EXCLUSIVE -- Nonprofit organization Do No Harm voluntarily dropped their lawsuit against Health Affairs, a prominent health policy journal, without prejudice after racial requirements in their Health Equity Fellowship were eliminated.
Do No Harm Chairman Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, who has said his organization is "opposed to discrimination in all of its manifestations," complained that Health Affairs ran a "race-segregated health journal fellowship" called Health Equity Fellowship for Trainees. Since his 2022 complaint, Health Affairs scrapped the "racially discriminatory" requirement.
"We are pleased that Health Affairs has decided to drop its racially discriminatory requirements for their fellowship. Segregation based on race is illegal and Health Affairs has recognized that. Do No Harm will continue to fight divisive and discriminatory ideology healthcare wherever we can find it," Dr. Goldfarb told Fox News Digital.
Health Affairs and its parent company are happy to put this behind them.
"Health Affairs and PROJECT HOPE are pleased that this lawsuit has been dismissed," a Health Affairs spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital first reported that Do No Harm filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 2022 which alleged that applicants to the Health Affairs fellowship needed to identify as "American/Alaskan Indian, African American, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, or Hispanic/Latino" to be eligible for a wide range of benefits including mentorship with published researchers.
"According to Defendants, however, White applicants need not apply," the 2022 complaint said.
Do No Harm, which fights what it considers undermining healthcare in pursuit of a political agendas, called the original requirements "blatant discrimination" against White applicants.
The Health Affair’s website previously stated the Health Equity Fellowship for Trainees (HEFT) is designed to "increase the quantity and quality of manuscripts published by researchers of color, while cultivating future health equity research leaders."
Now, HEFT "helps to increase the quantity and quality of manuscripts published on the topic of health equity, while cultivating future health equity research leaders. HEFT currently focuses on manuscripts focused on the topic of health equity along the dimensions of race and ethnicity. We hope to expand to other dimensions of equity in the future," according to the Health Affairs website.
As a result of the changes, Do No Harm dismissed its lawsuit voluntarily against the journal and parent Project HOPE, without prejudice to filing it again should Health Affairs discriminate in the future.
"Defendants removed the race requirement that Do No Harm alleged was unlawful," Do No Harm counsel wrote in a notice of voluntary dismissal that has been obtained by Fox News Digital. "Because Defendants appear to no longer consider race, and because Defendants have not yet filed an answer or a summary-judgment motion, Do No Harm voluntarily dismisses this action without prejudice."
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Goldfarb, a former associate dean of curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, penned a Wall Street Journal piece in 2022 explaining his nonprofit’s mission and why he started Do No Harm.
Health Affairs bills itself as "the leading journal of health policy thought and research" with a mission to "serve as a high-level, nonpartisan forum to promote analysis and discussion on improving health and health care, and to address such issues as cost, quality, and access."
