There are news stories that seem like something out of a grotesque parody. And this is one of them. It’s not the first of its kind, and unfortunately, it won’t be the last, but it was the straw that broke my back.
Healthcare workers at a Santa Barbara clinic smiling and joking on TikTok about the bodily fluids some patients were leaving on the exam chair (as if someone wanted to make them pee on purpose).
We’re not talking about a mistake or a bad day. We’re talking about eight “professionals” who thought it was a good idea to show their profound lack of sensitivity, a total absence of empathy, and their minimal level of humanity.
We’re talking about “professionals” who are supposed to be empathetic toward people in extremely vulnerable situations, but instead decided to record a video titled “Guess the Substance“ to add an extra layer of shame and humiliation to those who, for reasons completely beyond their control, suffer involuntary escapes in situations that are often highly stressful in themselves.
The mockery that hurts twice
When we go to the doctor, we usually feel scared and vulnerable. We may be sick, in pain, or afraid.
The bodily fluids mentioned are not simple stains: they are traces of fragility, marks of a body that doesn’t always respond as we would like. Turning this vulnerability into a spectacle, a meme, a video for “entertainment,” is an act that hurts twice: first the patient and second the healthcare profession itself.
Because trust in healthcare workers isn’t based solely on their technical competence, but on the certainty that we can show our bodies—with all that entails—without fear of being ridiculed. That trust is sacred. And what these workers did was blow it up to get a few seconds of cheap laughs.
Who can enter a clinic these days without wondering if their gestures, fears, or fluids won’t become the object of ridicule? Trust is built slowly, but lost quickly. If a doctor, nurse, or assistant doesn’t understand that, they’re not ready to wear a white coat, and they shouldn’t.
The epidemic of digital stupidity
The workers have been fired – although it’s not clear to me whether management understood the seriousness of what they did or simply felt pressured by the social backlash generated by the video (which has since been removed).
In any case, this brings us to another point: there are more and more people with a complete lack of empathy and suffering from profound digital stupidity.
Laughing at something like this is already degrading enough in private, without the sense of displaying and sharing it in search of likes. The video, the posing photos, the mocking tone… everything points to the same epidemic that’s spreading like wildfire: the need to attract attention, even at the expense of others’ dignity.
No one thinks, no one reflects, no one puts themselves in the other’s shoes…
Anything goes to get a like. And in that mad dash, even human pain and vulnerability become a valid means to gain a few seconds of visibility.
Today it was a “Guess the Substance” video. Tomorrow, what will it be? A meme featuring the face of a vulnerable patient? A TikTok featuring someone collapsing in the waiting room? The slope is slippery, and the risk is obvious: dehumanizing what should be a sacred space of care.
What happened in Santa Barbara is a reminder of what happens when respect and empathy are lost. It’s a reminder of what happens when we settle into indolence and superficiality.
I’d like to think it was a simple slip, a mistake of no consequence, but in reality it seems more like an example of the social degradation into which we are gradually sinking as we confuse fun with humiliation and move away from what makes us human.
In the end, the gravest stain isn’t on that chair, but on our conscience. Because patients don’t leave “gifts.” They leave traces of their fragility and their humanity. And our task is to treat them with the dignity, respect, and empathy that we will all, sooner or later, need when we’re sitting in that chair or lying in a hospital bed.
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