2 Valencia College Students File Lawsuit Over ‘Mandatory’ Internal Vagina Probes

While insisting that internal vagina probes on female students are voluntary, Valencia College in Orlando, Florida, pointed out that the use of fellow students for medical training is a nationally accepted practice. However, with a lawsuit against the practice filed by two former female students, the college would review the practice, as well as other practices, to ensure that it is effective and proper for the learning environment.

Besides the college, the two medical students also included in their lawsuit the medical diagnostic instructors who threatened them with lower grades if they don’t agree to undergo the embarrassing examination, said the students’ lawyer, Christopher Dillingham. He points out that the students were told at the start of the school term the vaginal ultrasounds were voluntary, reports Kait8.com.

As a result of the psychological stress that they went through, the two students dropped from medical school. They sought damage for pain and the return of their tuition fee, Dillingham said. The lawyer said that the use of female students for the examination was unnecessary.

He noted that Valencia College has anatomically correct simulators that students could practice performing the vaginal ultrasound and patients at the Central Florida Hospital. When his clients complained, “They were told they could go to another program or that their grades would be reduced and that they would be black listed within the medical community,” Dillingham discloses.

A transvaginal ultrasound, according to Healthline, aims to see female reproductive organs, such as the uterus, ovaries, cervix and vagina, by using an ultrasound wand internally rather than applying the wand to the outside of the pelvic as usually done in a regular pelvic ultrasound. It is usually done for an abnormal physical examination, to check for cysts or fibroids, to check unexplained vaginal bleeding, when there is pelvic pain, during an ectopic pregnancy and infertility.

During the procedure, the patient lies down on a table with feet placed in stirrups. A condom covers the ultrasound wand and lubricating gel is applied before it is inserted into the vagina. The patient could feel some pressure from the wand which is similar to the speculum used for a Pap smear.

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