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ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by former students in a Florida community college ultrasound program who say they were punished for objecting to a policy that encouraged students to undergo an invasive vaginal procedure to become better technicians.
U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell on Thursday dismissed the lawsuits brought by two students against Valencia State College and two instructors.
The judge said the school had qualified immunity and that the students' claims to violations of privacy and free speech had little merit.
The lawsuit said that instructors told them the procedure was voluntary but that students who refused were browbeaten and their academic standing was threatened.
In the procedure, a probe is inserted into the patient's vagina.
The school has stopped having students practice on each other.
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