Case in Point: The Medical College of Wisconsin

PCRM, along with four Wisconsin doctors and the Wisconsin Humane Society, held a news conference November 13, 2006, in Milwaukee to call for an end to the use of live dogs as teaching tools at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW). During the spring semester, the school planned to use and kill approximately60 dogs in a physiology course for first-year medical students.

Speaking at the news conference were PCRM senior medical advisor John J. Pippin, M.D., F.A.C.C., Jeff Rusinow from the Wisconsin Humane Society, and four Wisconsin physicians—Donald Feinsilver, M.D., an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at MCW; Judith Green, M.D., a surgeon and assistant professor in the division of ear, nose, and throat surgery at the University of Wisconsin; Dr. Richard Fisher, a private-practice family physician from Milwaukee; and Dr. Marvin G. Jumes, an anesthesiologist from Sheboygan.

PCRM recently asked the federal government for an investigation of the use of live dogs at MCW. An inspector for the U.S. Department of Agriculture determined that alternatives to the use of animals exist and that a “written narrative must justify why the alternatives were not used.” PCRM contends that MCW has not provided meaningful justification for using dogs rather than one of the many educationally superior non-animal alternatives.

Only two U.S. medical schools still use dogs in physiology courses, and only one of the top-20 ranked U.S. medical schools—Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis—uses any live animals for physiology. Cost-effective and educationally superior alternatives include human patient simulators, interactive computer-based methods, and hands-on mentorship opportunities. The MCW campus already owns four human patient simulators.

“Non-animal methods are not only adequate but superior to animal laboratories,” Dr. Pippin said at the news conference. “There is no reason why even one more dog should be killed for this purpose.” 

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