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View Full Version : Doctor's beliefs can hinder patient care



Steve Savicki
06-26-2007, 03:59 PM
We will soon need signs on offices that say "We practice in the belief of ____."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19190916/
Lori Boyer couldn't stop trembling as she sat on the examining table, hugging her hospital gown around her. Her mind was reeling. She'd been raped hours earlier by a man she knew — a man who had assured Boyer, 35, that he only wanted to hang out at his place and talk. Instead, he had thrown her onto his bed and assaulted her. "I'm done with you," he'd tonelessly told her afterward. Boyer had grabbed her clothes and dashed for her car in the freezing predawn darkness. Yet she'd had the clarity to drive straight to the nearest emergency room — Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, Pennsylvania — to ask for a rape kit and talk to a sexual assault counselor. Bruised and in pain, she grimaced through the pelvic exam. Now, as Boyer watched Martin Gish, M.D., jot some final notes into her chart, she thought of something the rape counselor had mentioned earlier.

"I'll need the morning-after pill," she told him.

Dr. Gish looked up. He was a trim, middle-aged man with graying hair and, Boyer thought, an aloof manner. "No," Boyer says he replied abruptly. "I can't do that." He turned back to his writing.

Boyer stared in disbelief. No? She tried vainly to hold back tears as she reasoned with the doctor: She was midcycle, putting her in danger of getting pregnant. Emergency contraception is most effective within a short time frame, ideally 72 hours. If he wasn't willing to write an EC prescription, she'd be glad to see a different doctor. Dr. Gish simply shook his head. "It's against my religion," he said, according to Boyer. (When contacted, the doctor declined to comment for this article.)

Boyer left the emergency room empty-handed. "I was so vulnerable," she says. "I felt victimized all over again. First the rape, and then the doctor making me feel powerless." Later that day, her rape counselor found Boyer a physician who would prescribe her EC. But Boyer remained haunted by the ER doctor's refusal — so profoundly, she hasn't been to see a gynecologist in the two and a half years since. "I haven't gotten the nerve up to go, for fear of being judged again," she says.

Even under less dire circumstances than Boyer's, it's not always easy talking to your doctor about sex. Whether you're asking about birth control, STDs or infertility, these discussions can be tinged with self-consciousness, even embarrassment. Now imagine those same conversations, but supercharged by the anxiety that your doctor might respond with moral condemnation — and actually refuse your requests.

Eddie's Booze
06-26-2007, 04:03 PM
Originally posted by Steve Savicki
We will soon need signs on offices that say "We practice in the belief of ____."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19190916/
Lori Boyer couldn't stop trembling as she sat on the examining table, hugging her hospital gown around her. Her mind was reeling. She'd been raped hours earlier by a man she knew — a man who had assured Boyer, 35, that he only wanted to hang out at his place and talk. Instead, he had thrown her onto his bed and assaulted her. "I'm done with you," he'd tonelessly told her afterward. Boyer had grabbed her clothes and dashed for her car in the freezing predawn darkness. Yet she'd had the clarity to drive straight to the nearest emergency room — Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, Pennsylvania — to ask for a rape kit and talk to a sexual assault counselor. Bruised and in pain, she grimaced through the pelvic exam. Now, as Boyer watched Martin Gish, M.D., jot some final notes into her chart, she thought of something the rape counselor had mentioned earlier.

"I'll need the morning-after pill," she told him.

Dr. Gish looked up. He was a trim, middle-aged man with graying hair and, Boyer thought, an aloof manner. "No," Boyer says he replied abruptly. "I can't do that." He turned back to his writing.

Boyer stared in disbelief. No? She tried vainly to hold back tears as she reasoned with the doctor: She was midcycle, putting her in danger of getting pregnant. Emergency contraception is most effective within a short time frame, ideally 72 hours. If he wasn't willing to write an EC prescription, she'd be glad to see a different doctor. Dr. Gish simply shook his head. "It's against my religion," he said, according to Boyer. (When contacted, the doctor declined to comment for this article.)

Boyer left the emergency room empty-handed. "I was so vulnerable," she says. "I felt victimized all over again. First the rape, and then the doctor making me feel powerless." Later that day, her rape counselor found Boyer a physician who would prescribe her EC. But Boyer remained haunted by the ER doctor's refusal — so profoundly, she hasn't been to see a gynecologist in the two and a half years since. "I haven't gotten the nerve up to go, for fear of being judged again," she says.

Even under less dire circumstances than Boyer's, it's not always easy talking to your doctor about sex. Whether you're asking about birth control, STDs or infertility, these discussions can be tinged with self-consciousness, even embarrassment. Now imagine those same conversations, but supercharged by the anxiety that your doctor might respond with moral condemnation — and actually refuse your requests.

