Four college students were expelled from school after posting a picture of a human placenta on Facebook, the Kansas City Star reported.
One of the students, Doyle Byrnes, is suing Johnson County Community College in Kansas, stating that she asked her instructor, Amber Delphia, if they could pose with the placenta and then post it to the social networking site.
According to the lawsuit, the instructor responded with a noncommittal response, saying, “Oh, you girls.”
In the photograph, the four students were posing with the organ, which had no identification linking it to a particular woman. Byrnes’ photo showed her smiling broadly, wearing a lab coat and surgical gloves, and leaning over the placenta in a tray, Star cited.
However, once the photo was posted, the instructor called Byrnes and told her to remove it, which she did immediately. When asked if she was in trouble, her instructor said no, according to the lawsuit.
The next day, the four women were expelled for their “lack of professional behavior” and are now fighting the charge.
"They're not giggly teenagers," Clifford Cohen, Byrnes’ lawyer, said. "They all impress me as serious, career-minded women who are utterly stunned at what's happened to them."
Her lawyer added that the two were disciplined too harshly and that they only wanted to share their experience with their friends.
On Dec. 16, Clarissa Craig, the dean of the health and wellness program, affirmed Byrnes’ dismissal from the nursing school.
In a letter sent to Byrnes’ home, she called the action a reasonable step in “a lesson hard learned.”
