Albert Einstein Medical Center has decided to stop using kittens to teach medical residents how to insert breathing tubes into babies.
A physician group with a strong interest in animal rights, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, filed a complaint against the hospital with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in May. It contended that simulators were as effective for training as live animals.
At the time, hospital spokesman Damien Woods said that the hospital used simulators, but that doctors believed the kittens also helped prepare doctors for treating tiny premature babies.