Trust in Bob and all will be fine.

www.subgenius.com

http://www.subgenius.com/scatalog/membership.htm

PRAISE BOB!!!!! :D

FORD
06-26-2007, 05:26 PM
I think I smell Panda shit........

ELVIS
06-26-2007, 06:12 PM
Me too...:rolleyes:

matt19
06-26-2007, 07:09 PM
Thats fucked up. :mad:

FORD
06-26-2007, 08:18 PM
Now back on topic.....

Why the Hell would anyone go to school to earn a medical degree, or a pharmacist degree, if their interpretation of religious doctrine was going to prevent them from doing their jobs??

Would an orthodox Jew take a job in a non-Kosher butcher shop, knowing damn well they sell pork?

Would a pacifist take a job with Lockheed Martin, and then demand that they stop making weapons and military aircraft??

Would Fred Fucking Phelps volunteer to be the Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Gay Pride march??

I hate pharmaceutical drugs myself. Consequently, I DON'T WORK IN A FUCKING PHARMACY!!!

What's so complicated about that? :confused:

Steve Savicki
06-26-2007, 09:23 PM
Originally posted by FORD
Why the Hell would anyone go to school to earn a medical degree, or a pharmacist degree, if their interpretation of religious doctrine was going to prevent them from doing their jobs??
Best question of the year. Ford, you could challenge a doctor's committee with that.

matt19
06-27-2007, 12:08 AM
Originally posted by FORD
Now back on topic.....

Why the Hell would anyone go to school to earn a medical degree, or a pharmacist degree, if their interpretation of religious doctrine was going to prevent them from doing their jobs??

Would an orthodox Jew take a job in a non-Kosher butcher shop, knowing damn well they sell pork?

Would a pacifist take a job with Lockheed Martin, and then demand that they stop making weapons and military aircraft??

Would Fred Fucking Phelps volunteer to be the Grand Marshall of the San Francisco Gay Pride march??

I hate pharmaceutical drugs myself. Consequently, I DON'T WORK IN A FUCKING PHARMACY!!!

What's so complicated about that? :confused:

Thats the best point I have seen in this forum in a while. :D

FORD
06-27-2007, 02:22 AM
Originally posted by Steve Savicki
Best question of the year. Ford, you could challenge a doctor's committee with that.

I don't know about the doctors' board, but I do know the state pharmacy board here ruled that if you are a pharmacist, you WILL fill prescriptions. The only concession they made to the fundagelicals was if you happen to have someone else on duty with you who can fill the "offensive" prescription, then they can do it, but under no circumstances will a legitimate prescription be denied.

Seems like a reasonable ruling to me.

matt19
06-27-2007, 02:25 AM
Originally posted by FORD
I don't know about the doctors' board, but I do know the state pharmacy board here ruled that if you are a pharmacist, you WILL fill prescriptions. The only concession they made to the fundagelicals was if you happen to have someone else on duty with you who can fill the "offensive" prescription, then they can do it, but under no circumstances will a legitimate prescription be denied.

Seems like a reasonable ruling to me.

And thats how it should be, if you are going to YOUR doctor for help and they refuse you based on religious fundementals does the doctor really care about his patient?

FORD
06-27-2007, 02:28 AM
Originally posted by matt19
And thats how it should be, if you are going to YOUR doctor for help and they refuse you based on religious fundementals does the doctor really care about his patient?

No shit.... Imagine a Jehova's Witness doctor working in a trauma center. No blood transfusions???

matt19
06-27-2007, 02:33 AM
Originally posted by FORD
No shit.... Imagine a Jehova's Witness doctor working in a trauma center. No blood transfusions???

It just seems like a HUGE conflict of intrest to enter medical school if you know you CAN'T fulfill your obligations as a FUCKING DOCTOR!!!!!!! :mad:

ELVIS
06-27-2007, 03:05 AM
Originally posted by FORD
Seems like a reasonable ruling to me.

Some people consider the morning after pill as murder...

matt19
06-27-2007, 03:28 AM
Those people are ignorant and uninformed. :rolleyes:

FORD
06-27-2007, 03:30 AM
Originally posted by ELVIS
Some people consider the morning after pill as murder...

Hopefully, you aren't one of them.

Angel
06-27-2007, 08:51 AM
When my son was born, my doctor didn't agree with circumcision, so she referred us to a colleague.

That doctor easily enough could have done the same thing.

Eddie's Booze
06-27-2007, 02:16 PM
Originally posted by FORD
I think I smell Panda shit........

:confused:

Steve Savicki
06-28-2007, 03:54 PM
What's with the Bunny av. anyways? Easter's over for this year.