The News: The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS-OCR) has re-opened a civil rights investigation into the Ohio-based Cleveland Clinic after a complaint was filed by Do No Harm (DNH) and its legal counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL). The complaint was originally filed in August 2024; and while HHS-OCR initially opened an investigation into the Clinic, the matter was closed by the Biden Administration just days before President Trump took office.
Recently, the Trump Administration granted DNH’s request for reconsideration and will re-open its investigation into the alleged discrimination at Cleveland Clinic.
DNH’s complaint focuses on two specific examples of race discrimination at Cleveland Clinic: the Minority Stroke Program and the Minority Men’s Health Center. Both programs were specifically purposed for “preventing and treating [health conditions] in racial and ethnic minorities” through education, prevention, treatment, and other assistance and resources for addressing stroke and diabetes (and other stroke risk factors) as well as men’s health conditions and mental health issues.
The Quotes: WILL Associate Counsel, Nathalie Burmeister, stated, “Rather than treat all patients equally and provide care based on individual treatment needs, Cleveland Clinic unlawfully decided to allocate care and resources to certain patients because of their race. Now, there will be consequences. WILL is proud to work with Do No Harm in bringing true equality to the health care space.”
DNH Chairman Stanley Goldfarb, MD, stated, “The Department of Health and Human Services is correct to revisit our complaint against Cleveland Clinic’s discriminatory programs and we welcome their efforts. Injecting racial discrimination into treatment practices is unlawful, irresponsible, and leads to misunderstanding of disease and disease risk. Left unchecked, programs like the ones subject to our Civil Rights complaint erode public trust in medicine and will lead to worse health outcomes for all Americans.”
Additional Background: Race-based health equity initiatives, like Cleveland Clinic’s programs, aim to filter and view health outcomes through a racial lens, assuming that one’s race says all the doctor needs to know about who needs medical care the most. However, beyond race, any number of demographic filters could be applied concerning almost any characteristic to compare and address health outcomes—to name a few, height, eye color, birth order, handedness, entertainment preferences, where one lives, etc. The availability of any particular demographic does not make it an appropriate, relevant, comprehensive, or lawful standard for evaluating and addressing health outcomes.
Cleveland Clinic’s race-based Minority Stroke and Minority Men’s Health Center programs ultimately seek to balance the scales of mortality and morbidity based on nothing more than bare reliance on a patient’s skin pigmentation. This interest in race for race’s sake is not only immoral, but also illegal.
In addition to this investigation, WILL’s work sparked two federal investigations against discriminatory DEI education and training programs at major academic medical centers—Johns Hopkins University and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. The federal government’s investigations into these healthcare systems represent the first major federal inquiry into the legality of DEI practices in healthcare in response to President Trump’s executive orders.
Read More:
- HHS-OCR Notice Granting Reconsideration and Re-opening Investigation, December 2025
- DNH’s Request for Reconsideration of its Complaint, June 2025
- DNH’s Complaint Against Cleveland Clinic, August 2024
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