A lawsuit filed by former students at a college in Florida who claimed they were forced to perform transvaginal ultrasound scans on each other as part of their sonographer training has been thrown out by a federal judge.
Two former students in the sonography program at Valencia College filed suit against the school earlier this year, claiming they were being punished for refusing to participate in transvaginal ultrasound scans as part of their education. The complaint in the case claimed that the school initially told students that the scans were voluntary, but later threatened students into participating.
A few weeks after the lawsuit became public, Valencia College announced it was permanently discontinuing the practice, and that it would use simulators rather than student volunteers.
In throwing out the sonographers' lawsuit, a U.S. District Court judge said the school had "qualified immunity," and there was "little merit" to the students' claims that their privacy and free speech had been violated, according to an article by the Associated Press.
