Facing dismissal from residency

If your program has recommended dismissal, told you your contract will not be renewed, or offered you the chance to resign instead, the next few days matter more than the next few months. Most residents reach us days before a deadline.

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What usually happens

The sequence repeats across programs: a concern, a committee meeting, a recommendation, and then either a dismissal letter or an offer to resign, often with a deadline in hours or days. See the patterns we see.

The clocks that are probably already running

• A resign-or-dismiss offer: often 24 to 72 hours. Ask for the documents and an extension in writing. See the first 48 hours.
• A hearing or appeal request: commonly 10 to 30 days from the written notice, and some written appeals within five business days. See your appeal deadline is days away.
• Pay and health coverage: an appeal usually does not pause a termination.
• An outside charge: the EEOC's 180- or 300-day limit cannot be extended. See deadlines you cannot miss.
• A J-1 visa, for international medical graduates: Intealth, formerly ECFMG, sponsors J-1 physicians, and a resignation in lieu of termination can end sponsorship as a termination can. See Intealth (ECFMG) and residency dismissal.

The due process you are owed

The ACGME requires every sponsoring institution to have a written due process policy for suspension, non-renewal, non-promotion, and dismissal. That policy sets the hearing, the panel, and the deadlines.

Courts defer to genuine academic judgment, but not to a decision that skipped the institution's own steps. See how to appeal a residency dismissal, can a resident be fired without a hearing, and the cases that matter.

What to do first

1. Do not resign, sign, or agree to anything in the meeting.
2. Ask in writing for the documents behind the decision, the policy being applied, and more time.
3. Download your evaluations, milestones, logs, and every policy while you still have access.
4. Find your appeal deadline and file a short request before it.
5. Read your contract for every exit clause, and your board's rules on continuity.

How Resident Help helps

• Free intake and case review. We read what you have received, find the deadlines, and tell you plainly what the next step is.
• Independent counsel within 48 hours when you need a lawyer, at a reduced flat fee with no hourly billing.
• No referral or fee arrangement. Resident Help receives nothing from counsel, and pays nothing for referrals.

Start a confidential intake.

Resident Help is not a law firm, and submitting an intake does not create an attorney-client relationship. If your situation needs a lawyer, we will tell you and help you find one.