Nursing student opens bacteria-filled petri dish in classmate's face, 23-year-old classmate gets sick 4 days later, debates reporting her to professor and getting her kicked out of the program: 'No one this incompetent should be providing medical care'

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Emma Saven
Aug 7, 2025 10:00 AM EDT

With AI taking over the world we've always worried about our future doctors and nurses…Can we trust a robot to do such risky and delicate work?

But even without AI, there are certain types of people training to practice medicine, who still leave us with a simmering worry about the future of our healthcare systems…What are the special character traits that makes someone a reliable doctor or nurse…We assume they are qualities such as: precision, attention to detail, professionalism and critical thinking. 

Pretty obvious right?…Mmmm we're not quite sure!

When this irresponsible medical student plays the role of class clown, deciding to shove a petri dish full of bacteria near her classmate's face, her classmate is convinced that the illness she receives 4 days later is a result of the student's incompetence and inability to follow safety precautions. As a result she is conflicted between addressing the issue with her professors or keeping it to herself…

But after realizing that she has not only carried this student through assignments and group work, but also tolerated her irresponsible behavior patterns in the classroom, it would be a disservice to any of her future patients to allow someone who lacks such a basic level of professionalism, to treat them and potentially put their lives at risk…

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  • So…after a constant moral back-and-fourth, this college student decides that maybe getting her fellow student kicked out of the nursing school would be an appropriate ‘lesson’ for her to learn, teaching her to better improve her responsibility and maturity skills…  

    However, we are not quite sure that is her decision to make. We understand reporting dangerous behavior in a learning environment, although maybe this is something that could be addressed between classmates before putting a student in a position to risk her entire career? Read on to find out more…

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    WIBTAH if I get someone kicked out of nursing school for giving me strep throat?

    I (23F) am in college finishing my pre-requisites for my nursing program. One of these classes is Microbiology, which includes a lab where we grow live &
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    potentially dangerous bacteria (think E.Coli, P. Aeruginosa, etc.). My lab partner, we'll call her Vacca (20-something F) is utterly incompetent. Vacca has blatantly ignored lab procedure and policy
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    the entire semester, leaving pitri dishes with grown cultures open, spilling broth cultures everywhere and then just wiping it up like it never happened with no
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    disinfectant, and generally just not understanding how to complete the labs. I have carried both vacca and the rest of our side of the classroom
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    through the class AS BEST I COULD, (if you'll notice, at no point am I claiming to be some kind of micro savant or anybody's HERO. I WAS JUST TRYING TO BE A GOOD CLASSMATE FFS) I
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    followed behind vacca and closed every pitri dish and disinfected every surface properly. When I try to correct vacca, she gives me r de faces and INSISTS that I am the one who is wrong. When I
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    confirm with the professor I am correct, vacca just rolls her eyes and continues how she had been. The second to last day of class vacca decided it was a fantastic idea to open a blod agar plate
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    FULL of streptococcus cultures CENTIMETERS away from my face and say "look". I don't even remember why she wanted me to look at the bacterial growth I was
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    so angry she did that, I yelled at her in class. Now, 4 Days later, I have pustules in the back of my throat and it hurts like a to swallow. I am
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    almost 100% sure I have Strep throat, which I cannot find a cause of other than the Pitri dish full of bacteria which causes that exact disease that was opened deliberately too close to my airways.
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    I want to email my professor and the dean because I don't believe anyone this incompetent should be providing medical care to anyone, vacca will wind up hurting patients in the future with
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    this kind of reckless behavior in my opinion. Will I be an a sh le if I get vacca kicked out of my school/nursing program? Is this something that
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    she could possibly learn from? | don't have much faith due to the entire semester of incompetence, but I would hate to burn someone's future career for no good reason. Thoughts?
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    Candid-Ability-9570 Whether you have strep or not, there is ZERO reason to open the Petri dish like that to "look." The Petri dish lids are clear, and usually are taped closed as well after they're innoculated! You can see the bacterial growth inside perfectly well through the lid.
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    I would definitely report her behavior, whether or not you have strep. Not to be punitive but because she shouldn't advance in these classes if she doesn't understand basic contagion control.
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    TararaBoomDA First get a proper diagnosis. Then report her to the professor.
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    Monimonika 18 ESH (Everyone S ks Here). As is obvious, Vacca should be reported. And as pointed out by some others, you had a direct hand in the problem by not only not reporting her for her earlier infractions, but by actively covering for her mistakes (with the intent of getting her to pass/not get kicked out!).
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    barrakuda2 PLEASE for the love of the already declining American healthcare system (I have to assume based on the fact that she's even in nursing school that this is in fact America) get her removed or at least a mark against her record so it's harder to graduate
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    Ballplayer27 I'm going to reserve judgement, I think. It s ks you got sick, and it seems like they are probably responsible. But the way you frame this whole thing gives me the ick. "I carry her and the rest of our side of the classroom"... wanting to email the dean... it's just very hero complex vibes.
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    Fun Garbage89 1. It's a bit naive to assume you have the power to get her kicked out of nursing school and ruin her career. That's not how things work. Reporting her behavior will allow those your senior to decide their course of action. They aren't going to just take your word and kick her out.
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    2. I doubt she was trying to give you strep and being a nurse IS going to expose you to a lot worse than strep. Go to the doctor and get your meds and watch your face.
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    scottmacs If your goal is to get her kicked out, YTA. If you follow whatever code of conduct your school has, you're NTA.
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    Ordinary-Current2833 What is a pitri dish please?? Is it similar to a petri dish??
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