California clinic breaks silence after staff were fired for 'dehumanizing' TikTok mocking patients
Another day, another scandal on TikTok, and this time it has caused several healthcare workers to lose their jobs after staff shared a 'dehumanizing' video on social media that appeared to mock their patients.
The clip itself was originally posted by a user named @angieuncut on TikTok, who has been confirmed to be an employee at the California health clinic but had left in July.
While it has since been deleted, it opened with a caption that stated, 'Are patients allowed to leave you guys gifts?', to which the video followed up with 'Yes!' and images of the healthcare workers with discharge stains after pap smears.
'And we love them so much', the video followed up, before adding 'all shapes and sizes'. It ended with all of the workers surrounding another stain, writing 'make sure to leave your healthcare workers sweet gifts like these!'.
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The video itself was almost immediately subject to intense criticism from TikTok and social media at large, with many calling for the workers involved to be fired after 'dehumanizing' and 'embarrassing' patients.
"They got all these on the clock nurses together to take a picture around a stain on the exam chair," questions on comment in response to the video, brandishing their actions "extremely weird and childish."
Social media has had its wish granted, as all individuals involved in the video have since been let go by the clinic after initially being placed on leave, and a Sutter Health spokesperson has broken the company's silence following the controversy.
As reported by PEOPLE, the spokesperson outlined: "Sutter health has terminated the employees responsible for the inappropriate and insensitive photos posted on social media.
"This unacceptable behavior is an outright violation of our policies, shows a lack of respect for our patients and will not be tolerated. Protecting the trust of those we serve is our highest priority and when trust is violated, we take swift action to address it."
The employees were placed on leave within 24 hours of "becoming aware of the posts," and then were let go by the company within 24 hours after that with an investigation currently ongoing into their actions.
The spokesperson added that "we expect all team members to live our patients-first mission and uphold the highest standards of compassion, professionalism and respect," adding that "we are using this inappropriate incident to reinforce our comprehensive policies with all our team members across the organization as part of our commitment to providing all patients with high-quality, compassionate care.