those same stakeholders. In this perspective, the authors explore such concerns and identify mitigating strategies that institutions facing these issues in the future can use to ensure that the benefit associated with a gift outweighs any adverse impact. The authors argue for a strong presumption of impropriety when a donor possesses a conflict of interest with the potential to affect clinicians' judgment. They go on to assess how donors' control of funds may have an impact on institutional mission and research agenda, and analyze the right of an organization to remove a benefactor's name for alleged wrongdoing. The perspective considers how renaming may negatively affect brand recognition and the associated impact on students, residents, faculty, and alumni. Finally, it concludes with an analysis of taxpayer-funded organizations and the concern that educational renaming will lead to a slippery slope in which other public goods are effectively purchased by wealthy donors.
2008 年，作者发表了一篇评论，强调了医学院校将校名更改为富有的捐赠者的趋势正在兴起。自 2008 年以来，已有 10 位捐赠者的名字被添加到接受他们礼物的医学院校中。在 141 所获得医学教育联络委员会认证的美国医学院校中，目前有 23 所是以捐赠者的名字命名的。巨额捐款有可能通过改善可用于研究、教学和临床护理的资源，对所有利益相关者产生积极影响，但医学院校以富有的捐赠者命名的速度迅速增加，引起了这些利益相关者的重要关注。在这篇观点文章中，作者探讨了这些担忧，并确定了机构在未来面临这些问题时可以使用的缓解策略，以确保与礼物相关的利益超过任何不利影响。作者认为，当捐赠者与可能影响临床医生判断的利益冲突时，强烈怀疑存在不当行为。然后，他们评估了捐赠者对资金的控制如何影响机构使命和研究议程，并分析了组织因涉嫌不当行为而有权取消捐赠者的名字的权利。该观点还考虑了更名可能如何对品牌认知产生负面影响，以及对学生、住院医师、教师和校友的相关影响。最后，它分析了由纳税人资助的组织，并担心教育更名将导致一个滑坡，即其他公共产品实际上被富有的捐赠者购买。
