ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Two former students in a community college ultrasound program say they were punished for objecting to a policy that encouraged students to undergo an invasive vaginal procedure to become better technicians.
The two unnamed female students filed a lawsuit last week against Valencia State College in Orlando. They say their civil rights were violated under the First and Fourth amendments.
The students say they were told that faculty members believe students should undergo the procedure to become better sonography technicians.
The lawsuit says that instructors told them the procedure was voluntary but that students who refused were browbeaten and their academic standing was threatened.
In the procedure, a probe is inserted into the patient’s vagina.
A school spokeswoman said Tuesday that the program upholds the highest standards for sonography training.
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I’m guessing this procedure is a trans-vaginal ultrasound (the article does not specifically say)? Something that sadly, sonogram technicians are going to be increasingly called on to do as more and more states start requiring this of women seeking abortions, whether or not their doctors think it is necessary.
The premise that the technicians can better understand how to administer the procedure in a way that minimizes a patient’s discomfort if they undergo it themselves and experience it in the same way a patient does seems pretty well grounded to me, but students should not be brow-beaten into doing that – especially when it is something that only female students would be subjected to.
I looked up Valencia State College – it seems pretty reputable, and in fact, the Aspen Institute named it the top community college in the country in 2011.
TPM:
Perhaps the faculty, staff, and deans involved in this decision should also undergo vaginal probes, or urethral probes for the males, so they can understand their students concerns - and thereby become better teachers and administrators.
“…policy that encouraged students to undergo an invasive vaginal procedure to become better technicians.”
This is stupid. What if you are a male student?
If it was noted as part of the syllabus for the course, they should have no complaints. It seems to be good therapeutic practice to have the student experience the procedure (whatever it is–injections, enemas, casting, etc.) so that one knows better how to do it.
SLBinVA, you echoed my thoughts. My next question is are there invasive sonogram-type procedures men go through (that would be covered in this program)? – If so, were the men also encouraged to partake? As a man, I can attest to having a sonogram in the past but not an invasive type.
As a person who has worked in medicine, I have mixed feelings about this. I, personally, believe that if a person working in the field knows from experience what their patients might experience–from their own personal experience–that they are indeed much better at what they do and exhibit far more empathy. However, I also understand that the primary–not the sole, though–reason for the procedure appears to be the increase in state-mandated hurdles to women accessing safe healthcare.