Sutter Health is under fire after a viral TikTok video showed urgent care staff in Santa Barbara posing with what appeared to be bodily fluids left behind after patient exams, calling them "gifts."
The original post was deleted quickly, but not before it spread across the internet. Dozens of users recorded the video, stitched it and reposted it across TikTok and other platforms.
Outraged users flooded TikTok, Reddit and Yelp with comments condemning the video as disrespectful and damaging to patient trust.
One Yelp user, Joey Boreta, said the video shook his confidence in medical providers.
"I had a doctor’s appointment today, and even though I trust who I was seeing, it was in the back of my mind what Sutter Health had done," he said.
Sutter Health said it launched an immediate investigation into the video.
As of Wednesday, any employees who knowingly participated in the video have been fired. The health system confirmed that the person who posted the video had previously worked for them but left in late July.
Officials did not comment on the motivation behind the post.
The TikTok account linked to the video, @angieuncut, has since been deleted.
It remains unclear whether the images were staged by staff or if patients had actually been in the exam rooms beforehand.
Still, the controversy has sparked larger conversations online. Many users are now calling for stricter bans on staff use of social media inside hospitals and clinics.
When asked, Sutter Health confirmed it does have a social media policy for employees but declined to provide specifics.
This story was originally published by Juliet Lemar with the Scripps News Group in Santa Barbara.
