Doctors protest using live animals for medical training

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – The Physicians Committee led a demonstration today at the Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga urging the college to stop their use of live animals in medical training.

The college is authorized to use up to 300 live animals a year in their medical training program.

Physician Kerry Foley says that this method of training is outdated and that there are more effective methods available.

“Especially when there are better methods available. So to me it’s like continuing to use your VCR when you could be streaming from the internet. It’s old technology its antiquated and it’s more importantly for the trainees it’s substandard training.”

The Tennessee College of Medicine Chattanooga is one of 16 programs that still uses live animals. The Committee hopes that the college will switch to Human simulated training methods in the near future.