A former Maryland health secretary and a physicians group that supports animal rights are calling on the city prosecutor to investigate the Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine, claiming it illegally uses live animals to train surgeons. Martin Wasserman and his wife, Barbara, both physicians and both Hopkins alumni, and the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine say the practice violates the state's animal cruelty law. "JHU regularly violates Maryland law by [causing] students to inflict unnecessary suffering or pain on an animal," said the letter sent Wednesday to State's Attorney Gregg Bernstein. Hopkins officials have said in the past that the training on pigs is instrumental because it gives students the feel of live tissue and helps them decide whether they should become surgeons.
