Ethics of Residency Programs and Fellowships that Electively Withdraw from the NRMP Match.

The National Resident Matching Program (NRMP), known as "The Match (TM)," facilitates the placement of medical graduates into residency and fellowship programs in the United States. Programs may opt out of TM for various reasons. The selective and intermittent withdrawal of programs from TM raises ethical concerns surrounding fairness, transparency, beneficence, autonomy, and justice for applicants. We discuss these issues, present the history behind TM, and offer suggestions to promote fairness.