When Facebook first came out, I was a freshman in college. Back then, you could only post some interests, a small bio, your contact information, and you could “friend” people. “Poking” became the new hot trend. (I haven’t gotten “poked” since 2006, thank goodness.) Then, Facebook enabled you to post photos.
I’ve experienced the destruction of friendships over photos posted on Facebook. I’ve seen the tears of girls who’ve had illicit images of their body parts posted on Facebook as souvenirs of their slovenly nights by nasty friends. Relationships have been torn asunder when all of a sudden Mr. Prince Charming sees his perfect girl-next-door girlfriend on Facebook ripping a bong in a glowering den of hippies… but I digress.
Admittedly, I once eliminated my own entire Facebook profile over a photo spat. Needless to say, aside from all the fun and happy times we remember looking back on Facebook photos, certain destructive results can occur from careless photo-posting. The nursing students of Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas are no exception.
Poor Doyle Burnes just wanted to show her friends and family what she had been studying that day. And she was not alone in posing with the human placenta the students had been examining during a class. Her three friends posed for pictures with it too. She was just the only one who posted hers on Facebook.
The placenta had been anonymously donated, yet the teacher still called her to ask that she take it down, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. The next day, she and the three other students were expelled with the opportunity to reapply to continue their nursing studies in 2011.
Byrnes is being represented by a lawyer, Cliff Cohen, to combat the school’s decision. As a piece of the defense, Exhibit A is Byrnes’ letter to the school apologizing for her behavior and citing it as a “lapse in judgement.” Yet the school has maintained, "We will not tolerate such insensitivity on the part of our nursing students. We also must protect the reputations of our business partners in health care,” it said in a statement.
So keep posting pictures of you doing keg stands, yourself naked with your guitar, you kissing three hipsters and a pizza, or you in a fishnet onesie, just don’t post yourself holding a placenta.
Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC as a Web Editor for HealthTechZone. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.
Edited by Juliana Kenny
