george4title
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- Aug 2, 2010
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Medical Student Won't Perform Pelvic Exams on AnesthetizedPatients - The Unnecesarean -
Medical student Hilary Gerber of MomÂ’s Tinfoil Hat was offered the chance to perform a pelvic exam on an unconscious female patient by an operating room nurse at the local hospital not affiliated with her school. Wrote Gerber:
I participated in a dilation and curettage on a woman who was experiencing an incomplete abortion. I was in the room before the procedure and the OR nurse offered to let me do a pelvic exam on her, since the patient was already anesthetized.
Gerber declined the offer.
Although I was fascinated by the opportunity, and initially was tempted by the learning experience, I didnÂ’t want to do it without her permission, and made myself consider her as a patient and a person, not as a pathology or anatomy in front of me. Yes, I knew she was going to have a pelvic procedure that she already consented to, and I even had the opportunity to introduce myself to her before she was anesthetized, but I knew it wasnÂ’t diagnostic for me to do a pelvic on her in this situation, wouldnÂ’t change the course of her treatment, and questioned the ethics of it.
Medical student Hilary Gerber of MomÂ’s Tinfoil Hat was offered the chance to perform a pelvic exam on an unconscious female patient by an operating room nurse at the local hospital not affiliated with her school. Wrote Gerber:
I participated in a dilation and curettage on a woman who was experiencing an incomplete abortion. I was in the room before the procedure and the OR nurse offered to let me do a pelvic exam on her, since the patient was already anesthetized.
Gerber declined the offer.
Although I was fascinated by the opportunity, and initially was tempted by the learning experience, I didnÂ’t want to do it without her permission, and made myself consider her as a patient and a person, not as a pathology or anatomy in front of me. Yes, I knew she was going to have a pelvic procedure that she already consented to, and I even had the opportunity to introduce myself to her before she was anesthetized, but I knew it wasnÂ’t diagnostic for me to do a pelvic on her in this situation, wouldnÂ’t change the course of her treatment, and questioned the ethics of it.
