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Important Information Many women assume that sexual abuse by a doctor cannot happen to them because it is rare. That is totally untrue. Sexual abuse by doctors is often underreported because many women feel too uncomfortable or embarrassed to come forward. Some women brush sexual abuse by a doctor aside feeling the medical care they received was worth the abuse. Make sure you check out the tips on how to protect yourself from being sexually abused by a doctor. It is best that you not go to a male doctor for female health issues and colonoscopy. Having a nurse or an assistant present in the room with the doctor doesn't guarantee that nothing inappropriate would happen to you. Remember that the nurse or assistant is present to "protect" the doctor and will often be on the doctor's side. There have been cases where female patients felt the male doctor went too far, but the nurse or assistant felt he was simply doing thorough examinations. There was one case where everything happened so quickly that took the nurse off guard and she was not able to report what happened until the female patient left. It is certainly not worth the risk to let a male doctor do intimate female procedures or examinations. A number of sexual misconduct cases by doctors happened with a nurse present. Patients under anesthesia are very vulnerable if they do not have a family member or friend with them because many unethical things such as sexual abuse, non-consensual pelvic and genital exams, stripping of their underwear & gown against their wishes, and unnecessary urinary catheterizations can happen. Keep in mind that it is very difficult to enforce things when a patient is unconscious if only medical professionals are in the operating room. It is hard to get proof when only medical professionals are in the room. Check out Why You Should Have a Personal Advocate For Surgery? Check out the below important resources about sexual abuse by doctors. Intimate Intimidation (Philadelphia Magazine) - An article about a gynecologist who sexually abused many women and the effects on the victims. A nurse was present in many of the cases when the sexual abuse happened. The chaperones (usually nurses) in the cases where the patients seemed to be in distress, had tried to comfort them, assuming they were in pain. One of the ladies who was abused by a gynecologist worked in the same hospital as him. It's scary to think about how a male doctor would go that far in abusing a woman who was an employee at the same medical facility he worked at. Doctors Admit To Sexual Contact With Patients (New York Daily News) - A newspaper article in 1979 about how at least 25 percent gynecologists admitted that they had some kind of sexual contact with their patients. Doctors Continue to Practice After Allegations of Sexual Assault - An article by a law firm about how some doctors have kept their licenses to practice medicine despite the fact they have been disciplined for sexual misconduct. Why Sexual Misconduct Is Difficult To Uncover - An article that discusses about why sexual abuse by medical professionals are difficult to uncover. A #MeToo moment with a pediatrician - An article a female anesthesiologist wrote about how she went to a male pediatrician when she was 13 years old because she had rib pain and how he did an unnecessary breast exam on her. Her mom was present, but did not intervene to stop the breast exam from happening. Sadly, doctors can even abuse teenage girls even with moms present because many people are taught that we should always submit to what doctors want since they "always know what is best" for us. Time and Tide - A doctor's account of an encounter with an attractive female patient. He always had a nurse present with him when he did a pelvic exam. This proves that a nurse cannot chaperone a doctor's mind. |
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