According to their employer, a group of health workers in Santa Barbara posted a video on Wednesday, apparently showing the patient’s body fluids on Tiktok.
The now-deleted position, published by a former employee of Sansum Clinic (a nonprofit outpatient care facility owned by Sutter Health), shows eight workers ridicule the patient’s body fluids that appear to be on the test form with the on-screen title, “Does the patient allow you to leave your gift?” and “Make sure you leave health care workers with such a sweet gift!” In one image, medical staff are seen pointing with a thumbs up and smiling. The title reads: “Guess the matter!”
Sutter Health, a spokesman for Sacramento-based health system, said that while the original poster was not an employee at the time of the video, other posters that appeared in it had been terminated.
“This unacceptable behavior is a complete violation of our policy and shows a lack of respect for our patients and will not be tolerated,” the company said in a statement shared with the Times.
The video was scattered over the weekend on platforms like X, Instagram and Reddit, sparking rage among commenters in the process.
“There is no place to humiliate patients,” wrote a user on Reddit.
“My question is what is the culture of your clinic, because why do so many employees feel comfortable?” another user asked on Instagram.
According to online statement Starting from the Sansum Clinic, the patients concerned informed the position of the officer and the video was immediately reviewed.
“We arranged staff on administrative leave within 24 hours of realizing these positions, and within another 24 hours, we terminated the person involved,” the health system release said.
Once the commenter questioned the participant’s ethics, the video was quickly deleted. However, it was reposted by multiple other accounts and further spread through “stitches” to posts on Tiktok and other platforms.
A Sansum spokesman said the clinic remains firmly committed to the privacy and dignity of patients.
“We hope that all team members will achieve our patient tasks and uphold the highest standards of compassion, professionalism and respect,” he said. “We are using this inappropriate event to strengthen comprehensive policies with all team members throughout the organization.”
