Overland Park ? Four students who posed for photos with a human placenta have been kicked out of suburban Kansas City nursing program after at least one of the placenta pictures was posted on Facebook.

The dean at Johnson County Community College calls it “a lesson hard learned.” But a federal lawsuit has been filed challenging the decision.

The Kansas City Star reported that the photos were taken in November while the students were attending a lab course off-site at Olathe Medical Center.

Afterward, at least one of the students, Doyle Byrnes, posted a photo on the social networking site. There was nothing in the photos to identify the placenta as coming from a particular woman.

The 22-year-old Byrnes says her future is at risk because of “a momentary lapse in judgment.”