During their third or fourth year, students spend two days in a pig laboratory learning to control bleeding, remove organs, and detach and reconnect segments of bowel. The pigs are anesthetized at the beginning of each day and euthanized at the end, officials said.
Officials said teams of students are assigned to each pig to minimize the number used, but they would not provide precise figures.
A local vendor supplies the pigs and delivers them to the laboratory the day they are used. Dr. Chris Newcomer, vice provost for animal research, said four veterinarians attend each lab to ensure the animals are properly anesthetized and handled.
He disputed claims by animal rights activists that pigs are prone to waking during surgery, an occurrence that would expose them to pain. "That's more reminiscent of what would have happened 30 years ago," he said, claiming that anesthesia techniques have "jumped way ahead."
Yesterday, a half-dozen doctors with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine handed out fliers at the hospital's main entrance on North Wolfe Street. A banner urged medical students to "blow the whistle on cruelty."
Pippin said the physicians' group started peppering Hopkins officials with e-mails, letters and phone calls two years ago. Freischlag, the course instructor and Dr. Edward D. Miller, the school's dean, were among those targeted.
In its editorial, the Hopkins newspaper urged the medical school to extend to animals the same "do no harm" principle taught to medical students over the ages.
In the 1980s, medical schools across the country phased out the use of live dogs in surgical laboratories and shifted to pigs, which were not only anatomically closer to humans but were also less likely to arouse passions than dogs.
But since then, protesters have taken up the barnyard animal's cause. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which also promotes vegetarianism and opposes the consumption of dairy products, has pressured numerous schools in recent years.
Twelve schools have quit the live-pig practice since 2006, according to Pippin. Case Western will be the 13th, but spokeswoman Laura Massey denied that the Cleveland medical school had buckled under pressure. "We want to make it very clear this had nothing to do with the PCRM," she said.
The University of Maryland School of Medicine relies completely on simulators and virtual reality techniques. In a suite of operating rooms stocked with these devices, students practice such techniques as removing gall bladders and inserting breathing tubes.
Many of the devices train students in laparoscopic techniques, in which surgeons view their work on video screens. Operating on live animals might give students a better feel for the textures and tensions of living tissue, but officials say that experience can be left for surgical residencies. "Medical school is not about technical skills - it's about cognitive abilities," said Dr. Bruce Jarrell, vice dean for research and academic affairs.
Gerald Moses, who heads the simulation lab, added: "Sparing animals discomfort elevates the whole paradigm of learning."
jonathan.bor@baltsun.com
