A health care chain in Michigan said it opened an investigation after some doctors in the operating room posted photos on social media last week showing it holding an organ removed by surgery and tissue material as part of a game they compared to ” The Right Price “.
Doctors, who work as medical residents of Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and specialize in obstetrics and gynecology, asked people to guess how much an unidentified organ weighed, according to one of the Instagram posts obtained by the NBC affiliate. WOOD -TELEVISION.
The station said it blurred some of the image on that post so people wouldn’t know what kind of organ was shown in the post, which was shared publicly.
The posts appeared to show at least one patient in the background, the television station reported. They were evacuated shortly after the station contacted resident doctors on Friday.
“The other game we play in the operating room is to guess the weight,” said the post. “This applies to a lot more than just babies. As always, the ‘Right Price’ rules apply, so if you pass, you’re out! “
The doctor was referring to the old rule of the television game show, according to which competitors who overestimate the value of a prize are disqualified.
Spectrum Health, which operates 14 hospitals in Western Michigan, three of which in Grand Rapids, said in a statement late on Sunday that patient confidentiality is paramount.
“We were shocked and dismayed when we learned that the surgical images were posted to an Instagram account not officially connected to Spectrum Health that was used by a group of resident doctors,” the statement said. “This unacceptable behavior in no way reflects our organization, the excellent professionalism of our medical staff or of our resident doctors in training.”
It was unclear which hospital or how many doctors were involved in the episode. None of the doctors involved was identified. The Instagram identifier used by resident doctors was @grandrapids_obgyn_residency.
“We are actively and comprehensively investigating this unfortunate incident,” said Spectrum Health. “These posts do not follow our code of excellence, our values or our expectations regarding the behavior of the team members. We deeply value the trust that our patients place in us and work to strengthen this bond every day ”.
In another photo that was publicly shared on Instagram by resident doctors, a doctor can be seen pointing at a thread of tissue after a patient was operated on to remove uterine fibroids, which are usually benign tumors, but can hide a dangerous type of cancer.
The doctor had just completed a procedure known as morcellation, in which a surgeon extracts the tissue through small incisions.
The doctor wrote that resident doctors can be somewhat competitive when the attending physician challenges them in morcellation, the station reported.
“The longest wins!” the station quoted the post as saying. “Good job.”
Arthur Caplan, a professor of medical ethics at the Grossman School of Medicine at New York University, said in an interview on Sunday that social media posts could be grounds for serious disciplinary action against doctors, possibly resulting in the loss of license.
“It is certainly a serious breach of ethics,” he said. “There is absolutely no excuse for turning something that should be serious and treated with respect into a kind of silly carnival.”
Many patients consider tissues or organs that have been surgically removed as part of themselves, especially the female reproductive organs, said Caplan. Posting a photo of a partially visible patient in an operating room, he said, went overboard.
“We try to explain that a fundamental aspect of professionalism is always respect for the patient and the understanding that patients have a strong feeling about their body and their intimacy,” he said.
At least one person complained about Instagram posts before they were removed.
“And do you think the patient would like you to post this?” the television station quoted the person in a comment below the organ’s photo. “Did she agree that her body was shown on social media as part of her ‘game’?”