The students are now taking Valencia College and three instructors to Federal Court. The three instructors named in the lawsuit, Maureen Bugnacki, Linda Shaheen, and Barbara Ball, have not yet answered to allegations.
Valencia College has also refused to comment specifically on the case as it has apparently not be served with the lawsuit. The college did acknowledge, however, that it used volunteers for some examination procedures.
One of the accused, Ms. Ball, allegedly made disturbing remarks to one of the students being probed, calling her “sexy” and suggesting that she become a “prostitute.”
The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Chris Dillingham, suggests that such remarks call into question the motives for having the students probed. Dillingham charges that the plaintiffs’ first and fourth amendment rights were violated.
Allegedly, the students were told that if they did not submit to the examination, their grades would be reduced, and they would be blacklisted by future employers.
Peer examination is an accepted part of medical education, but is traditionally thought of as voluntary, especially when such sensitive organs are to be examined. Valencia College itself claimed such probes were voluntary, but the students charge that in practice they were compulsory.
The probing was done in full view of both the classroom and instructors. Apparently, in some cases the students conducting the probing actually had to sexually stimulate the students being probed in order to facilitate insertion.
