HHS issues new guidance on antisemitism in health care

Antisemitism in academic medical centers located on college campuses is fostering noxious environments which deprive Jewish health-care professionals of their right to work in spaces free from discrimination and hate.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday issued new guidance on civil rights and antisemitism in a “Dear Colleague” letter which warned medical institutions that the agency will sanction institutions found to have allowed anti-Jewish discrimination.

The guidance covers several areas, including patient care, clinical training, and medical school administration, stressing that services and other opportunities must never be denied, delayed, or inconsistently provided based on anti-Jewish hatred.

Applying to the Jewish community the same policies which lawmakers enact in cases of discrimination against other groups, the letter comes amid growing awareness of widespread antisemitism in US health-care settings, including hospitals and university-affiliated medical centers.

“Antisemitic discrimination has no place in our nation’s health-care system,” said Paula Stannard, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights.

“Jewish and Israeli patients, students, and health-care professionals are entitled to equal access and individualized treatment without discrimination on a protected basis. This letter reminds health-care entities of this fact and the consequences if they fail to comply with federal civil rights laws.”

Antisemitism in academic medical centers located on college campuses is fostering noxious environments which deprive Jewish health-care professionals of their right to work in spaces free from discrimination and hate, according to a study published in May by the Data & Analytics Department of StandWithUs, a pro-Israel advocacy organization.

The problem has led to several public scandals and a recent civil rights complaint which accused Boston Medical Center employees of flooding an intern’s workspace with prohibited anti-Zionist materials promoting inflammatory falsehoods about Israel’s with Hamas and its policies toward the Palestinians.

After the intern reported them to the appropriate supervisor, she allegedly endured a prolonged period of retaliation, harassment, and fabricated complaints aimed at sabotaging her career before it had even formally begun.

Ultimately, Boston Medical Center staff — after refusing to let the intern withdraw and instead prompting her early exit from the program — assigned her a “negative evaluation” upon its completion, ensuring that she could neither include the experience on a resume nor receive credit for it.

“Academia today is increasingly cultivating an environment which is hostile to Jews, as well as members of other religious and ethnic groups,” StandWithUs director of data and analytics and study co-author Alexandra Fishman said in May, commenting on the phenomenon in a press release.

“Academic institutions should be upholding the integrity of scholarship, prioritizing civil discourse, rather than allowing bias or personal agendas to guide academic culture.”

Other advocacy groups are assessing the professional environments in which Jews must earn a living.

On Wednesday, JLens, an investment network affiliated with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), released a “Workplace Tracker” for evaluating major corporations based on their adoption of policies and practices which support and make life easier for Jewish employees.

Focusing on the 100 largest public companies by market capitalization, JLens says its new tool “provides a transparent, data-driven framework for understanding how leading US companies can support Jewish employees and address antisemitism in the workplace.”

JLens’ Workplace Ratings came just ahead of the annual Jewish high holidays of Rosh Hashanah (the new year) and Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), which are quickly followed by Sukkot, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah.

This string of holidays typically straddles the late summer and early fall, and observant Jews are not supposed to work on seven days throughout the roughly three-week period. The holidays can fall on weekends, depending on the Jewish calendar in a given year.

The organization conferred ratings of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, basing its assessment on 14 metrics across three categories: “Jewish experience in the workplace, religious accommodations, and workplace protections.”

Companies such as Apple, Citigroup, Netflix, and American Express placed in the lowest tier for registering a level of disregard for the challenges facing Jewish workers — such as paid time off request for Jewish holy days.

Amazon, Spotify, and Pfizer, all placed “Gold,” while Meta, Microsoft, and Thermo Fisher Scientific took home “Silver” ratings.