The Observer, January 25, 2008
Volume XL, Issue 14
Medical school continues use of live animals in classes
With nearly 700 students, over 1500 faculty, and prestigious affiliations with University Hospitals, MetroHealth, and the Cleveland Clinic, among others, the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, buried cozily on the long stretch of Adelbert Road, has been an important part of the university since its creation in 1843. The Case School of Medicine had over 6000 students apply to its three programs this past year, with only 187 qualified students matriculating into the class of 2011. Yet inside the classrooms and beyond the glory and prestige on the outside, the Case School of Medicine continues to offer a controversial elective lab that has generated debate and national outcry.
Enter the common pig. The pink mammals, part of the hoofed ungulate order, are seen in Chinese culture as symbols of fertility and virility as well as scientifically identified as rather intelligent creatures. Yet as the spring 2008 semester begins, the Case School of Medicine continues to use live pigs in an elective laparoscopy surgery lab for its fourth-year students. This comes on the heels of a decision to eliminate the use of live dogs, cats, and ferrets in elective surgery courses after last semester. The animals would be anesthetized before surgery and then killed afterwards, a practice now reserved for the only animal left in the elective course: the pig. "Our intent is to eliminate the practice [surgery on live pigs] at the beginning of the next academic year. They [the pigs] are being treated as humanely as possible. We adhere to all national protocols," says senior news and information specialist Laura Massie, speaking on behalf of Case Western Reserve University.
While the Case School of Medicine has shown evidence of change in this regard, the fact remains that out of the top twenty-one schools in the nation, Case remains the only one outside of Johns Hopkins that continues to use any sort of live animal in its surgical training. Nationwide, only five other university medical schools still use live animals, including the University of Minnesota, the University of Mississippi, East Carolina University, the University of Tennessee, and Oregon University. With schools such as Harvard, Yale, and Duke changing course, why does Case Western Reserve University continue to practice surgery on live animals, even if it is only for one elective course for fourth-year medical students?
According to Ryan Merkley, a representative of the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine based in Washington, D.C., "simulators are proven to be better teaching tools and could be brought in this week [if Case chose to do so]."
The main reason Case has not adopted a full no-live-animal curriculum seems to center around the Western Reserve2 (WR2) curriculum, launched in 2006. Started as little more than an administrative discussion in 2004, WR2 is now centered on interweaving four themes into a four-year program for Case's medical students (with an option for a fifth year), which include: research and scholarship, clinical mastery, leadership, and civic professionalism. "The School of Medicine has been in the process of developing a new curriculum for more than five years, and part of that process has been to evaluate the classes offered, both required and elective," said Dr. Pamela Davis, dean of the Case Medical School, in a written statement. "During that time, our faculty have completely revamped the preclinical required curriculum (now in its second year and still under construction), and we are now in the process of examining and revamping our elective curriculum. This year, we changed an elective to use only pigs, with plans for further increases in operating room observation time and increase use of simulation in the years to come. We recently received support to obtain new clinical simulators, which are now being purchased. Our curricular changes are driven by educational considerations," she concluded.
While some might be tempted to cite pressure from outside interest groups such as the PCRM and high-profile animal rights cases such as the Michael Vick incident in the change, the progression of the Case School of Medicine eliminating live animals from its classroom curriculum has been a rather private one, purportedly ending for good after this spring semester. "New technologies, new ways of teaching students, virtual surgery, etc., all are there in the future," concludes Massie. "It wasn't one group that persuaded the medical school to eliminate the practice [of using live animals in the classroom], but a lot of factors [ethics, faculty preference, etc.] that have been in play. It was strictly a medical school decision."
For interest groups such as PCRM, who have urged the Case Medical School to abandon its practice immediately, change does not come soon enough. "Because alternative methods [simulators] are so widely used, over 90 percent, there is no reason for Case or any other medical school to continue to use live animals," repeated Merkley. Concurrently, the national American Medical Student Association organization passed legislation in April of 2007 encouraging the replacement of live animal laboratories with non-animal alternatives in undergraduate medical education. Furthermore, the American College of Surgeons no longer uses live animals in any of its own training exercises.
Regardless, the best that supporters and detractors of the policy can hope for is the full elimination of live animal usage in the medical school classroom curriculum after the current spring semester.
