Two European physicians attempting to attend the American Association for Thoracic Surgery meeting in Boston last weekend -- the organization's Centennial -- were turned away by U.S. Customs agents because of their recent travel to certain Middle Eastern countries.
Rock-star thoracic surgeon Pieter Kappetein, MD, PhD, of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Bernard Eisenmann, MD, former chief of cardiovascular surgery at University Hospital Strasbourg in France, were stopped at U.S. Customs in Dublin and Montreal, respectively, and had to book new flights back to Europe.
Although both are citizens of Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries, which normally means they can enter the U.S. without a visa, an Iranian stamp in his passport sent Kappetein home, and one from Iraq prevented Eisenmann from entering.
Neither had been made aware of a policy that requires a formal visa for nationals of any VWP country if they'd previously been to one of four Middle Eastern countries -- Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Sudan -- for any amount of time since March 1, 2011.
Both Kappetein and Eisenmann said they had previously entered the U.S. several times in 2015 and 2016 after their Mideast trips and were not detained despite the presence of these visas.
Jennifer Evanitsky, a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), told MedPage Today in an email that the policy was enacted in 2015 under the Obama administration, and denied that it has only recently been enforced under the Trump administration.
"This is not new and has been enforced since January 2016," Evanitsky said.
But Eisenmann disputed that, saying the customs agent in Montreal "told me the rules have changed since November 2016."
Eisenmann had an electronic system for travel authorization, or ESTA, that was valid for nearly two years starting May 2016 that ordinarily allows U.S. entry by VWP nationals. As a retired surgeon, he travels frequently to Asia to provide humanitarian surgeries. In 2015 and again in February 2017, his work took him to Iraq to help with congenital surgeries there.
Kappetein was stopped at U.S. Customs in Dublin after arriving from Amsterdam. He wasn't allowed to board his flight to Boston because of the Iranian visa, which he obtained to lecture two years ago at a European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) course in that country.
"The officer happened to see my [Iranian] visa in my passport, while other times I have been lucky, they told me," Kappetein wrote in an email. "The land of milk and honey not allowing me in. A pity."
Kappetein's days at AATS were booked from morning until late evening. Jane Hunter, a medical communications professional who was attending the AATS meeting, told MedPage Today that other presenters were scrambling to fill voids on several panels and lectures at which Kappetein was supposed to be presenting.
"This has to be happening for so many other medical meetings out there," Hunter said. "And think of all the families that are affected."
The incidents raise the obvious question of how this will impact physician and researcher travel to medical meetings in the U.S.
Visas of the sort demanded from Kappetein and Eisenmann usually require an in-person interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate, Evanitsky said, which could be cost-prohibitive for young participants, and something that busy professionals often don't have the time to complete.
Prash Sanders, MD, a cardiologist at Royal Adelaide Hospital in Australia, said on Twitter that more than half of his fellows have withdrawn from an upcoming Heart Rhythm Society meeting in Chicago over "concerns for their safety in the U.S."
"There must now be thousands of scientists and medical experts who don't even consider trying to attend U.S. conferences," Hunter said. "The climate of hysteria here does nothing to keep people safe. The exact opposite, in fact."