A disturbing article in the Globe and Mail brings to light a very creepy medical school practise of using women unconscious from surgery as a teaching tool for med students.
“Imagine that you are undergoing a fairly routine surgery – say, removal of uterine fibroids or hysterectomy. During or right after the procedure, while you are still under anesthesia, a group of medical students parades into the operating room and they perform gynecological exams (unrelated to the surgery) without your knowledge.”
It is so obviously not okay to do a pelvic exam on an unconscious person without their prior consent - and from the comments on the story, everyone seems to realize this except the medical schools still doing it.
“She polled her fellow students and found 72 per cent had also done exams on unconscious patients, without consent, confirming that it is routine.”
The rationale for the prodding is that students can practice a “delicate, invasive examination without causing the woman pain or embarrassment.”
But here’s the thing.
It’s always going to be a little bit embarrassing to have your legs in stirrups and your nether regions in a stranger’s face. It gets less awkward after having been through a few pelvic exams with a respectful, gentle doctor.
And how exactly does the doctor learn to be gentle without the woman conscious to say “Ow, that hurt”?
A conscious, consenting patient would not only be way more ethical, but also probably a better way for doctors to learn.
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