Please End the Use of Live Animals in Albert Einstein’s Pediatrics Residency

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Background | Source PCRM

We need your help to stop the abuse of kittens by Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia. This week, PCRM filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, explaining that the medical center is violating the federal Animal Welfare Act by using live kittens in its pediatrics residency program. Please help this effort by asking the medical center to end the use of animals today.

In the pediatrics residency program at Albert Einstein Medical Center, breathing tubes are pushed down the throats of live kittens to teach endotracheal intubation. This painful procedure is repeated numerous times on each animal and can cause tracheal bruising, bleeding, and severe trauma. Nonanimal training methods are widely implemented in accredited pediatrics programs, making this use of animals not only cruel but unnecessary.

So far, the responsible Albert Einstein faculty and administrators have refused pleas to change this practice. Please e-mail Albert Einstein Healthcare Network president and CEO Barry Freedman, and urge him to end this cruel and unnecessary practice. Send an automatic e-mail. 

Gaumard’s Premie HAL and PREMIE Blue simulators, designed to mimic the airway of a premature newborn; Laerdal’s SimNewB, which was developed in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics; and METI’s BabySim can all be used for this type of training. The medical center even teaches a pediatrics critical care course that includes intubation at the simulation center.

More than 95 percent of pediatrics residency programs in the United States and Canada—including every other program in Pennsylvania—do not use animals. It is time for Albert Einstein Medical Center to join the majority. Please e-mail Mr. Freedman today and ask him to replace the use of animals in the medical center’s pediatrics residency program.

You can read our complaint to the Department of Agriculture here.

Thank you for your help.