The Medical Residents Advocacy Group is dedicated to improving the quality of life for medical students, medical residents, and fellows through advocacy and when necessary legal action
WE HELP THOSE WHO ARE
Denied their rights under employment contracts or professional rules and regulations
unfairly denied credit towards board eligibility requirements
expected to participate in fraud on government healthcare program or private insurers
discriminated against based on race, gender, or other improper classification
improperly directed to physician health programs (PHPs)
sexually harassed or assaulted by a supervisor, co-workers, or others; or
otherwise unfairly exploited by their programs, supervisors, or institutions
We address injustices at every level, ranging from individual cases to nationwide systemic failures and abuses. While we maintain offices in Illinois and are licensed by the state, we operate nationwide under state laws authorizing multi-jurisdictional practices.
Our founding members are attorneys Sherman Marek, JD, and Jeff Weisman, JD, MD, PH.D.
Sherman Marek is an attorney licensed in Illinois who has been actively advocating and litigating for medical residents for more than 15 years. In May 2002, Mr. Marek filed the well-known antitrust class action against the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), Accreditation Committee for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), and dozens of the largest teaching hospitals in the United States. On behalf of tens of thousands of medical residents and fellows nationwide, Mr. Marek’s lawsuit sought higher wages and lower work hours through the forced elimination of “the Match” and other restraints on the competition. One month after Mr. Marek filed the lawsuit, the defendants quickly adopted work hour limits for medical residents nationwide. While these “voluntary” limits have helped protect residents for many years, those limits and other oversight mechanisms have deteriorated over time with corresponding harm to residents and fellows.
Jeff Weisman is both an attorney and a medical doctor. He began his residency training at one of the largest hospital systems in the country and saw firsthand the abuses that residents and attending physicians face daily. He has seen physicians injured and patients killed related to unsafe practices. He returned to the practice of law to focus on assisting physicians. Jeff is a licensed attorney in Illinois, the District of Columbia, before the United States Patent Office and a Fellow in the College of Legal Medicine (FCLM). With his academic background, Jeff has an understanding of the abuses that can occur in academic medicine with IRBs, clinical trials, and sham peer reviews. He has experience working with residents that have faced sexual harassment, civil rights violations, and disability discrimination.