Report Calls Attention to 'Educational' Pelvic Exams Performed On Unconscious Patients

March 26, 2003

by NOW Staff

A report published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology last month has called attention to the fact that many hospitals routinely allow medical students, sometimes in groups, to conduct "educational" pelvic exams on unconscious women, often without a patient's knowledge or explicit consent.

Though most medical students learn the basics of performing a pelvic exam by practicing on paid volunteers, the 1995 study found that 90 percent of medical students had also performed pelvic exams on unconscious female patients, and only 17 percent of the medical students surveyed said it was "important" to receive patients' consent before doing so.

Hospitals defend the decades-old practice, the Wall Street Journal recently reported, because patients sign a form allowing "individuals selected and deemed qualified" to perform "services."

Feminist leaders called on the medical community to stop performing the procedures on women without their knowledge, and to add more explicit language to medical consent forms so patients could opt out of 'educational' pelvic exams that would have no benefit to their care.

"Every woman must have the right to go in for surgery without the fear that doctors might use her body as a training dummy while she's unconscious," said NOW President Kim Gandy. "An anesthetized patient needs the same chance to say no to an educational pelvic exam as a healthy patient getting a check-up."

Write to American Medical Association President Dr. Yank D. Coble Jr. and American Medical Association President-Elect Dr. Donald J. Palmisano (http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/1745.html), as well as Dr. Charles B. Hammond, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (hammo005@mc.duke.edu). Urge them to work within the medical community to ensure that patients give specific consent for educational pelvic exams.