SHOCK: Puerto Rico Launches Investigation After Photos of Aid Mission Doctors Drinking, Brandishing Firearms Cause Uproar

SHOCK: Photos surface of Puerto Rican aid mission doctors drinking, mugging for the cameras and brandishing firearms amid suffering Haitians, causes uproar.

Puerto Rican aid mission doctors brandishing firearms (Facebook/CNN)

Puerto Rico, which is a self-governing commonwealth of the United States, has launched an investigation into a group of its doctors in Haiti who posed for pictures with guns and earthquake victims, according to BBC News.

Health Secretary Lorenzo Gonzalez said ethical guidelines prohibited taking pictures of patients or operations other than for medical purposes. Some photos showed the medics with guns, smiling and drinking during what appeared to be an operation. The pictures were posted on Facebook, but were later removed from the site. Other photographs showed a doctor holding a saw next to a victim's leg.

'Unfortunate events'

"My main concern is the transmission of a pictures of a patient not knowing whether there was an attempt for informed consent," Mr Gonzalez was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. The Puerto Rico Association of Physicians and Surgeons said in a statement that some Puerto Rican doctors "displayed behaviour... that did not meet the highest standards of the medical profession".

"We wish to respectfully ask forgiveness... for the unfortunate events described and widely disseminated, which we are sure added pain and sadness to the enormous suffering," the statement added. It said that more than 60 doctors had been sent to Haiti to treat the victims of the devastating earthquake on 12 January. However, the association did not say how many doctors had appeared in the photos. Source: BBC News

This is a major embarrassment in Puerto Rico and the doctors' behavior can be considered as reprehensible. The ethics committee is investigating whether the doctors involved should be disciplined. Er, yes they should! Some of the pictures were reportedly taken in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic after the group had operated on 70 patients who were in critical condition.