we occupy the same spot on the food chain, but they can't wield scalpels or hypodermic needles

[rootofnewt]

local group seeks to end UVA med school dog lab

there are other options. i think that the students advocating for the class sound horrifically uncompassionate, but i realize i am highly biased toward dogs.

even though it's not in the online article, the front page of today's newspaper has a picture of a UVA med student with "Clyde, a dog lab survivor. I think the dog might be his pet, but I could be wrong. Cylde appears to be a beagle. he doesn't look as happy as most beagles do. i wonder how confused he is. :( I hope he *is* now a beloved pet. The student in the picture is the med student and co-founder of Citizens for Human Medicine quoted near the beginning of the article.

Comments

[queensheba.livejournal.com]

I understand that it can be necessary to use animals in research, but I'm not convinced it's necessary in this case. They're saying it's important to use living creatures to demonstrate, but if it was so essential, why don't they *require* students to attend it? It can't be that essential if it's optional, you know? I'm sure they made it optional to appease people who were upset, but...it's either vital or it's not.

[absinthea.livejournal.com]

How come you never hear of cat labs?? Cats are vile and evil...cut them up instead.

[seeliespright.livejournal.com]

Dog's lives are just as important as people's.

And many dogs are nicer than most people.

[lupa.livejournal.com]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
*squick*
why can't they work on cadavers, ffs?

[mustelidmania.livejournal.com]

yes, that is his dog, saved by him. The lab needs to shut down, and go to cadavers, that is why people leave their bodies to science. My brother Tim, who is a doctor, says, "if I had to cut up dead human flesh, it is good enough for everyone." Tim is a little weird, but that's okay, aren't most doctors anyway?

[krasota.livejournal.com]

the way i look at it, the class is an elective, so it's obviously not *that* integral to studying medicine. The top 20 med schools in the country have eliminated this type of lab.

I can understand using animals for *research* purposes. I can understand the need for developing/testing new drugs and vaccines. I won't argue with that, though I'll be happy when the day comes that technology is sufficient for non-animal testing (not in my lifetime, I know).

For instructional purposes, though? I'd think that putting a trach in a dog would be a mite bit different from putting one in a human. And I think that, even if the purpose is to reassure students who feel they might miss something vital with a computerized mannequin or cadaver, cutting into a dog and cutting into a human are two very different things and the first experience with a human will STILL be harrowing.

[absinthea.livejournal.com]

The only things I can say from experience (of treating Barney when he was in kidney failure) is that venipuncture in a dog is a HELL of alot different than in a human. Their skin and veins have a completely different feel to them (tensile strength is probably not the same, I'd bet). Also, placing feeding tubes and naso-pharyngeal airways are a damn sight different.

[javafiend.livejournal.com]

Isn't dog-mutilation on the serial killer checklist? Check those med students for bed-wetting....