Rep. Greg Murphy, M.D., rips student who implied she harmed patient who mocked her over gender pronouns

close

Video

Fox News Flash top headlines for April 13

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com.

Republican North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy, who is a medical doctor, ripped a North Carolina medical student who appeared to boast about intentionally harming one of her patients.

The student, Kychelle Del Rosario, attends Wake Forest Medical School in North Carolina. She tweeted in late March that she had "missed" the vein on one of her patients during a blood draw after he reportedly mocked a "she/her" pin identifying her gender pronouns.

ETHICS PROFESSOR SLAMS MEDICAL STUDENT WHO IMPLIED SHE STUCK A PATIENT FOR MOCKING HER PRONOUN PIN

Del Rosario tweeted: "I had a patient I was doing a blood draw on see my pronoun pin and loudly laugh to the staff ‘She/Her? Well of course it is! What other pronouns even are there?’ I missed his vein so he had to get stuck twice."

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., walks down the House steps after a vote in the Capitol Sept. 15, 2020.  ( Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Both the student and the university have faced heavy criticism for the incident, and Del Rosario now claims she missed the patient's vein due to "inexperience." She has deleted the tweet.

Murphy suggested Del Rosario will require much thicker skin if she intends to be a doctor.

"I’ve been in medicine for 30 years," Murphy said in an interview. "I've encountered patients who insulted me; I’ve even been spat at. [Doctors] are held to a higher standard. We take an oath to take care of people regardless of their condition and regardless of insults."

Wake Forest University responded to the incident by placing Del Rosario on a "leave of absence" and publishing an apology from her. Officials at both the university and Wake Forest Baptist hospital have ignored multiple requests to clarify how long the suspension will last.

Wait Chapel on Wake Forest University campus at Winston-Salem.  (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Murphy said he assumed and expected that Del Rosario would undergo remedial ethics training after the controversy. When asked whether Del Rosario faced any additional penalties beyond her suspension, however, hospital spokeswoman Paula Faria did not mention any.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

The university says it is required to document the actions of any student when treating a patient and that administrators found no wrongdoing when consulting the documentation regarding Del Rosario.

Faria did not respond when asked to provide the documentation to Fox News.

Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., speaks during a television news interview before voting on the rule for the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act May 15, 2020. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

Fox News host Tucker Carlson highlighted the controversy Tuesday night, arguing the situation is a clear example of political bias.

"If Kychelle Del Rosario had stabbed a patient because he identified as ‘trans,’ she would have been expelled by now," he said. "But Kychelle Del Rosario has the right politics. She's a left-wing activist, like the administrators and physicians at Wake Forest who are protecting her."