When I was a medical student in the 1980s, the school hired “pelvic instructors” who taught us how to do exams in a painless and respectful way. They even allowed us to perform practice examinations on them.
But at the same time, senior doctors urged me to perform pelvic exams on anesthetized women about to get surgery — women who never gave consent. Indeed, despite decades of objections, pelvic exams without consent have continued to occur, leading the Department of Health and Human Services to issue new guidelines earlier this year that mandate the “explicit consent” of patients.
Read the rest…
When I was a medical student in the 1980s, the school hired “pelvic instructors” who taught us how to do exams in a painless and respectful way. They even allowed us to perform practice examinations on them.
But at the same time, senior doctors urged me to perform pelvic exams on anesthetized women about to get surgery — women who never gave consent. Indeed, despite decades of objections, pelvic exams without consent have continued to occur, leading the Department of Health and Human Services to issue new guidelines earlier this year that mandate the “explicit consent” of patients.
Read the rest…
