Human Rights and Asylum Medicine. 4 Credit Hours

Catalog description

This elective is geared toward fourth-year medical students interested in working with underserved populations and patients whose health is greatly affected by their personal histories of torture or other abuse, social conditions, and/or legal circumstances. The course's aim is to teach medical students to identify and assist survivors of abuse and to integrate a human rights viewpoint into their practice of medicine. This course will offer instruction on the legal process of refugee placement and application for asylum and for special immigrant juvenile status. It will provide training in diagnosing and evaluating medical evidence of human rights violations. Emphasis will be given to conducting an appropriate trauma-informed interview and physical and psychological examination of a patient with a history of torture or other abuse to complete a forensic evaluation for asylum in the United States. Prerequisites: MEDI 3105 .