Stealth pelvic exams in Canada

[Anonymous]

Why is this not criminal battery?

[Anonymous]

I am a 4th year resident. We have never done this and I am not aware of it ever having been done.

[Anonymous]

This has all the earmarks of an urban legend.

You come into the hospital -- and while you're unconscious -- they perform a pelvic exam! It hasn't happened to me, or anyone I know == but IT'S STANDARD PRACTICE IN CANADA! (and in many hospitals in the U.S. -- none of which can be named, of course, because it has never actually happened to anyone).

Why does this sound like horseshit to me? Why in H=E=L=L would medical students be doing this? It makes no sense even on a medical level for medical students in the middle of an OB/GYN rotation to troop down to the OR to perform a pelvic exam.

[Anonymous]

First off, as jaw dropping as this is, it's real. To the PP who just couldn't believe it wasn't horseshit, please read the NIH article someone provided you. It is so shockingly terrible that one would think it's a joke, but it's not. I've done some reading since and asked a cousin of mine who is a gynecologist. He said it was not standard procedure where he did his residency but it is at other hospitals. He was in a hospital in Pittsburgh that doesn't exist anymore.

Second, I agree that allowing residence to observe and even perform procedures is important. A great book on this is Atul Gawande's Complications. There is, however, a huge difference between someone consenting to allow an exam and someone not consenting. I had a suspected heart condition and have had loads of procedures and tests and never objected to observation or assistance from residents during those procedures.

Procedures and exams are a different story -- some women sure would object to a resident doing the actual exam that determines whether or not she has cervical cancer, for instance, but might not mind a practice exam otherwise. Either way, informed consent is key here, it's law, in fact, and I would think that pelvic exams sans permission is at least fodder for lawsuits, whether successful or not.

Lastly, I don't think this is an issue so much in birth surgeries in the states, so I don't know that I buy needing a doula to protect you from this (though I had a natural childbirth and am pro-doula and all). If you go under general for a C, I am pretty sure an extraneous exam would be waaaaaay out of line and otherwise, you won't be knocked out.

[Anonymous]

There is such a thing as an examination under anesthesia. That sometimes includes a pelvic exam. If there are med students and residents, then they take a turn.

[Anonymous]

I used to know an elderly RN in the South. She worked for a very nasty OB doctor. She frequently repeated to me his comments about different women he examined. They were utterly sick. That was 20 years ago. I haven't allowed a male MD touch me below the waist since.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to know an elderly RN in the South. She worked for a very nasty OB doctor. She frequently repeated to me his comments about different women he examined. They were utterly sick. That was 20 years ago. I haven't allowed a male MD touch me below the waist since.

That makes a ton of sense. I once had a female babysitter who locked us outside. I will never hire a female babysitter again. I once knew a guy who got girls drunk and raped them. I will never talk to a guy again.

Pretty stupid to take the behavior of one nasty person and apply it to a broad class of people who happen to share his sex.

[Anonymous]

My eyes just about bugged out of my head when I read that. It's just.... unbelieveable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does this sound like horseshit to me?

1) Because it's so appalling it's hard to believe
and
2) Because you apparently didn't click on the links. Go click the links. Don't take the OP's word for it. This is well-documented.