California healthcare workers fired after TikTok video mocking patients goes viral

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. - Several healthcare workers at a Southern California urgent care facility were fired after posting a "dehumanizing" TikTok that mocked their patients in exam rooms. 

TikTok posted by ex-employee

What we know:

The since-deleted video shows multiple former employees at Sansum Clinic in Santa Barbara posing with patients' bodily fluids left on the paper covering of the exam tables. 

"Are patients allowed to leave you guys gifts?" read a caption over an image of the staffers smiling in an urgent care exam room.

A second image shows a female worker giving a thumbs-up and smiling over what appears to be pap smear discharge left behind by a patient. "Yes!" read the overlaid caption.

It's followed by an image showing another employee, sticking her tongue out, bending over a large stain on another exam table. "All shapes and sizes," the caption read. 

"Make sure you leave your healthcare workers sweet gifts like these!" the caption of the final image read. It showed multiple staffers gathering around another exam table with a stain on it.

The video was originally posted by the user @angieuncut on TikTok, according to the Santa Barbara Independent.

Although the original TikTok was taken down by the user, iterations of the video continued to circulate online, prompting backlash. 

Sutter Health terminates workers in viral video

What they're saying:

In response, Sutter Health, which is partnered with Sansum Clinic, shared in a statement on social media that the individual who posted the video was a former employee who had not worked with the facility in two months. 

"Any other staff shown are part of our internal investigation and are on administrative leave pending the results," the statement continued.

In a follow-up post, the healthcare agency, which runs 200 clinics across California, confirmed all employees who appeared in the video have been fired.

"Sutter Health has terminated the employees responsible for the inappropriate and insensitive photos posted on social media," the statement read. "This unacceptable behavior is an outright violation of our policies, shows a lack of respect for our patients and will not be tolerated." 

"Protecting the trust of those we serve is our highest priority, and when that trust is violated we take swift action and address it," they added.

Internet ‘disgusted’

The other side:

The video sparked widespread outrage online.

On Reddit, one user commented on the video, "If that is what they post publicly, imagine what goes on privately."

Another said, "It’s insane to me how many people were involved in this and not ONE thought it was wrong."

"Funny that they’re all covering their badges with their private information but posting these pictures. Sickening," someone else said. 

"This needs to be shown to students as a warning about how you can quickly and easily mess up your career," another added.

"I know that these jobs are really hard. And I know that dealing with the general public, especially when they are sick is REALLY, REALLY hard. But I don't know how you completely lose your empathy to the point of participating in a photo like this," another user said.

"I was so disappointed to hear about this behavior. I've been through some pretty scary stuff with my health over the past couple of years and I always assumed I was putting myself in capable hands at Sansum and Cottage. I feel simultaneously vulnerable and hopeful when I slide into that backless gown. I trust that I am giving my body over to skilled and mature professionals. It's sad to learn that some of these people lack the gravity that this profession requires. I'm glad they were exposed and expelled for treating such a serious setting like a childish game," another person shared.