A TikTokking group of Santa Barbara urgent care medical workers spent their Labor Day weekend getting cancelled.
Their infraction: making light of bodily fluids left behind on examination couches by their patients.
The group of eight went viral, drawing backlash first from the public across various platforms and then from their employer, which claims to have fired the video-making medics.
Said “gifts” were embarrassing patches left behind by patients
The offending footage was first published by the TikTok handle, @angieuncut, comprising six images.
The first shows eight medical employees in hospital scrubs, smiling, with the text overlay: “Are patients allowed to leave you guys gifts?”
The following five photos show various scrub-wearing individuals posing next to an examination seat, and said “gifts” appear to be damp patches.
A blonde woman in thick-rimmed glasses poses next to one such wet spot with the text “all shades and opacities” overlaying the photo.
The photo dump quickly went viral, drawing 1,000 likes and more than 500 comments
The following three photos bore the same theme, with one employee even leaning over and sticking their tongue out harrowingly close to a moist patch.
To conclude the album, Angie posted an image of six colleagues around the examination couch, while another planted her sneakered foot near the spot.
“Make sure to leave your healthcare workers sweet gifts like these,” the overlay on this photo read.
The Santa Barbara Independent observed that the video’s likes exceeded 1,000 before the day was through, while on Reddit, a page dedicated to the facility drew more than 500 comments.
The TikTok drew backlash from Redditors and was reported to a watchdog
The TikTok has since been removed, but not before netizens copied and disseminated the video.
The slide show made it to Reddit, where a user wrote:
“Just want to make you all aware of this post going around right now on TikTok of these health ‘professionals’ at Sutter Health Pesetas Urgent Care making fun of patients by taking pics with what they ‘left behind’. Seems like a pretty unprofessional place.”
“Wow! I am speechless,” came the first reply. “As a nurse I feel second-hand embarrassed. This is beyond unprofessional and unethical.”
Another user took the matter further by complaining to the medical accreditation organization, The Joint Commission.
Angie, who posted the photos, was fired, along with everyone who appeared in them
A local news outlet in Santa Barbara, EdHat, reached out to Sutter Health, which manages the facility, and received a statement, saying:
“The trust and dignity of our patients always remain our top priority. We are deeply concerned about a disrespectful social media post made on a personal account by a former employee, and we are conducting a full review in line with our policies.”
The medical organization further noted that they no longer employed the person who posted the video and that any staffers associated with the scandal were being investigated.
According to a September 3 report by Los Angeles’ KTLA 5, everyone who appeared in the photo dump has since been sacked.
Sutter Health claimed that it has strict policies around “patient privacy” and claimed the viral TikTok went against its values
The clinic’s statement further noted: “The post goes against the values, professionalism, and respect we expect from all staff.”
“We have strict policies to protect patient privacy and dignity and any behavior that disrespects those standards is unacceptable. The trust and dignity of our patients always remain at the center of everything we do.”
The poster appears to have regularly documented unpalatable scenes from her workplace
It is not the first time @angieuncut posted content of this nature, and it is certainly not her worst.
Internet sleuths have also uncovered images from her account depicting a soiled toilet seat.
“Great way to start my shift,” she captioned the photo.
Darker still, was a photo of a Christmas elf attached to the roof with a piece of tape around its neck. “Healthcare elf on the shelf,” read the caption.
One netizen, in the choicest of words, summed up the general sentiment in the Reddit thread when they wrote: “What the f**k is going on at Sutter?”
“Apparently not medical care,” came the answer.
To workers in the the healthcare industry, the photo dump is embarrassing, but not surprising
