Home/D. Massachusetts/Shapiro v. Roudebush

Shapiro v. Roudebush

413 F. Supp. 1177, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15317
District Court, D. Massachusetts·Decided April 30, 1976·No. No. CA 76-359-T·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

TAURO, District Judge.

The plaintiff, Dr. Stuart Shapiro, a duly licensed physician, brings this action for declaratory and injunctive relief challenging the right of the government to inquire as to his beliefs and affiliations before permitting him to work as a resident in a Veterans Administration (VA) hospital.

I.

Plaintiff is licensed to practice medicine in Massachusetts, New York and California. He currently is a resident in the Joint Program in Nuclear Medicine sponsored by the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital and the Children’s Hospital Medical Center, both in the Boston area. His residency entails medical practice and training in the field of nuclear medicine, a specialty within the field of radiology. The residency is for one year and is a prerequisite to the plaintiff’s eligibility to take an examination for certification by the American Board of Nuclear Medicine. The Board’s certification is es-

sential to the plaintiff’s professional advancement.

Pursuant to an agreement between the two sponsoring hospitals and the VA, the plaintiff is required to serve a three-month rotation as a resident in Nuclear Medicine at the VA Hospital in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. During this period, the plaintiff would be on the VA payroll, but would not receive permanent civil service status. His duties would consist of the performance of diagnostic procedures utilizing radio-pharmaceuticals, the interpretation of diagnostic studies and, on occasion, supervision of clinical technicians and nurses and the rendering of therapy. He would not have primary responsibility for any patient, nor would he have any administrative, personnel, budgetary or policy-making duties or responsibilities.

The plaintiff was scheduled to commence his residence at the VA Hospital on January 1,1976. In September 1975, he received the appropriate application forms which included the following questionnaire:

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Shapiro v. Roudebush, 413 F. Supp. 1177, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15317 (D. Mass. 1976).

413 F. Supp. 1177 (Shapiro v. Roudebush) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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Shapiro v. Roudebush
413 F. Supp. 1177 (D. Massachusetts, 1976)