News
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Campaign Worked!
February 27, 2009, 12:44PM MT
By Jennifer S Hayes
University of Michigan to now use simulators instead of dogs in trauma training
University of Michigan to now use simulators instead of dogs in trauma training
By Ryan Merkley, Manager of Humane Education Programs, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine
Your activism just made a huge difference. Six weeks ago we called on you to help end the cruel and unnecessary use of live dogs in the University of Michigan’s trauma training course. Thousands of you took action—and the school listened! Today, the University of Michigan announced that it will use only simulators in the Advanced Trauma Life Support course.
You have sent more than 20,000 e-mails to University of Michigan (U-M) administrators, asking them to use nonanimal training methods in their Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) course. The school’s Graduate Medical Education Committee recently met and decided that it agrees with you. No dogs or other animals will be killed in the school’s ATLS course, according to a university statement.
Your hard work helped end animal suffering and improve medical education in Michigan. Now we need your help to do the same thing in New Jersey. While more than 90 percent of United States and Canadian facilities no longer use animals for ATLS training, University Hospital in Newark, part of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ), continues to use live pigs for its course, despite the availability of nonanimal alternatives like the TraumaMan System from Simulab. The hospital’s next ATLS course is scheduled for March 13.
Please e-mail, call, or write to UMDNJ president William Owen Jr., M.D., and politely ask him to end animal use in University Hospital’s ATLS course.
Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals.
William Owen Jr., M.D.
President
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
65 Bergen St., Room 1535
University Heights
Newark, NJ 07107-3007
Phone: 973-972-4400
E-mail: wfowenmd@umdnj.edu
Send an automatic e-mail.
Learn more about the TraumaMan System. If you have any questions, please contact me at rmerkley@pcrm.org. Thanks so much for your help!
For more information:
• University of Michigan Ends Use of Dogs in ATLS Class
• Help End the Use of Live Pigs for Trauma Training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
• University of Michigan Uses Antiquated Teaching Methods
• Man’s Best Friend, Not Training Tool
Posted by Jennifer Hayes, Best Friends staff
Photo credit: taken by Jennifer Hayes