Topics to cover

Everyone has different preference on how they want to care for themselves and how they want others to treat them.  If your lifestyle and preferences are like the majority of people, then you will may be happy with what the standard recommendations and practices.  But some of us are in very low risk groups (Groups that much of the medical community won't even admit exist) or have preferences that the average patient doesn't have.  For us we have to dig more and make decisions on our own.  Here are some topics to think about:

Topics to cover, in no particular order:

• The cost of over testing.  Both in dollars, time and emotion.
• Concent and informed concent forms
• Patient has the option to edit or partially accept or refuse what is on the concent form.
• Hospitals make the concent forms as broad as possible.  If you sign them then it covers them.  It does NOT mean that you must concent to all of those things to be provided service.  Eliminate the things you are not comfortable with and see if they are ok with that.  Make it a dialog.
• Informed concent is not the same as just Concent.  If informed concent is required just having you sign a form without being informed is the same as no concent.
• It is all about risks.  Statistically, no one with a baby Giraffe in their car gets in an accident. 
• Cause vs Effects.  Seems this easily gets confused
• Surgical prep. -  What will they do to me once I'm unconscious?  Details they leave out.
• Moving your limp unconcious helpless body and positioning it
• Patient positioning injuries -
• Why can't I position myself before being put out?
• Shaving & Scrubbing
• Antibiotic painting
• Attaching monitors to your chest (will be made topless)
• For many surgeries the staff removes the patients gown completely.
• Draping -
• Some times drapes (cloths) are stapled to the Patients Skin
• Why don't they let me wear underwear?
• Anethesia
• Tube in the throat
• Intentional using sedatives who's side affect is Amnesia
• Peri-operative Hypothermia
• Getting cold while being operated on. 
• You're practically naked but the Dr. has on lots of layers
• Dr. controls the temperature
• HIPAA - It's there to help you.  Don't let hospitals use it against you.
• Learn more about HIPPA abuse
• Pelvic Organ prolapse - The undiscussed plague
• Female Urethral Spasms
• Dr. Kegel.  His research.
• A Nonsurgical Method of Increasing the Tone of Sphincters and their Supporting Structures
• My summary of Dr. Kegels 1948 paper
• Most common misunderstandings
• Weight lifting
• Breast X-Rays (AKA Mammograms). - We'll keep X-raying until we find something
• How does life time Monogamous relationships affect my risks and need for testing of:
• HPV - Pap smears & Cervical Cancer.  Study shows Nuns don't get Cervical Cancer.
• STDs
• Usefulness of pelvic exams on people that aren't sick.
• Cervical biopsies.  How much do they cut off?
• Probiotics - What are they?  Why haven't we heard of them?
• UTI's - Simply wipe front to back.  Yah if it was just that simple.
• Colonoscopy vs sigmoidoscopy
• Colonoscopy pants

People should make informed decisions on their medical care.  It should be up to the individual to decide what is right for them.  Not the government, not the medical community, not a non profit orginization funded by government money and certainly not the doctors.  You.  It is your body and you have to live with the decisions.  Yes we should seek out the opinions of all of those mentioned.  But keep in mind they all have different values and goals.  They might align with your values but they might not.  They write their policies or procedures to cover the masses or the average or more often the most concervative case.  If you are not "average" then what they suggest may not apply.  Or it might apply.  Learn for yourself and make an informed decision.

We are not telling you what to decide.  Just learn and make your own decision.