Shaywitz v. American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology

848 F. Supp. 2d 460, 2012 WL 266884, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11049
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJanuary 27, 2012
DocketNo. 09 Civ. 4387(VM)
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 848 F. Supp. 2d 460 (Shaywitz v. American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shaywitz v. American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, 848 F. Supp. 2d 460, 2012 WL 266884, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11049 (S.D.N.Y. 2012).

Opinion

[461]*461 DECISION AND ORDER

VICTOR MARRERO, District Judge.

Plaintiff Jonathan Shaywitz (“Shaywitz”) brought this action against the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (the “Board”) claiming violations of Title III (“Title III”) of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 12101-12189, and the Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1, 2. In a Decision and Order dated December 17, 2009, Shaywitz v. American Bd. of Psychiatry & Neurology, 675 F.Supp.2d 376 (S.D.N.Y.2009), the Court dismissed Shaywitz’s Sherman Act claims because of lack of standing.

Following discovery, the Board now moves for summary judgment on Shaywitz’s ADA claim pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 (“Rule 56”). In his ADA claim, Shaywitz alleges that the Board failed to accommodate his disability in administering its certification examination. For the reasons discussed below, the Board’s motion is GRANTED.

I. BACKGROUND1

A. SHAYWITZ’S PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Shaywitz is a physician with a specialty in psychiatry. He obtained his medical degree from Harvard Medical School in 1998, with high honors in psychiatry, and completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of California Los Angeles in 2002.

When he was in elementary school, Shaywitz was diagnosed with dyslexia, a language-based learning disorder. Shaywitz attended speech therapy from kindergarten through the fifth grade and often received special accommodations in academic settings, including extended time and an individual room for tests. An evaluation conducted in 1999, when Shaywitz was twenty-nine years old, confirmed the dyslexia diagnosis and indicated that Shaywitz “continues to manifest significant difficulties in oral language, word retrieval, and fluency.” (Bowman Decl. ex. 23.) Shaywitz has requested and received special accommodations on many standardized tests, including the PSAT, SAT, MCAT, and the USMLE I, II, and III.

In addition to dyslexia, Shaywitz was diagnosed in 1996 with a co-morbid panic, anxiety, and social anxiety disorder. Shaywitz asserts that his anxiety disorder aggravates the effects of dyslexia, which in turn heightens his anxiety, creating a performance-inhibiting “cycle.” There is also some indication in the record that Shaywitz suffers from a heart condition, namely, cardiac arrhythmias.2

Despite his dyslexia and anxiety disorder, Shaywitz has succeeded academically and received commendation from professors, specifically lauding his clinical abilities. For example, a 1997 letter from two [462]*462Harvard Medical School faculty members reported that “[Shaywitz’s] clinical skills [in psychiatry] were superior and his rapport with patients and staff was excellent,” and that “his accomplishments on this rotation were most impressive.” (Bowman Decl. ex. 19.)

B. BOARD CERTIFICATION

The Board is a non-profit corporation responsible for creating, maintaining, and administering physician certification standards in psychiatry, neurology, and related sub-specialties. The Board certifies physicians who demonstrate competence in clinical psychology by fulfilling the required certification criteria.

The Board annually publishes its certification criteria and procedures in a pamphlet titled “Information for Applicants.” For physicians to be approved as Board-certified psychiatrists, the Board requires those physicians who entered residency prior to July 1, 2007 to receive passing scores on a written (“Part I”) and oral (“Part II”) examination. Part II consists of two sections: (1) an essay or audiovisual examination, and (2) a “live-patient” examination. During the live-patient portion of Part II, applicants must examine and discuss their findings regarding a real psychiatric patient. The live-patient examination is intended to assess the applicant’s “clinical skills,” including “[k]knowledge of basic science principles, special diagnostic procedures, management recommendations, and assessment of risk.” (Def. 56.1 Statement ex. 4; Bowman Decl. ex. 5, at 7.)

The Board requires applicants to pass Part I before they may proceed to take Part II. A passing score on Part I remains valid for six years, or three opportunities to pass Part II, whichever occurs first. “Candidates who are unsuccessful in the Part II examination during the allotted time period [i.e., six years or three attempts] [are] required to retake the Part I examination.” (Def. 56.1 Statement ex. 4.) In addition, an unexcused absence from the Part II examination counts against the three opportunities to pass Part II.

Evidence in the record, including e-mail correspondence and commissioned studies of Part II, suggests that there are concerns with adequate standardization and reliability of the live-patient portion of the Part II exam. In 2008, the Board eliminated the Part II exam as a requirement for candidates who began their first year of residency on or after July 1, 2007, or their second-year of residency on or after July 1, 2008. Part II remains a requirement for all other candidates, including Shaywitz, who completed his residency in 2002. Beginning in 2014, the Board will allow all applicants to apply for certification under the new requirements, which do not include the Part II exam. Rather than administering the Part II live-patient exam, clinical skills evaluations for Board certification are now administered within the individual applicant’s residency program.

C. BOARD POLICY REGARDING ACCOMMODATION OF DISABILITIES

In its Information for Applicants pamphlet, the Board details the procedure by which candidates for certification may obtain accommodations for disabilities during Part I and Part II of the exam. Applicants seeking accommodations for Part I must advise the Board in writing “no later than the deadline for submitting applications for examination,” and must provide the Board with supporting documentation and evidence “substantiating the disability” no later than thirty days after the application deadline. (Id.)

In order to request accommodations for Part II, candidates must check a box on [463]*463the billing statement for Part II and “comply with all requirements regardless of previous requests and/or granted accommodations.” (Id.) Documentation supporting the disability and requested accommodations is due no later than thirty days after the fee due date on the Part II billing statement.

Required documentation includes a completed “Application for Testing Accommodation,” a diagnosis report, history of the disability, diagnostic information, and “specific requested accommodations.” (Id.) The documentation “must identify a disability and provide a rationale for specified modifications to standard testing procedures.” (Id.) According to the Information for Applicants pamphlet, “[a] description of any functional limitations associated with the disability is important to the Board’s evaluation of the request.” (Id.)

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848 F. Supp. 2d 460, 2012 WL 266884, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shaywitz-v-american-board-of-psychiatry-neurology-nysd-2012.