Ethics in Medical Education

We need your help to end the live animal labs at the University of Minnesota Medical School (UMMS). Twenty years ago, live animals were commonly used in physiology, pharmacology, and surgery classes at medical schools.

Multiple times throughout the year, UMMS uses live animals in two student courses. The school uses live pigs in the surgery rotation and live sheep in the emergency medicine rotation. At the end of each of these classes, the animals are killed. UMMS is the only U.S. medical school that uses animals to teach emergency medicine to students.

There are validated and widely implemented alternatives for both of these classes. For surgery and emergency medicine training, these alternatives include low-cost suturing simulators, operating room mentoring, and high-fidelity manikin models. Some of these alternatives are currently available at UMMS through the school’s SimPORTAL simulation center.

Please call, e-mail, fax, or write a letter to the dean and assistant vice president for clinical affairs, Deborah E. Powell, M.D., and politely ask her to end the school’s live animal lab program. Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals. Send an automatic e-mail>

Deborah E. Powell, M.D.
Dean and Assistant Vice President for Clinical Affairs
University of Minnesota Medical School
420 Delaware St. SE
6th Floor Mayo, Mayo Mail Code 293
Minneapolis, MN 55455
T: (612) 626-4949
F: (612) 626-4911
dpowell@umn.edu

More than 90 percent of U.S. medical schools have eliminated live animal labs from their curricula altogether. Innovations in medical simulation technology, availability of alternatives, increased awareness of ethical concerns, and a growing acknowledgement that medical training must be human-focused have all facilitated this shift. Only 10 out of 154 allopathic and osteopathic medical schools in the United States still use live animals in their curricula, and two of those 10 are ending their animal labs this semester.

Learn more about live animal labs and what you can do to help end them. If you have any questions, please contact Ryan Merkley at rmerkley@pcrm.org or 202-686-2210, ext. 336.

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