Pre-pregnant?!?

[whatever]

Interesting article in the NY Times health section on the idea that women of a childbearing age are treated differently by the medical profession since there's always the lingering fear that any medical treatment may affect thier unborn child if they ARE pregnant.

I've run into that going to the doctor before with dialogues something like this:

me- *coughs horribly* hello

dr- when was the date of your last period? are you pregnant?

me- um... no, I just have this cough

dr- well, we have to make sure that you're not pregnant so that we don't have to worry that the medicine we may give you may harm the fetus.

me- what fetus? I'm not f*&^ing pregnant!

Seriously- what's wrong with doctors these days?!?

[disregard]

It's even worse--they'll make you go on birth control for some medications! I was 15 and I was mortified! I was like Ummm.. I am not sexually active. But they insisted! I refused and ended up signing some document saying that it is against my religion or something, and got my prescription.

[whatever]

ugh... that reminds me of being forced into a pregnancy test before taking one drug even though I'd explained that I hadn't had sex for so long that I'd be very obviously showing if I was

but forced bc?!? pretty horrid as well! so they assume that you'll immediatly sleep around?

[disregard]

Yes, while on my medication I had to take regular (every 6 weeks about) pregnancy tests. It was the most humiliating, degrading crap.

[runvardh]

Wow, talk about overboard...

[cafe]

I assume they fear malpractice suits. As cheap and fast as it is to test for pregnancy, I don't blame them for taking the precaution. OTOH, I'd be pretty upset if my 15 y/o went through what you did, Dana. Ugh! Always with the seeing both sides.

[runvardh]

Originally Posted by cafe

I assume they fear malpractice suits. As cheap and fast as it is to test for pregnancy, I don't blame them for taking the precaution. OTOH, I'd be pretty upset if my 15 y/o went through what you did, Dana. Ugh! Always with the seeing both sides.

Yeah, I don't do much of that anymore unless I have to, always more of a headache than it's worth.

[disregard]

Yeah, it is understandable, cafe.

[MedGirl]

I'm going to have to disagree pretty strongly with most of you on this one. I saw the NY times article and read many of the comments. I'm a med student, and what you may not realize is that there are many, many patients who lie to their doctors, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like sex and pregnancy. You may be telling the truth, but for every 100 patients who swear that they're not sexually active and couldn't be pregnant, there are going to be a few who lie or who are just wrong. Would I risk causing potential harm to unborn fetuses just to avoid offending some women who don't want to take a pregnancy test? Hell no. Many doctors probably see 100 patients in a week, and prescribe many drugs that are teratogenic. It's considered the "standard of care" to have a DOCUMENTED negative pregnancy test in the chart before prescribing these drugs. I'm sure there are women out there who SWORE they couldn't be pregnant but then ended up having a positive pregnancy test who are glad there doctors are taking these precautions. This is not even counting the fact that doctors are legally liable for following the standard of care and can be sued if they don't.

I will concede that many doctors could probably do a better job of explaining to their patients why these precautions are necessary and beneficial to the patient, and this I bet is where a lot of this frustration comes from. But being angry because you're doctor wants you to take regular pregnancy tests because you want to treat your acne with Accutane, a drug known to cause some of the most awful birth defects known to man? Either get over it or treat your zits some other way.

[murkrow]

Originally Posted by MedGirl

I'm going to have to disagree pretty strongly with most of you on this one. I saw the NY times article and read many of the comments. I'm a med student, and what you may not realize is that there are many, many patients who lie to their doctors, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like sex and pregnancy. You may be telling the truth, but for every 100 patients who swear that they're not sexually active and couldn't be pregnant, there are going to be a few who lie or who are just wrong. Would I risk causing potential harm to unborn fetuses just to avoid offending some women who don't want to take a pregnancy test? Hell no. Many doctors probably see 100 patients in a week, and prescribe many drugs that are teratogenic. It's considered the "standard of care" to have a DOCUMENTED negative pregnancy test in the chart before prescribing these drugs. I'm sure there are women out there who SWORE they couldn't be pregnant but then ended up having a positive pregnancy test who are glad there doctors are taking these precautions. This is not even counting the fact that doctors are legally liable for following the standard of care and can be sued if they don't.

I will concede that many doctors could probably do a better job of explaining to their patients why these precautions are necessary and beneficial to the patient, and this I bet is where a lot of this frustration comes from. But being angry because you're doctor wants you to take regular pregnancy tests because you want to treat your acne with Accutane, a drug known to cause some of the most awful birth defects known to man? Either get over it or treat your zits some other way.