Here’s the photo, with the face of the deceased person blurred out…

The resident who posted the photo, Dr. Erica Katz, has apologized profusely to the media and to her coworkers and former professors/mentors at Stony Brook.  The hospital has yet to say whether or not they will formally reprimand the physician.  The student who is posing for the picture has also made an apology for his actions.

Although most medical schools continue to offer cadaver labs for teaching anatomy, some are going to virtual labs as methods of teaching, as cadavers donated for medical teaching are becoming more scarce.  Many anatomy labs are also employing “pro-sections,” where the professor dissects one cadaver in front of the student audience.  The students then use the dissected specimen and computer models to study.  In light of the current scandal, it is easy to see that the standard methods of teaching anatomy are going to have to adapt.    News like this certainly doesn’t make the public want to go out and donate their bodies to science.

All medical schools have policies regarding the photography of cadavers and behavior in the cadaver lab.  It is treated as a very sensitive subject.  Some schools, like the University of North Carolina, even have student-run memorial services at the end of an anatomy course to honor those who have donated their remains to medical education.  Clearly these students were less sensitive.

This comes just days after inappropriate pictures were posted on Facebook of Puerto Rican doctors partying in the field clinics of Haiti.   I wish people would stop misbehaving for the sake of the profession.  And at the very least they should know by now what to post and what NOT to post on Facebook.

Here’s the full article courtesy of bostonherald.com.

Seems that several doctors from Puerto Rico are chugging down big mugs of regret after posing for some objectionable pictures taken during a mission trip to Haiti.  CNN dug up pictures of the group on Facebook, posing with Haitian military, holding guns and smiling for the camera.

CNN reports, as can be read in an online article, that several doctors were sent to Haiti by the government of Puerto Rico just days after the earthquake in order to set up a field hospital to assist in addressing health care needs.  Although the intentions and work of the group were honest and admirable, several members of the team of doctors took pictures with Haitian military, holding machine guns and smiling.  This picture, shown above, as well as others were posted on Facebook.  Other pictures showed the doctors drinking beer and scotch inside the field clinic, dressed in surgical gear, with patients in the pictures as well.  The Puerto Rican government is quite ashamed of the situation, and has said that these photos may compromise the careers of the individuals involved.

I have to say that I too am embarrassed that these pictures surfaced.  I am sad for the doctors, who must have been under great stress to perform in those conditions, but whose actions are inexcusable.  I am sad that this has tarnished the public opinion of medical missions.  But it also illustrates a predicament that most doctors have to face at some point.  This job is so much more than a job.  The public holds doctors at such a high moral standard that something that would otherwise seem a minor indescretion to another profession becomes an unforgiveable grievance for a medical professional.