Schizmu …Toronto and some insanity.

I stumbled across this blog post discussing the issue of women feeling sexually violated as a result of the medical procedures performed on them and their sexual organs. These women state that due to the disregard for their persons they have had an experience that is akin to rape. “Dr. Crippen’s” response is that quite simply they should get over themselves because there is no way that they have experienced anything that bad.

I have seen patients who, as a result of their bad experiences, have developed post-natal depression. I have never had a patient compare their experience to rape. A bad obstetric experience is not rape, nor is it anything like it.

Now I have never had someone personal known someone to compare a bad PAP smear or a vaginal ultrasound to a rape either but that does not automatically mean that no one has ever felt that way before. The assumption that an invasive medical procedure done without the permission of the patient will have no impact on their mental state is exactly that, an assumption. Now I have a fairly healthy sexual attitude and I come from a family that includes several medical professionals, I know the importance of keeping up to date with tests and I know that there’s no doctor getting excited about seeing my vagina. But I still cringe when I have to go for my yearly PAP, and quite honestly if I were not required to have one in order to get my birth control, the doctor would be lucky to see me once every ten years. They are unpleasant under the best of circumstances.

So if I had been outright attacked as Amity Reed’s “Lynsey” was, it would be quite probable that I would feel like a victim of sexual assault. “Lynsey” was assaulted, she was held down against her will and physically pried open despite her verbal wishes and pleas protesting the fact. It was not just a “bad experience”, she was a victim of sexual assault.

Now, it probably is not fair to call this sexual assault a “rape”, but that is not because it somehow a slander against women Dr. Crippen describes as “actually raped”. It is actually perfectly reasonable to have similar feelings associated with being raped and being the victim of an assault involving your genitals; both involve your body and some of a person’s most private areas being forced into activities that are against your wishes. The reason it is not fair is simply because a doctor unwittingly can cause these feelings.

For example, in Debs case the doctor may have been inexperienced in the procedure, which would probably add to the fact that he was not able to realize that his patient was uncomfortable as he was too concentrated on “getting the job done.” It would not be fair to label this doctor a “rapist” when he simply thought it was in his patient’s best interest to forge ahead and complete the test. This does not mean however that Debs’s feelings were unjustified, she can feel assaulted even if the doctor meant no harm.

Interestingly however Dr. Crippen lists post-natal depression as a symptom of bad obstetric care. Depression, a symptom shared with victims of assault and rape.

A poster on the blog of Dr. Crippen by the name of “polly styrene” made a good point about the legal definitions of rape:

As has been pointed out above, if a medical procedure is carried out without consent this can constitute assault. Therefore if inserting an object into the vagina without consent is rape (which it is, legally speaking, no doubt about that), why is this instance of inserting an object into the vagina without consent not ‘rape’?

Both of these women had items inserted into them against their wishes, both would “fit” the strictly legal definition. This highlights how complicated this issue really is. We could state that there has to be ill intent, therefore excluding doctors who unwittingly cause their patients severe discomfort, but then what do we do about the so-called “gentleman” rapists? Those who convince themselves that they aren’t really raping because their victim actually really “wanted it”. They don’t actually attempt to harm but are out of touch when it comes to the reality of the situation.

“Lynsey’s” experience is deeply disturbing, as I said before, she was certainly sexually assaulted and it is critical that her story be shared. Midwives and doctors who decide to operate their practice in that way should be punished, the public needs to be protected from actions such as those taken by “Lynsey’s” midwives.

Debs experience is far more grey; all parties had the best intentions going into the procedure. Her doctor was callous, as much as he was simply trying to perform the necessary task, he did ignore her discomfort although he was not purposely physically abusive.

What we do have here however is a problem. Maybe some of that medical training should include some sensitivity training, but that’s an article for another day.

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