1. Doctors' beliefs can hinder patient care

Comment #51371 by kwietman on June 22, 2007 at 1:55 pm

As a healthcare provider in the U.S. (I'm a Physician Assistant), this absolutely drives me nuts. If you don't want to do women's reproductive health, DON'T BECOME A GYNECOLOGIST! You don't see this happening in Cardiology or Dermatology, do you? It's the same damn thing that leads to Catholic charities allowing people in Africa to die of AIDS because condoms are against Vatican Law. We were talking about this at lunch in my office. This is an ideology that affects pretty much one population: women, and more typically poor women who have limited reproductive options to begin with. To have their doctor moralizing about their sexuality just underscores an entrenched sexism in medicine. Well, really, it's the sexism of religion, but it bleeds into these areas at will. The "Father Phenomenon," in which there is a patriarchal control of morality, whether it's the men of the village or the skyfather.