Ethics in Medical Student Education

Help End the Use of Live Pigs for Trauma Training at the
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

We need your help to end the cruel and unnecessary use of live pigs in trauma training courses at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark (UMDNJ). Across the United States, more than 90 percent of Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses are taught using only human-based simulators. But a handful of institutions like UMDNJ continue to use live animals. The American College of Surgeons, the ATLS oversight body, has approved nonanimal models like the TraumaMan System, SimMan, and cadavers for these courses. Read a related opinion piece by John J. Pippin, M.D., F.A.C.C., PCRM medical education and senior medical adviser, originally published in The Star-Ledger.

Please call, e-mail, fax, or write a letter to UMDNJ president William F. Owen Jr., M.D., and politely ask him to end animal use in the institution’s ATLS courses. Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals. Send an automatic e-mail>

William F. 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
Fax: (973) 972-4429
E-mail: wfowenmd@umdnj.edu

On July 2, 2008, PCRM filed an official complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, citing the unlawful use of live animals by UMDNJ. The complaint cited an ongoing 2007-2008 survey by PCRM, which has so far received responses from 164 U.S. facilities offering ATLS courses. The survey found that 150 of those facilities (more than 90 percent) exclusively use nonanimal models for instruction. In addition, the vast majority of those 150 facilities exclusively use the TraumaMan System, including Cooper University Hospital in Camden and AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City. Cooper University Hospital is operated by UMDNJ.

Learn more about the TraumaMan System and SimMan. If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Merkley at rmerkley@pcrm.org or 202-686-2210, ext. 336.

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