Today in Supreme Court History: October 12, 1977

10/12/1977: Regents of the University of California v. Bakke argued.

The Burger Court (1975-1981)

Comments

[Frank Drackman]

Bakke received 468 points out of a possible 500 on the admissions committee's rating scale in 1973. Earlier in the year, a rating of 470 had won automatic admission, with some promising applicants being admitted with lower scores. Bakke had a science GPA of 3.44 and an overall GPA of 3.46 after taking science courses at night to qualify for medical school. On the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), Bakke scored in the 97th percentile in scientific knowledge, the 96th percentile in verbal ability, the 94th percentile in quantitative analysis, and the 72nd percentile in general knowledge. Bakke's MCAT score overall was 72; the average applicant to UC Davis scored a 69 and the average applicant under the special program a 33. In March 1973, Bakke was invited to UC Davis for an interview. Dr. Theodore West, who met with him, described Bakke as “a well-qualified candidate for admission whose main hardship is the unavoidable fact that he is now 33. … On the grounds of motivation, academic records, potential promise, endorsement by persons capable of reasonable judgments, personal appearance and decorum, maturity, and probable contribution to balance in the class, I believe Mr. Bakke must be considered as a very desirable applicant and I shall so recommend him.” About two months later in May 1973, Bakke received notice of his rejection."

[Frank Drackman]

Want a good read? The story of Patrick Chavis M.D., the guy who got in instead of Baake.

In 1997 Chavis had his license suspended by the Medical Board of California, who spoke harshly of his “inability to perform some of the most basic duties required of a physician.” As McGowan later wrote, the board condemned Chavis’ “poor impulse control and sensitivity to patients’ pain.” A doctor who had worked with Chavis had given the board’s investigators “a tape recording of patients screaming horrifically, with Chavis responding, ‘Don’t talk to the doctor while he’s working,’ and ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire.’”

Chavis was also found guilty of gross neglect and incompetence in his treatment of three liposuction patients, two who somehow escaped bleeding to death (one had lost 70 percent of her blood) and one who wasn’t as fortunate. Tammaria Cotton, the woman who died, complained during her liposuction of sudden difficulty in breathing, to which Chavis responded, “If you can talk, you can breathe.” Chavis did not stay to administer emergency medical treatment to any of the three. Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby discovered that Chavis’ sole training in liposuction had been “a four-day course at the Liposuction Institute of Beverly Hills — only half of which he completed.”

[Frank Drackman]

Story does have a happy ending
"Patrick Chavis, 50, a former Los Angeles area physician whose medical career was cited by both supporters and opponents of affirmative action as evidence for their case, was killed July 23 in Los Angeles. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County sheriff's homicide office said Dr. Chavis was shot during a carjacking. The spokesman said Dr. Chavis was leaving a store and entering his car when three men attempted to take his car and shot him."