Physicians Committee
January 2015
Please urge University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga (UTCOMC) dean David C. Seaberg, M.D., to replace the use of pigs in the school’s surgery clerkship with validated human-based methods. We have provided text for you, but if you decide to write your own message, please be polite and encouraging. Here are some talking points:
Sign an online petition here.
And/Or better yet, make direct contact:
David C. Seaberg, MD
910 Madison, Suite 1002
Memphis, TN 38163
phone (901) 448-5529
fax (901) 448-7683
Physicians Committee billboards recently warned motorists that the
University of Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga’s use of live
animals for medical training is substandard. Local member physician Jane
Gumnick, M.D., also presented the university with a petition signed by 365
Tennessee physicians asking for a switch to human-based methods.
Drivers approaching the university saw a billboard warning that they were
entering a substandard medical training zone:
After passing the university, they saw a sign alerting them that they survived:
Of the 187 accredited medical schools in the United States and Canada,
only two other schools use live animals to train students in surgery
techniques. The remaining 98 percent of programs use nonanimal methods,
including human-based medical simulation and task trainers. The University
of Mississippi Medical Center uses animals to teach physiology.
The other campuses of the University of Tennessee College of Medicine
already use nonanimal methods, and Chattanooga has a state-of-the-art
Clinical Skills and Simulation Center that could immediately replace the use
of animals for teaching students basic surgery skills.
Thank you for everything you do for animals!
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