Students File Lawsuit Claiming Florida College Forced Them to Endure Vaginal Exams
Two women are suing Valencia State College in Florida and three medical diagnostic instructors who they say forced them to expose their bodies during transvaginal probes in a medical class.
After enrolling in the school's medical diagnostic sonography program in 2013, the plaintiffs, who have not been named, sat they had to endure internal vaginal probes as part of classroom training. The federal lawsuit claims the school would "browbeat" students who did not consent to the intrusive exams, threatening to lower their grades and blacklist them in the medical community.
"During orientation, the clients were told that these were voluntary procedures. However, as time went on, it became very clear that they were not voluntary," said civil rights attorney Christopher Dillingham to NBC News.
The suit also says that during orientation, a second year student "(nicknamed the 'TransVag Queen') explained the Medical Diagnostic Sonography Program's faculty believed that students should undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasound procedures in order to become better sonography technicians."
Despite the fact that there were anatomically correct simulators on which students could use for practice, the suit alleges that the plaintiffs had the procedures done on a weekly basis, including by a male student and other students in the program.
They "endured these invasive probes without a modicum of privacy. Plaintiffs would disrobe in a restroom, drape themselves in towels, and traverse the sonography classroom in full view of instructors and other students," says the suit.
The suit also alleges that "a student would place a condom over the probe and then apply generous amounts of lubrication to the probe. In some cases, the student would have to sexually 'stimulate' plaintiffs in order to facilitate inserting the probe into plaintiffs' vaginas."
The suit says the women "experienced discomfort and embarrassment each time they had to endure this forced probing of their sexual organs."
In one instance, according to the lawsuit, one of the three defendants told a student that she was "sexy" and should be an "escort girl."
According to CNN, the public relations director for Valencia College released a statement, saying:
"The use of volunteers -- including fellow students -- for medical sonography training is a nationally accepted practice. Valencia College's sonography program has upheld the highest standards with respect to ultrasound scanning for educational purposes, including voluntary participation and professional supervision by faculty in a controlled laboratory setting. Nonetheless, we continue to review this practice and others to ensure that they are effective and appropriate for the learning environment."
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