Clinic Staff Placed on Leave After Mocking Patients’ Bodily Fluids

Several staff members at a California urgent care have been placed on leave after a viral TikTok video surfaced showing them mocking what seems to be pap smear discharge left behind by patients.

The now-deleted clip, originally posted by a user under the handle @angieuncut, showed a group of staff gathered around a medical chair, appearing to ridicule what seems to be discharge left on exam room paper by a patient.

According to screenshots obtained by the Santa Barbara Independent, the TikTok post included six photos in total. In one, a nurse in pink scrubs gives a thumbs-up, while another woman in blue scrubs bends over and sticks her tongue out near a stained exam chair.

“Guess the substance,” the Independent confirmed the video was captioned.

Sutter Health said the incident occurred at the Pesetas Urgent Care in Santa Barbara, Calif., a Sansum Clinic facility. The video spread widely over Labor Day weekend before being taken down.

Following the backlash, Sansum Clinic issued a statement. PEOPLE also reached out to the Sansum Clinic facility directly, but has yet to hear back.

“We share the concern raised by a recent social media post at one of our care sites and took immediate action once we became aware,” the clinic wrote in a statement posted on social media. “We take this matter very seriously and are conducting a full review.”

“Patient trust and dignity are always our top priority and any behavior that violates those standards is unacceptable,” the statement continued. “The individual who posted the content is a former employee and was not employed with us at the time of the post.”

The statement added, “Any other staff shown are part of our internal investigation and are on administrative leave pending the results.”

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 

Although the video and the account it was posted to have since been deleted, people continue to share their thoughts on the situation — including in a Santa Barbara Reddit thread where over 885 people have chimed into the conversation.

“Wow! I am speechless. As a nurse I feel second hand embarrassed. This is beyond unprofessional and unethical.”

“It’s insane to me how many people were involved in this and not ONE thought it was wrong :/”

“These people know they don’t have to work in healthcare right??? Makes me so sad that we can’t even trust anyone at the doctors either very scary and sad.”