The civil rights act of 1964 that paved the way for equal employment put a privacy clause in the law. Example, if you were applying for a job in a women’s restroom it would be expected that it w0uld be a bona fide occupational job qualification that the employee be female.

Sexual assault victims who have post traumatic stress disorder (that is a recognized disability) have the right out of medical necesssity to obtain same gender care. Not giving it to them is the same as asking a wheelchair bound patient to get up and walk if they want to be attended to. Patients with PTSD often have triggers that will elevate bloood pressure and give false readings. Someone coming into the ER under those circumstances would find it medically necessary to accommodate same gender care to meet their disability in the event of suspected heart attack or stroke.

The bottom line is “to do no harm”. Patients feeling humiliated will avoid healthcare. It’s time for the medical community to be more sensitive to patient need first and foremost.

If you are willing to accept what is offered you, then that is one thing. If you demand extras, it costs more, in time, money, pain, risk or convenience.

In the case under discussion we are confronted with the situation where the woman and her husband are demanding extras and insisting that others pay for it. In the emergency room situation I cited, St. Vincents’ had decided that the right number of doctors to have in the emergency room at that hour was one. It certainly semed right to me as it was not busy. Yet, in order to accommodate some one who insisted on only being seen by a woman — or some other demand — they would have been forced to have several doctors present at a substantially higher cost — and who is to pay the scot?

By the by, St. Vincent’s recently ran out of money and closed — nothing to do, so far as I am aware, with issues under consideration in this thread.

Bob

Bob

I would simply have refused treatment at St. Vincent’s. I’d rather to suffer than let a man see certain parts of my body that are supposed to be for my future husband only. I would have waited until the next day or gone to another hospital. Many women suffer pain of labor for hours. For example, a lady who has a large ovarian cyst that has caused a lot pain has already suffered a lot of pain.

I recognize your wishes and they are not invalid. But sometimes we don’t have choices.

Bob

I don’t believe in covering your face like muslim women do. It makes me feel hot to see the way muslim women dress in the summer. I love wearing shorts and tank tops/short sleeved shirts that are modest in the summer. I simply don’t want male medical professionals to see parts of my body that are covered by a bathing suit. If I had a knee problem, I would not mind seeing a male doctor as long as I remained clothed. I would wear shorts instead of pants of course.

I have gone to ER for severe case of swimmer’s ear and strep throat. I had male doctors for both. It didn’t matter to me because ears and throat are not private. I can let anyone in the public see those body parts.

I think that there should be far more female EKG technicians than male ones since men can take their shirt off any time in front of either sex.

I think it is horrible how people’s wishes for modesty are violated. There are some terrible modesty violation cases that you can find at http://www.patientmodesty.org/modesty.aspx .