CASE STUDY 3


Vincent is a new professor of biology at West Tech. In addition to running his research lab, he has also been assigned to teach a lab course in physiology. The activities for this lab course include animal handling, ranging from drawing blood from rabbits to performing somewhat complex surgical procedures on anesthetized rats that, with supportive care, recover at the end of the procedure (though the rats are ultimately euthanized at the conclusion of the course). The lab course is a required course for all the biology majors at West Tech.


Vincent is a good teacher, and he is serious about making sure his students master these animal handling skills, since they are important for many of those planning to go on to research careers in biology. Vincent is also committed to ensuring that the animals used in this lab are treating humanely, and that his students understand why this is important both ethically and scientifically.


At the beginning of the semester, though, a student in the course tells Vincent that she needs an accommodation for her disability. She has problems with fine motor control, which sometimes results in uncontrollable shaking of her hands. The student understands that this may make some of the lab work that involves animal handling difficult, especially the complex surgical procedures. However, this student is a biology major who plans to pursue graduate studies in biology. She wants to learn all the skills that are expected of biology students.


Vincent knows that the law protects the educational access of students with disabilities, which means instructors are supposed to find reasonable accommodations so disabled students in their class can learn the content and skills. However, he also knows that the IACUC wants him to reduce the number of animals used in the class to the minimum possible and to ensure that those animals are treated humanely. Vincent is not entirely sure what to do.


What should Vincent do here? How will this address his obligations to his student and to the animals used in this lab course?

 

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