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Issue date: 3/27/08
News & Features

Physicians protest use of live pigs for practice

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Now an anesthesiologist in Virginia, Kulkarni preferred using mannequins where students practice inserting central lines or intubation.

"That's more accurate. I'm not a veterinarian," he said.

While in her junior year at the Hopkins medical school, Wasserman performed surgery on a live, anesthetized dog.

"What I learned in the dog lab had no applicability to taking care of humans," she said.

It was the experience of performing surgery on a live dog - which no longer occurs at Hopkins or any other medical campus - that served as a wake-up call for Pippin.

"In the middle of surgery the dog woke up while its chest was still open ... The course instructor could not put the dog back under, so it had to be killed on the table," he said.

Pippin was comforted in his belief that the medical school will inevitably end the use of live pigs in surgeries.

"We're confident that Hopkins will change. At some point they will have to, because they will be the last school in the country [doing the surgeries]," Pippin said.

Protestors held a sign urging medical school students to contact an anonymous tip hotline with information on the pig surgeries.

Hopkins medical students have already provided information to Pippin, including reports that students can request to not participate in the surgeries.

While she has not heard responses from medical students, Wasserman said she received "very positive, supportive responses" to an opinions piece she wrote in the Baltimore Sun.

Both she and Pippin cited a recent editorial by the News-Letter condemning the use of live pigs in surgeries as a motivating factor behind the protest.
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