Canadian Med-Schools and their shaky understanding of "informed consent"

Gloomy story, gloomy picture

As a long-time patriotic Canadian (that’s Niagara there, folks. I didn’t have any Toronto pictures on hand) I was shocked to see Canada tied up in a pretty nasty headline over at Feministing.

"Apparently in Canada, medical students practice pelvic exams on women who are in surgery without their consent."(Link)

At first I was confused, and simply dismissed it as a headline blown out of proportion. I thought it must be a one-time occurrence, an ongoing lawsuit wherein one drunken medical student made it past security (the intense security that must surround every unconscious patient) and slipped his (or her) hand under some poor woman’s dressing gown.

According to the informal survey presented by the article, 72% of medical students have done an unauthorized pelvic exam on an unconscious surgical patient (Link). A pelvic examination can be either external or internal; it was not specified which act was performed. An internal pelvic exam without consent is called, “penetration of an unconscious person with a foreign object”, more broadly known as rape.
California courts recently found a man on two felony counts, including “rape of an unconscious person” (Link). This sexual assault will result in a man facing “a long prison sentence”; hopefully a very long one.

The woman quoted with regards to the unauthorized pelvic exams admitted that she had performed these exams several times during her time as a student. A repeat offender, so to speak. Maybe some people will see her as misguided, or only as someone who was afraid to speak up. After all, medical school is not a particularly easy or simple place to be, and after four years of undergrad, functioning on an average of three hours of sleep a night – no one wants to risk their chance to finally become a doctor.

She quickly puts this opinion out of my mind, however, but saying, “…it had never occurred to me that it might be unethical.”(Link)

In quintessential Grey’s Anatomy fashion, I ask you—

Seriously? Seriously?

Unethical seems like a gross understatement. If someone sticks something phallic, be it a penis or that little ducky thing that they use for pelvic exams, without consent, they slip off one side of “unethical” and fall deeply into "criminal”.

I may be taking this too seriously, or reacting too strongly. This could be because I’m frankly ashamed to have such a headline tied to the Canadian medical school system, or it might have something to do with all the surgeries I’ve recently been knocked-out for. The idea of some teacher making rounds to my vagina with a bunch of sleep-deprived students watching makes me feel sick to my stomach. If I had been conscious and in a teaching hospital and slated to have a PAP anyway, I might actually said yes. But when someone is chemically unconscious and strapped to an operating table is not an appropriate time to stick a head (and the above noted ducky tool) between their knees.

The only comfort I can take from this is that the last two times I had surgery, I was on my period. I bet that was a gross surprise for those nosy insomniac med-school fuckers.