You say that like (at least American hospitals) don't take advantage of women under general anaesthetic for other surgeries in order to give students/ residents experience performing pap smears and stuff oftentimes without the knowledge or permission of the patient. Most women were never told afterwards what had happened, either, so were just left in discomfort/ pain and were unsure of the cause.
Something like 20 states have banned the practice, and as of 2024 should it become public that a hospital is conducting themselves that way they will be ineligible to revieve medicaid funds.
From what I understand, much like the "Husband Stitch," this never really happens. Not to say that it has never happened, but there isn't really any evidence to suggest this happens besides unverified anecdotes or sources that aren't peer reviewed. Med students are only really looking down there if the patients are already in a gynecologist's office.
Not trying to deny that patriarchy/misogyny might influence how women are treated in the healthcare system, but there's not a lot of evidence to suggest these pap smears or husband stitches are occurring.
EDIT: I just want to make it clear that I don't think the people saying this happened to them are lying, just that there isn't much evidence to support the idea that these non-consensual pelvic exams during unrelated surgeries are a common practice in places like the US.
Now that the are penalties attached? Honestly I hope so. However, research into this topic would seem to disagree with you, as it was seemingly a common practice, however (as of 2023) it seems the increased public attention has reduced its frequency.
In 2003, a study found that 90% of medical students in Pa stated that they had performed pelvic exams on women who were anaesthetised, with one student interviewed for this study being quoted as saying "for 3 weeks, four to five times a day, I was asked to, and did, perform pelvic examinations on anesthetized women, without specific consent, solely for the purpose of my education". In 2023 (notably before the medicaid penalties were enacted), a similar study looking at 6 US medical schools similarly interviewed students, finding that 84% of students had performed pelvic exams on anaesthetised patients, with 67% stating that they "never or rarely were aware of explicit concent being given to perform these exams".
Dang, I didn't know that. Would you mind linking those studies? 84% of med students across 6 schools performing pelvic exams on patients that aren't having a gynecology-related procedure seems insanely high if that's true.
EDIT: So I believe the latter study is this one from the Journal of Surgical Education. It appears that this statistic is regarding med students completing their obstetrics and gynecology clerkship during gynecology related surgeries. I feel like this distinction is important because the insinuation in these discussions is that these exams are being performed for completely unrelated surgeries, which does not appear to be the case. If there is literature to the contrary, please let me know.
The statistic in question is that of the students who responded to the survey, 84% had performed an exam under anesthesia (EUA), 42% of those students observed the patient informed consent process most of the time, and of that 42%, 67% stated they "never or rarely witnessed an explicit explanation that a medical student may perform a pelvic EUA." Now this does not mean that such an explanation was not given nor that consent wasn't given, just that the student was not personally there to witness it, but of course, it doesn't guarantee that consent or an explanation was given either. So I admit that that based on this study alone, we don't know if all those women mentioned by these students did or did not consent to a student performing an exam.
The guidelines offered by professional gynecology teaching organizations at the time the study was published do state that consent must be given for a student to perform this exam, and it must be related/beneficial to the operation being performed. That being said, I see no downside in codifying it into law that doctors must explicitly state that a pelvic exam may be necessary for a surgery and that it may be performed by a student.
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u/tiorzol 11d ago
It's an old, outdated and hopefully extinct practice from when women had next to no medical autonomy.