Florida Medical Students ‘Coerced’ Into Vaginal Exams For Classroom: 2 Women File Lawsuit Over ‘Invasive’ Exams

A couple of Florida medical students were “coerced” into vaginal exams for their classroom and now the women are filing a lawsuit against their college.

Valencia College in Orlando allegedly “browbeat” female students into being subjects for vaginal exams as part of medical training in their classroom, Time reports. This has spurred a lawsuit against the college filed by two of its students who claim they were “coerced” into the exams.

Two medical diagnostic students have filed suit against their instructors, alleging that they were “coerced” into undergoing vaginal exams in the classroom as part of their medical training. Filed documents state that the students were warned that their refusal to participate in the vaginal exams would affect their grades — and even their future careers.

“Plaintiffs would disrobe in a restroom, drape themselves in towels, and traverse the sonography classroom in full view of instructors and other students,” the lawsuit alleges.

A Valencia College spokesperson told CNN that “peer-to-peer exams” are a standard training practice in the medical field, and that the college maintained the “highest standards with respect to ultrasound scanning.”

CNN names the defendants in the case as Maureen Bugnacki, Linda Shaheen, and Barbara Ball.

In another claim mentioned in the lawsuit, it reads that during orientation, the college “had a second-year student, Jennifer Astor (nicknamed the ‘TransVag Queen’) explain the medical diagnostic sonography program’s faculty believed that students should undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasound procedures in order to become better sonography technicians.”

It further reveals: “Valencia positioned these transvaginal probes as voluntary, but its actual policy and practice was that they were not.”

The allegations go on to say that a student would place a condom over the probe before applying a generous amount of lubrication to the probe. Moreover, it claims that the student would have to “sexually ‘stimulate’ plaintiffs in order to facilitate inserting the probe into plaintiffs’ vaginas,” making it uncomfortable and embarrassing for the women to tolerate the “forced probing of their sexual organs.”

In one instance, according to the lawsuit, one of the defendants, Barbara Ball, made inappropriate comments to a student who was undergoing a probe. “Defendant Ball’s comments can only be described as bizarre during some of these forced probing sessions,” the lawsuit states.

The “coerced” vaginal exams of the medical students seemed bizarre and needless when Ball allegedly told one of the students during a probing session that she was “sexy” and could be an “escort girl (prostitute).” This naturally created some doubt in regards to the intentions behind the vaginal sonograms.

Carol Traynor, Valencia College Public Relations Director, issued a comment following the reported lawsuit against the “coerced” vaginal exams of medical students.

“The use of volunteers — including fellow students — for medical sonography training is a nationally accepted practice. Valencia College’s sonography program has upheld the highest standards with respect to ultrasound scanning for educational purposes, including voluntary participation and professional supervision by faculty in a controlled laboratory setting. Nonetheless, we continue to review this practice and others to ensure that they are effective and appropriate for the learning environment.”

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