Hi all, this post has been difficult to write but I am sincerely hoping for some clarity or advice from anyone who can relate. I got into med school (USMD) recently but earlier last year I was arrested and charged for leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury. Before you judge me, the context of this matters. It was a rainy night and the side of my car made contact with a pedestrian and they fell down. I stopped the car immediately and asked if they were ok and if they were safe. This is all noted in the police report. I genuinely thought they were safe and fine, and after a few minutes, made the mistake of going on about my day. Again, I heavily regret ever leaving and thinking it was fine but I genuinely thought they were safe and I asked them if they were okay and safe. I got charged and arrested shortly after, spent 26 hours in jail, and went thru criminal court for months. The district attorney reviewed my case and it was dismissed and sealed under NYS law. It didn’t need to be reported for AMCAS as they said not to report charges that were dropped. I don’t have any misdemeanor or felony convictions, the case was dismissed. It likely did not come up on the Certiphi background check because again, it’s sealed.
However my MAIN concern is matching. On Eras, they ask 3 questions about your record. Do you have a misdemeanor, no, do you have a felony, no, and the last one, is there anything in your background that might prevent licensing or credentialling. I spoke to two medical licensing lawyers, which was really expensive, and one told me I’ll be fine and the other one told me this might cause a licensing board to launch an investigation but I do have to disclose this on my eras app.
I am now at cross roads. I’ve been pursuing medicine for so long, but at the same time, I am genuinely concerned that I won’t be able to match if I have to disclose this. The optics of this looks horrible, but the police report does state I stopped and asked if they were ok and that I tried to make sure they were ok. I’m now wondering if this path is even feasible. It’ll weight on me throughout med school and this fear of not matching won’t go away. I am wondering if it’s worth it to do med school just to do other nonclinical options like consulting? But I’m not sure if you need a license or hospital credentials for that either.
If anyone has been in my shoes, I’d love to hear from you. This past year has been horrible for my mental health over this situation, and I’d rather know now and make an informed decision about medicine now than pay $400k and 4-5 years in med school just not to match for multiple cycles.
If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading my post. I’ll probably hop off of reddit for now, but if you have similar stories, my DMs are open as well. I just really want to know if medicine in USA is still feasible or if it’s best to pursue something else.