A federal judge has denied dueling summary judgment motions in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s lawsuit against Yale New Haven (Conn.) Hospital over its cognitive and vision testing of physicians 70 and older. The ruling sends the age and disability discrimination case to trial, according to court documents.
U.S. District Judge Kari Dooley of the District of Connecticut issued the ruling Oct. 23. The EEOC sued in February 2020, alleging the hospital’s Late Career Practitioner Policy violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The policy requires practitioners 70 and older who seek or renew clinical privileges to complete ophthalmic and neuropsychological exams at initial appointment and every two years after. The hospital does not consider an application complete until both exams are done.
Yale New Haven argued that age is the single best indicator of cognitive decline risk and that the policy catches impairment before a patient is harmed. The EEOC countered that the hospital already tracks physician competence through multiple metrics and called the policy a “solution in search of a problem.”
A Yale expert said cognitive impairment may affect up to 28% of physicians 70 and older. An EEOC expert put the rate among 70-year-olds below 5% across the general population. Cognitive tests are common across the nation and an estimated 200 health systems and hospitals use them. Studies from Yale New Haven Hospital and Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare found 12.7% to 14.4% of physicians over 70 who were screened showed some degree of cognitive impairment. The issue has become more prevalent as 22.4% of physicians in 2025 were 65 or older.
“This case cannot be tried on the papers,” Ms. Dooley wrote, citing disputes over the policy’s purpose, function, implementation, efficacy and impact.
She called the parties’ failure to agree on a narrower screening process “extraordinarily and frustratingly unfortunate.” She noted that an EEOC win would give hospitals little guidance on what screening could pass legal muster.
The court plans to convene a conference in the coming weeks to set a trial date. Becker’s has reached out to Yale New Haven and the EEOC and will update this article if more information becomes available.
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