Imagine you’re in a bar or out on a date and you’re enjoying a drink with that cute guy you’ve been chatting up and then all of a sudden you get a bit fuzzy. You pass out and later you wake up in a strange bed with your clothes on the floor and although you have no clear memories you realize that you’ve very obviously been violated.

That’s called date rape.

Now imagine you’re in a hospital and you’re knocked out under general anesthesia so that your doctor can perform a routine surgery on you. You then wake up with no clear memories but later you read an article that says that if you were in a Canadian teaching hospital you may very well have undergone an unnecessary pelvic exam by a medical student or perhaps even *numerous* medical students.

That’s called acceptable by the Canadian Medical Association.

Really? That’s acceptable, to allow medical students to poke around in an unconscious woman’s va-jay-jay without permission? I guess acceptable is one word for it, but I prefer two words: Fucked Up.

This article in the Globe and Mail says this:

The long-standing argument in favour of allowing these exams to be done on surgery patients is that it provides a unique opportunity for students to practice the delicate, invasive examination without causing the woman pain or embarrassment.

A pelvic exam without pain or embarrassment? Okay, fine. I think most people would prefer a small and brief amount of pain and discomfort over the thought of not finding out something is wrong until it’s too late. As for embarrassment, well, I’m not someone who jumps for joy over the idea of a pelvic exam but I wouldn’t say I’m embarrassed either. However, I know some women are, so yes having a pelvic exam while you’re out cold would indeed save on both the pain and potential embarrassment.

But WITH consent! Except, the article goes on to say this:

There is also an assumption that women would never accept pelvic exams by students while conscious so sneaking them in, while not ideal, is acceptable.

I… God. I am almost at a loss for words except no, it’s more like I have too many words that want to get out at the same time and all of them would make a sailor blush. SNEAKING a pelvic exam on someone because you ASSUME that the woman in question WOULD SAY NO is what the CMA calls ACCEPTABLE?

Pardon my abuse of the caps lock and my upcoming profanity but what in the fuck is wrong with this picture? You know, really, imagine a guy saying, “I assume that woman won’t sleep with me so I’ll dump this Roofie in her wine and I’ll just SNEAK IT IN. It’s not ideal but it’s acceptable.”

Maybe the difference in those two scenarios is that some of the people wear white coats and surgical masks and gloves, I don’t know.

I gave birth in a teaching hospital in Montreal. I was followed not only by my obstetrician but by various residents studying under him and that was fine. I had a pelvic exam by a med student – after I was ASKED and after I said YES and while I was AWAKE – and that was fine. I had a bunch of student nurses in the room while I was in labor and other than the fact that I wanted to slap one of them for asking me open-ended questions while I was painfully contracting, it was fine. When I actually pushed my baby out there were so many doctors, residents, and med students watching that they could have brought a film crew in and I wouldn’t have noticed.

I get the concept of a teaching hospital and obviously these students need to practice on someone. Anyone can read the medical books but you won’t get far if you’re not actually practicing what you’re learning.

But permission MUST be sought out to do something as invasive and personal as a pelvic exam. For the CMA to consider this to be acceptable in any way is disgusting and unethical. How are Canadian women supposed to feel safe and comfortable while going into surgeries now?

The sad part is that the article gives this statistic:

Sixty-two per cent of respondents said they would consent to medical students doing pelvic exams, and an additional 5 per cent said “yes” but only if a female student was doing the exam.

So 62% said yes, 67% if it was a female. That’s not everyone but it’s a respectable number of patients who would be willing to left students prod around for the sake of a teaching moment.

What’s scary though is that 33% would have said no but may have had no choice in the matter.

If those 33% were drugged and violated the courts would call it rape, but if those 33% were knocked out and examined then apparently the CMA calls it science.

Over here Catherine is gearing up to write an open letter and petition to the CMA about this horrifying lack of respect. And over here Shannon makes an interesting point by reminding us that even the dead must have given consent for their bodies to be used in any scientific or educational manner, so essentially the CMA is treating live women and their bodies with less respect than someone who is dead.

I know how that makes ME feel. How does it make you feel?