Medical Diagnostics Students Sue Over Transvaginal Probing

ORLANDO, Florida—One day on an adult movie set in about 2000, an AVN reporter observed a male actor, then fairly new to the business and about to do a scene with a popular actress, squirt some lube into his hand, walk up behind the actress, reach between her legs and insert the lube into her pussy. This was Not Cool. How much less cool, then, is the situation that occurred during a medical diagnostics course at Valencia State College, a publicly funded college in Orlando, where several women were forced to have metal probes inserted into their vaginas during class, and were subjected to inappropriate comments during the procedure from one of the instructors? According to the complaint filed by "Jane Doe I" and "Jane Doe II," the women enrolled in Valencia State's medical diagnostic sonography course, which was overseen by Program Chair Barbara Ball and Clinical and Laboratory Coordinator Linda Shaheen, and according to reports, it was common for women enrolled in the course to undergo frequent vaginal probes because the program's faculty "believed that students should undergo invasive transvaginal ultrasound procedures in order to become better sonography technicians." "In fall 2013, Plaintiffs expressed concern to Defendant Ball about having to undergo invasive vaginal probes throughout the program, one of many concerns being the program had a male student who would also probe the female Plaintiffs on a regular basis," one section of the Complaint reads. "Defendant Ball told Plaintiffs they could find another school if they did not wish to be probed. This is despite the fact that Defendant Shaheen had described the probes as voluntary and not a program requirement during Orientation in April 2013." "In fact, Valencia’s established and widespread policy was to browbeat students who did not consent to those invasive probes and threaten Plaintiffs’ academic standing as well as their future careers until the students complied," the Complaint continues. "This policy, although not express, was a widespread practice that was so permanent and well settled as to constitute a custom or usage with the force of law." Bodily integrity was apparently out the window for these students, who were required to be probed on a weekly basis, despite the fact that, according to the Complaint, the program's lab "had and still has anatomically correct simulators designed specifically for students to practice sonography exams upon them." "Plaintiffs endured these invasive probes without a modicum of privacy," the Complaint reads. "Plaintiffs would disrobe in a restroom, drape themselves in towels, and traverse the Sonography classroom in full view of instructors and other students. ... A student would place a condom over the probe and then apply generous amounts of lubrication to the probe. In some cases, the [male] student would have to sexually 'stimulate' plaintiffs in order to facilitate inserting the probe into plaintiffs' vaginas." To add insult to injury, the Does claim that Ball "allegedly made incredibly unprofessional and sexually harassing comments as she supervised the procedure. She allegedly approached one student ... during a probing session and stated [she] was 'sexy' and should be an 'escort girl' [prostitute]." Worse yet, when the plaintiffs complained about the continual probing, Shaheen threatened that they would be "academically and professionally penalized for not submitting to the forced vaginal probes," and the Complaint further alleges that Ball and Shaheen "threatened to reduce Plaintiffs’ grades and interfere with their future employment opportunities if Plaintiffs did not submit to the classroom vaginal probes," and "Bugnacki repeatedly threatened to 'blacklist' Plaintiffs at Central Florida hospitals if Plaintiffs did not submit to these unconstitutional and unwarranted probes of their reproductive organs." The lawsuit's legal underpinning is the "official misconduct" act, 42 U.S.C. §1983, a statute often used against law enforcement officers who use excessive force—and the plaintiffs fear that although Valencia State has ended its forced probing policy, they believe that "Defendants Ball and Shaheen as well as other instructors conspired to have students petition Valencia State College to reinstate its policy of coerced vaginal probing female students ... after the furor of this case dies down." For its part, a spokesperson for the college told CNN, "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."