Student Government will vote Oct. 8 on whether to open discussions with the Student Health Center on its medical excuse policy.
The center’s current policy states, “The LSU Student Health Center will not provide students with medical excuses for absences from class or missed deadlines due to short term illness or injury. In the event of illness or injury that may disrupt academic responsibilities, the student is advised to contact their professors/ instructors as soon as possible to notify them of the situation.”
The Health Center does provide an appointment verification card for students to present to a faculty member.
D’Ann Morris, executive director of the Student Health Center, said the current policy was created in 2000 and was reviewed regularly. She said the last time the policy was reviewed and revised was in December 2011.
SG senator Kat Latham, the bill’s sponsor, said she read an article in The Daily Reveille and decided to look further into the issue.
“I was really surprised that they were so complacent about this issue,” Latham said.
Latham said she worked with the University’s policy on absences to ensure most excuses were covered by the policy. The policy lists eight valid reasons for an absence to be excused.
The University’s policy on absences, Policy Statement 22, says class attendance is the responsibility of the student and appropriate documentation of the reason for an absence is needed.
“The student is expected to attend all classes,” PS-22 says. “A student who finds it necessary to miss class assumes responsibility for making up examinations, obtaining lecture notes, and otherwise compensating for what may have been missed.”
Latham said the Health Center’s current policy is not reasonable to the student’s needs.
“I think that they should reform the policy to better serve students and PS-22 as it states now, with formal documentation,” Latham said. “They’re just going to give you a printout that says your name and what time you were supposed to be there, not if you were there or anything like that,”
“You have to go through all these leaps and bounds to even get that, so obviously the system is flawed.”
Latham suggested the only reason the Health Center does not want doctor’s excuses is because students could “hypothetically” cheat the system.
“If that’s the only reason that they’re saying no to this process, is the hypothetical what if students are cheating the process, then I don’t think that’s a good enough reason not to give out doctor’s excuses,” Latham said. “The good outweighs the bad.”
Morris said that, from what she understands, the Health Center’s policy was enacted because an unusual amount students scheduled appointments on the same day as their exams.
“They were coming in and by the time they got here, they were not symptomatic or they really were not sick in accordance with what our physicians determined,” Morris said.
Morris said the Student Health center realized the students were taking up appointment times for writing excuses instead of providing the medical attention to students who were in need.
“A student’s absence from class is an academic matter. That’s not a medical matter,” Morris said. “Of course, if a student is ill, we’ll work with the student if it’s for a prolonged situation.”
Morris said she wants to make sure students who are ill receive the proper access to care.
She said the Health Center is in accordance with PS-22, which includes a valid reason of absence as illness, but it is ultimately the student’s responsibility to communicate with the faculty member.
Morris said the Health Center has received multiple phone calls over the past month from faculty members wanting verification of students receiving medical care. The Health Center is unable to give out information without the patient’s written approval.
“We explain when faculty call that we cannot provide that information, but if they want the student to come here and have a conversation and sign a waiver, that’s their decision,” Morris said.
Morris said the Health Center does not want to encourage students to be fraudulent and take up valuable medical time.
She says some exceptions are made, especially when a medical provider deems it necessary for a student to miss class due to the severity of the illness.
“We handle that on a case by case basis,” Morris said. “That’s why you want to have reasonable conversations with people in the exam room and of course, administratively as well.”
Morris said no one from SG has approached her to ask for her opinion on the matter.