Intimate examinations should not be performed without consent

June 20, 2008

[B]Editorial: Informed consent and intimate examinations[/B]
Intimate examinations, performed by medical students on anaesthetised patients, are often carried out without adequate consent from patients, but this violates their basic human rights and should not be allowed, claims an editorial in the July issue of Student BMJ.

Although the examination of patients under anaesthesia provides a unique opportunity for medical students to practice with minimal distress to patients, it is vital that students put their responsibility towards patients before any learning opportunity, write Ohad Oren and Gershon Grunfeld from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Israel.

The issue was highlighted earlier this year when Israeli medical students refused to intimately examine anaesthetised women without obtaining their informed consent.

Yet despite these concerns, some specialists consider pelvic examinations to be an ordinary part of medical practice for which specific consent is not needed, say the authors, while others fear that requiring informed consent from the patient will radically reduce training opportunities for students. There is also the presumption that patients understand that medical students and junior doctors will be involved in their care because they are being treated at a teaching hospital.

But according to the authors, this misses the point of informed consent and deprives patients of their choice as independent decision makers about their own medical care.

Performing intimate examinations on patients without their explicit consent is "a gross violation of the principle of respect for patients' autonomy", they argue.

The authors conclude by calling for the development of responsible hospital policy conducive to ethical practice and new well organised processes for obtaining consent.

In an accompanying feature, Daniel Stott examines the role of chaperones in intimate examinations for the protection of both patients and doctors, and discusses how the new emphasis on chaperones creates pressure on already "hard pressed" resources.

Source: BMJ-British Medical Journal

4.3 /5 (3 votes)  

Rank 4.3 /5 (3 votes)
Tags

Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Overeating may double risk of memory loss

New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. The study was released today and will be ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created 1 hour ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor

(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.

Medicine & Health / Health

created 6 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Starve a virus, feed a cure? Findings show how some cells protect themselves against HIV

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 4 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (58) | comments 15 | with audio podcast

Green tea found to reduce disability in the elderly

(Medical Xpress) -- A lot of research has been done over the past several years looking into the health benefits of green tea. As a result, scientists have found that regular consumption of the beverage leads ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (15) | comments 10 | with audio podcast report


Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside

There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...

Lab study raises questions over nano-particle impact

Tests involving chickens have raised questions about the impact on health from engineered nano-particles, the ultra-fine grains commonly used in drugs and processed foods, scientists said on Sunday.

A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell

Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric ...

Researchers find extensive RNA editing in human transcriptome

In a new study published online in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, reported the evidence of extensive RNA editing in a human cell line by analysis of RNA-seq data, demons ...