Stealth pelvic exams in Canada

[Anonymous]

I almost hate to post this since it will no doubt spark comments about universal healthcare (I don't think this has anything to do with it) but apparently in Canada its considered standard practice to give women under GA nonconsensual (and unrelated to their surgeries) pelvic exams.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/time-to-end-pelvic-exams-done-without-consent/article1447337/

got the link via strollerderby.

[Anonymous]

Don't they do that here at teaching hospitals if you don't read the fine print when you go to the hospital and sign the consent form?

[Anonymous]

Wonder if they do stealth prostate exams. Maybe they should!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't they do that here at teaching hospitals if you don't read the fine print when you go to the hospital and sign the consent form?

Yes, done here routinely. Totally disgusting. Next time you are talking with an ob/gyn ask them if they've ever done a "learning" pelvic exam on someone under general.

[Anonymous]

Apparently it's a big no-no in Sweden, because this guy got in trouble for doing it without consent: http://www.thelocal.se/24070/20091227/

So I guess this is really not about the type of health care system.

[Anonymous]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16206868

Apparently it was legal in the U.S. in 2005.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wonder if they do stealth prostate exams. Maybe they should!

I think that they do digital rectal exams if you go in for a procedure like a colonoscopy.

[Anonymous]

WOW. These horror stories may be what it takes to reclaim our own health.

If you haven't already done so, PLEASE read the above linked articles.

[Anonymous]

There was a guy who went to the hospital for some sort of injury. He was uncooperative and hit one of the doctors while they were trying to help him. The doctor then ordered a procedure involving the butt (prostate exam??). The guy refused but they held him down and did it. He sued because he felt the exam had been ordered to humiliate him in retaliation for hitting the doctor. I believe he lost because the doctor said it was medically necessary. I think the guy might have been a construction worker and had been injured on the job and the doctor said they needed to do the exam to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with his spine??

[Anonymous]

I've been a physician for 10 years and have never seen this in a US medical school/teaching hospital. We learned on our pelvic exams on women who volunteered to be practice patients (it was in an office setting and they were definitely awake and consenting). They were phenomenal teachers.

I agree that it's completely unethical to perform exams under anesthesia unless it's medically indicated for the patient and the patient has given full consent.

[Anonymous]

Let us keep in mind that the more exams that the medical students do, the better they become at it. You might be the patient who benefits in the future.
I think that the lines of medical students queuing up may be an exaggeration, but sometimes there can be 4 medical students assigned to one case. If that case is particularly interesting, more students might come and take a look. Not just for GYN, but any abnormality that the doctor finds might be closer examined by all of the staff after the anesthetic is induced. Maybe a large abdominal mass might be palpated, or a scalp wound looked at more carefully. The patients might feel uncomfortable if the know they might have a large tumor that could be terminal. However, the students have to learn.

[Anonymous]

Not an exaggeration. These women are not necessarily in for ob/gyn issues.

This was, as a pp noted, recently outlawed in the U.S., and there are other ways; conscious, compensated, consenting volunteers, for example. This is more helpful as the vol can gently provide feedback, as a pp noted. There are also pelvic models.

[Anonymous]

Where can we read the exact wording where this was recently outlawed in the US?

[Anonymous]

I believe it is outlawed in some states but not nationally.

http://www.theunnecesarean.com/blog/2010/1/29/yes-its-true-med-students-perform-pelvic-exams-on-anesthetiz.html

The above is a natural birth blog but the quality links within are really the reason I post it.

[Anonymous]

Another reason to have a doula (who will serve as your advocate) with you during a hospital birth. During the flurry of a birth/c-section, I don't know if even my husband would tell them "NO, you all will not use my wife to practice your craft."