Killing Dogs in Training of Doctors Is to End

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saluki
saluki Member Posts: 2,287
Killing Dogs in Training of Doctors Is to End

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  • saluki
    saluki Member Posts: 2,287
    edited January 2008

    Its about time--A good way to start a new year!

    The New York Times
    January 1, 2008
    Killing Dogs in Training of Doctors Is to End
    By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

    By next month, all American medical schools will have abandoned a time-honored method of teaching cardiology: operating on dogs to examine their beating hearts, and disposing of them after the lesson.

    Case Western Reserve School of Medicine was the last to use the method, but the dean, Dr. Pamela Davis, said it would no longer do so after this month.

    On Nov. 19, New York Medical College in Valhalla joined New York’s 11 other medical schools and announced that it would close its dog laboratory.

    Among the 126 American medical schools, 11 still sacrifice animals for teaching, according to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, an advocacy group that tracks the practice. Other than Case, none of them use dogs.

    Francis Belloni, a dean at New York Medical College, said his students now used echocardiograms to study heart function, and the subjects were live medical students rather than live dogs. Dr. Belloni said the use of animals was not done lightly and had value, but added that students would “become just as good doctors without it.”


  • Poppy
    Poppy Member Posts: 405
    edited January 2008
    OMG I had NO idea they were doing this!! How could they?! I would be devastated if I had to participate in something like this. Good riddance!
    Erica
  • snowyday
    snowyday Member Posts: 1,478
    edited January 2008

    That's good news but horrible I had no idea they were doing that. Thank you for posting this article. Pearl

  • Isabella4
    Isabella4 Member Posts: 2,166
    edited January 2008

    OMG this is a disgrace, I had no idea this sort of thing happened.How can these people ever live with themselves.

    I just look at my dogs, and think HOW could they.

    Isabella.

  • livesstrong
    livesstrong Member Posts: 1,799
    edited January 2008

    ABOUT TIME!!!!

    I remember in high school biology dissecting a frog and thinking this is not a good idea.

    Valerie 

  • iodine
    iodine Member Posts: 4,289
    edited January 2008

    The surgery residents where i worked had a dog lab rotation and were on the ground floor in kidney transplants, which of course lead to all the other transplants.  It was a fully accepted research procedure back in the late 60 and 70's and very productive in forwarding transplant research.

    I am happy that some of the animal research is being discontinued.  I remember my first try at intubating was on a dog who had been placed under anesthesia.  felt bad a bout  it then and still do.  But I didn't when I had to do it on humans who could not breathe.  I was just glad I knew how.

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited January 2008

    Besides frogs in Biology, we dissected cats in Physiology. Actually, I thought it was neat after I got over the smell.  Got used to it.

    The cats were from the SPCA and were scheduled for euthanization anyway. After they killed them, they put the formadelhyde in them for preservation. Thankfully, they weren't live or none of us would have been able to "operate" on them. 

  • iodine
    iodine Member Posts: 4,289
    edited January 2008

    We had to put them to sleep in a huge jar.  I will never forget having to do that and then disect the kittens.

    My anatomy and phys. prof was a strange nun who seemed to get a kick out of pithing frogs. 

    The instructions was appaling, but it was SOOOOOO long ago.  I don't know what they do now.

    I did love surgery and ob tho.  My favs.

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