The following is reposted from the Fort Worth Business Press.
"When there are too many policemen, there can be no liberty.
When there are too many soldiers, there can be no peace.
When there are too many lawyers, there can be no justice.”
-Lin Yuntang (1895-1976) Chinese-American writer and editor
The University of North Texas Law School in Dallas has recently been approved by the Texas legislature, thanks to the joint efforts of local state representatives and senators, Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert and UNT Chancellor Lee Jackson, a former Dallas County Judge. It is understandable that Jackson wants to expand his university system and Dallas wants to revamp its downtown by donating and renovating its Old Municipal Building.
Securing the approval for a project in less than eight years is a great victory achieved by the North Texas lawmakers. That compares with the efforts of South Texas lawmakers to establish a medical school in South Texas since 1997, despite of a dire shortage of physicians in the region. There are about 106 physicians per 100,000 residents in South Texas, compared to the Texas ratio of 158 per 100,000 residents. The national ratio is 220 physicians per 100,000 residents. The legislature has authorized the University of Texas System to establish a medical school in the Valley, but it will only be able to apply for funding from the state after 2016.
What kind of society do we want as a country when there are more lawyers than physicians?
There are currently about 1.2 to 1.8 million lawyers compared to 800,000 physicians in the United States. Each year we add 43,000 new lawyers, compared to less than 20,000 medical students who graduate annually. However, a huge surplus of lawyers also endangers our society to become a litigious nation. One of the main factors impacting health care spending is the number of frivolous lawsuits against doctors.
Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) concluded in its report to the Texas Legislature in October 2008 that Texas is not in urgent need of more lawyers now or in a near future. Even though the UNT Law School will definitely have a positive impact on the local economy, there are other higher priorities that would help both the local economy and relieve the shortage of pharmacists in the region, the state and the country. Should the state foot the $40 million bill to start this new law school?
The Pharmacy Manpower Project anticipates that there will be a shortfall of 157,000 pharmacists by 2020 in the U.S. Texas ranks 39th among 50 states in term of pharmacist-to-population ratio. Currently, Texas imports 490 out of 870 new pharmacists needed per year. By 2010, even with the new pharmacy schools at the Texas A&M University at Kingsville and Incarnate World School in San Antonio, Texas will only graduate 500 students per year. Therefore, the University of Dallas decided to open a pharmacy school in 2011 to fill the void, but had to suspend its plan because of the current financial crisis.
In 2004, University of North Texas Health Science Center estimated five-year costs of $17.1 million during its request to the THECB for planning authority for a School of Pharmacy for a class of 75 students per year. Somehow, this plan has been relegated to the University of North Texas at Dallas, which is still in early phase of development into a four-year university. State Rep. Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, has been introducing bills to the House for this purpose over the past few sessions without any success.
In time of severe economic depression, pork-barrel spending should stop and general interest should be placed above personal pet projects. The UNT system should have placed pharmacy school as its number one priority and the UNT Health Science Center should have kept its plan of adding the pharmacy school to its campus as it desires to become a premier health science center. South Texas deserves urgently a medical school right now to train future doctors to respond to the dismal shortage of physicians in the region, instead of waiting for another decade. Furthermore, the legislature, educators, and scholars should lead in shaping the direction of our society. Should we become a healthier society or more litigious society?
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