Dear PCRM supporter,

This weekend, Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville plans to perform emergency medical procedures on live pigs before killing them. Please tell the school’s dean that this needs to stop.

Please call, e-mail, or write a letter to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine dean Jeffrey R. Balser, M.D., Ph.D. Ask Dr. Balser to replace the use of pigs in all Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses with validated nonanimal training methods. Being polite is the most effective way to help these animals and improve medical education. Send an automatic e-mail.

Jeffrey R. Balser, M.D., Ph.D.
Dean, School of Medicine
D-3300 MCN 2104
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN 37232
E-mail: jeff.balser@vanderbilt.edu
Phone Number: 615-936-3030

While participants in the ATLS program at Vanderbilt still cut open the airways of live pigs and insert tubes and needles into the animals’ hearts and chest cavities, more than 90 percent of U.S. ATLS programs use only human-based medical simulators.

If you have any questions, please contact me at rmerkley@pcrm.org. Thanks so much for your help!

Best regards,
 
Ryan Merkley
Manager of Humane Education Programs