You’ve Probably Had A Pelvic Exam You Didn’t Need. But Have You Had One You Didn’t Even Know About?
Most of us don’t look forward to our annual well woman visits. No matter how much your physician tries to make small talk, a pelvic exam is a procedure that’s pretty hard to ignore. But what if you’d gotten one you never signed up for?
Depending on where you live, you may have gotten pelvic exams without even knowing it. In most states, it’s totally legal for medical students to perform exams – that aren’t medically necessary – for their own learning. Now states are weighing the pros and cons of requiring consent before performing them on unconscious women who get no benefit from the procedure, saying it’s wrong and destroying an already weak bond of trust between women and their providers. Doctors say what patients don’t know won’t hurt them, but shouldn’t women have a right to say no?