Doctors in Haiti may be disciplined for drinking, posing with guns and placing the photos on Facebook. Friday, photos of Puerto Rican doctors in Haiti surfaced and showed the doctors drinking, and/or posing with guns with half nude patients in the background. The doctors were in Haiti on a mission from Puerto Rico to help after the earthquake more than two weeks ago.
The photos were placed on Facebook by the doctors themselves, much to the embarrassment of Puerto Rican and Haitian officials.
The Puerto Rican Secretary of Health, Lorenzo Gonzalez called the situation "a sad situation," CNN reported.
"The poor judgment of a few basically damages the beautiful effort that many others have put in place in terms of providing good medical care," Gonzalez said. "When I saw the pictures, I was very concerned that they have taken pictures of people without any consent."
The photos were posted on Facebook and show smiling doctors holding guns or drinking and toasting each other. Some photos were taken in a clinic, with patients in the background and some patients are barely clothed.
Taking photos of patients without written permission is against the law.
An investigation by the commonwealth's Medical Board began Friday to determine if anyone should be disciplined.
An eye doctor from Utah, Dr. Branson Call returned Monday from Haiti after an annual trip to help the people of Haiti. Dr. Call was in Haiti when the earthquake struck and amazingly survived, even though 30 medical students in the building next door all died. For several days he was unable to contact his family or friends because there wasn’t phone service or internet. His family wasn’t even sure he was alive. He spent several days trying to help the wounded before getting onto a plane to the Dominic Republic and contacting his family, according to ABC 4.
The Salt Lake City based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has responded and said that no missionaries from the US are in Haiti, but that an immediate relief project has begun to provide aid. In Haiti, the Caribbean Area Presidency of the LDS Church also provided immediate relief to the people there. To donate to the LDS Church aid for Haiti, go to LDS.org. For more information on how the LDS Church is helping in Haiti, click here. For more ways to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti, click here.
To see a slideshow of the earthquake disaster photos in Haiti, click here.
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Source: CNN
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