Another example of Doctors being inappropriate

These are the people that are caring for a naked helpless person.  Posting pictures and playing games.  There needs to be chaperones (not provided by the doctor) in every operating room. 

https://caribbeanfever.com/profiles/blogs/doctors-under-investigation-for-posing-with-patients-organs-and-t

Doctors can be monsters, too

If anyone still has the naive belief that doctors are somehow immune to sexual arousal from interaction with their patients, they need to pay attention to what went on in a courtroom in Michigan this month when more than 150 young women testified against Larry Nassar and the sexual abuse he perpetuated against them over two decades. (Coverage of trial) A lot of the attention on this case has focused on the gymnasts who were victimized and the role of the Michigan State, the Olympic Committee and other governing boards that didn't address the complaints years and years ago. But there is a wider lesson for all, not just for those involved in sports, which isn't getting enough attention.

This respected doctor had obviously seen a lot of young women throughout his career and obviously, unlike what the medical community likes to tell us, it did not become old hat to him. It didn't all look the same and not arouse him. Doctors are not automatically asexual beings in the exam room and some are even sexual predators that use their position and "expertise" to manipulate their patients and abuse them.

If you read the accounts of what the victims experienced, you see examples of claiming that sexual abuse was a needed medical treatment and of the confusion and doubt this caused in a patient who must in many regards trust their doctor and his education to determine best treatment. (Victim impact statements) In so many aspects of medicine, the patient is treated as hopelessly uneducated, incapable of understanding what is wrong with them or the treatment except in the most general, oversimplified terms. Patients are kept at arm's distance from their own health decisions. Think about when you have a health problem. You are supposed to go to your primary care physician who then decides whether to refer you to a specialist. If you have tests done, the results go to your physician who then shares them with you. The physician is set up as the complete authority figure.

I can't tell you how many times I've heard, "My doctor won't let me get in the pool for two weeks" or "My doctor has told me I must have a colonoscopy every six months now." And the majority of people follow the commands, whether they like them or not, without even thinking about questioning them. While there might be good medical logic for these type of commands, it would be healthier if it was presented as, "Getting in a pool before your incision heals will increase your risk of infection" and "You seem to have increased risk of ______. One way you could chose to deal with that is by testing more often. Here are the risks and benefits of a colonoscopy." This would place the power and responsibility with the patient.

If the Nasser case shows us anything, it is the huge danger of assigning a fallible person with such authority and control over other people's bodies and lives. These girls felt uncomfortable, but they were told he was the best doctor around so they second guessed themselves. And when they did complain they were told, "He is a respected doctor. He knows best not you. He knows better than you do what is best for your body." That is the medical culture that we all live in and it is not a safe one.

Related posts:
Patient Modesty
Take it All Off
How to Protect Your Modesty in a Medical Setting

Why You Can't Believe Everything Your Doctor Tells You

The whole point of going to the doctor is to get an expert opinion, but sometimes....

Last week, I had the joyous experience of coming down with Shingles. I knew that's what it was with a few clicks on my computer, but of course, I had to go in to a doctor's office to get an "official verdict" and get the anti-viral medicine that I needed. Since it was the weekend (of course), I ended up at an urgent care facility. The staff were very nice and the doctor very quickly confirmed my diagnosis. But the part that was weird is that she asked me, "Have you been around someone with chicken pox or Shingles? Do you know who you got it from?" And later, warned me to change my sheets frequently and keep my rash covered so that I wouldn't "give shingles" to anyone else.  And when I verified that I needed to stay out of the pool where I usually teach a water aerobics class, she said, "Yes. No pool. That's probably where you got it from."

So what's weird about all that? From all my reading, every source I'd found had been clear that you don't contract shingles from contact with the virus. You get it because the virus is already lying dormant inside of you.  From the CDC website:

"Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus (VZV), the same virus that causes chickenpox. After a person recovers from chickenpox, the virus stays dormant (inactive) in the body. For reasons that are not fully known, the virus can reactivate years later, causing shingles." ( https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/overview.html)

Furthermore, you can't give Shingles to anyone either. Shingles is contagious, but only in that you could give the virus to someone who has never had chicken pox and they could get chicken pox.  Again from the CDC:

"Shingles cannot be passed from one person to another. However, the virus that causes shingles, the varicella zoster virus, can be spread from a person with active shingles to another person who has never had chickenpox. In such cases, the person exposed to the virus might develop chickenpox, but they would not develop shingles." (https://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/transmission.html)

It concerns me that the doctor I saw didn't know these simple facts about a very common disease (1 in 3 Americans will have Shingles at some point). I didn't bother correcting her. She gave me my prescriptions and I was anxious to be out of there. But it does leave a person wondering how often they are told completely inaccurate information by their doctors. 

It's certainly not the first time it's happened in our family. One time, years ago, I went in with a very swollen cheek and had the doctor diagnose it as an "infected saliva gland." When I followed up a few days later with my actual doctor (I'd seen her partner because she'd been out of town), she was appalled. She told me it was a toothache and that I needed to go see my dentist-- and she shook her head and said, "I don't know what she was thinking! The saliva glands are on the bottom of the jaw. Your infection is obviously on the top!"  And she was right, I wound up having a root canal. 

My husband went in to see his doctor once with a really bad sore throat. The doctor insisted it was just a cold and told him to go home and take some ibuprofen. He wouldn't listen to him when he insisted that it didn't feel like any cold he'd had or when he pointed out that he only came to a doctor's office about once every 10 years or so--basically only if he was dying. My husband wound up being admitted to the hospital a few days later with a peritonsillar abscess, but you know, it was just a cold.

And I could go on and on. I think we all could. Mistakes happen. I get that. But I get downright irate when I hear medical professionals complain about their patient's googling their condition. I've been told several different times NOT to look things up on the Internet. They act like we are children who can't handle this complex information properly so we need to leave it alone. But the fact of the matter is, with the right information we--who live in our bodies 24/7-- have a much better chance of diagnosing what is wrong with us than a doctor who sees us for five minutes. Rather than trying to keep patients away from information, it would be in everyone's best interest to make as much of it available to us as possible. And then they need to listen to patients when they say, "That just doesn't sound right" or "But that doesn't match _____." We might just save ourselves from a terrible medical error and save them a malpractice hearing.