Kychelle Del Rosario, a fourth year medical student at Wake Forest School of Medicine, posted on her Twitter account she pricked a man who was having a blood draw twice when she missed the vein after he mocked a button she wore that listed her pronouns.
The tweet, which has since been deleted along with her account, stated, "I had a patient I was doing a blood draw on see my pronoun pin and loudly laugh to the staff 'She/Her? Well of course it is! What other pronouns even are there? It?' I missed his vein so he had to get stuck twice."
A @wakeforestmed 4th year medical student says she abused a patient because he laughed at her pronoun pin. She has since deleted her account. pic.twitter.com/2m3DsjTFZx
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) March 29, 2022
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This student’s tweet does not reflect how Wake Forest University School of Medicine treats patients and provides patient care. We are taking measures to address this with the student.
— Wake Forest School of Medicine (@wakeforestmed) March 29, 2022
In an initial statement, a spokeswoman for Wake Forest University School of Medicine said Del Rosario's tweet does not "in any way reflect the quality of care and compassion that Wake Forest University School of Medicine strives to provide care to our patients each and every day."
The spokeswoman added while "federal law" does not permit the school to provide specific information about the situation, they are taking steps to address the matter with Del Rosario. In a follow up statement, the school was able to say Del Rosario is no longer "involved in patient care activities at this time," but did not specify if she is no longer a student.
Publicist at @wakeforestmed finally sends this. This statement is false. Federal law does not preclude Wake Forest from telling the public whether this doctor is seeing patients and whether she is still enrolled. THE DOCTOR BOASTED ABOUT MISTREATING A PATIENT B/C OF HIS POLITICS. pic.twitter.com/WtDYAwh2Td
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) March 30, 2022
UPDATE: Federal law has changed overnight. Now @wakeforestmed is willing to confirm that their doctor who mistreated a patient because of his political views, Kychelle Del Rosario, is no longer "involved in patient care activities." We still don't know if she's enrolled. pic.twitter.com/TD80H132CD
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) March 31, 2022
In a published piece, Del Rosario wrote in 2021, "As a current medical student, I am passionate about advocating for transgender rights, especially in health and healthcare access. I plan to make taking care of transgender patients an integral part of my future practice."
UPDATE: Wake Forest University School of Medicine issued a new statement explaining Del Rosario has been placed on a leave of absence. A statement from Del Rosario was included where she said she did not mean to miss the patient's vein and it was unrelated to his joke.
UPDATE: @wakeforestmed says the student who boasted about mistreating a patient has been placed on a "leave of absence." The school claims "all of our procedures were followed." (?) The school does nothing to address the student's boasting about harming a patient. Full statement: pic.twitter.com/FMBxJ7Scp1
— Gregg Re (@gregg_re) March 31, 2022