Tuesday, May 27, 2008
A New Poll
A recent comment fired up my curiosity. I've put up a new poll on medical practitioners and sex. There are separate polls for male and female readers of the blog. Please scroll down below to access the polls. You may answer more than one question. In fact, there are three questions that everyone should be able to answer.
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11 comments:
Define "Medical Practitioner".
One might feel differently about who their dentist is or who is performing a knee surgery than who is giving them a full physical.
G, we could split hairs on this ad infinitum. No, the services of a proctologist are not the same as an orthodontist's services. So, medical practitioner is anyone who might have reason or occasion to see you in clothing other than the full coverage you wear when in the street. Anyone who might have reason to touch you in places you consider as private territory. Anyone who would have reason to insert something into cavities of the body. Anyone who might need to listen to pulse points on the body, certainly the heart, using a stethoscope. Anyone who would be able to identify any scars or natural occuring skin blemishes that are not normally seen by others. Anyone who might have reason to inject you in the most common injection sites or might need to draw blood from those common sites. Anyone who might need to ask questions of a personal medical nature, such as frequency of urination, bowel habits, cohabitation habits etc. Anyone whose physical presence is required to be within the flight or fight distance judged to be comfortable. Anyone who might have to straddle your body in order to administer CPR. Anyone whose hands are required to be on your body as part of the necessary service being rendered.
Sheesh, you know, the people with medical degrees.
what about the option that i would choose the best doc but if two docs had equal reputation then i would choose same sex
Sheesh, she says!
It was a simple straight forward question to clarify a very vague, if not blatantly unfair, question/poll. Which, as usual, since it deigned to call your stance into question received a snarky response. (Not that I am one to talk)
"People with medical degrees" would be the first to tell you that they would prefer to NOT all be lumped into one group.
Be that as it may...thank you for clarifying.
Anonymous,
Since your initial criterion for judging was not the sex of the practitioner but the quality I guess that you would not check off will only use a male practitioner and probably would check off that you have personal reasons.
G,
You'd have to know me better to know how far from snarky my answer was. The poll is a general one, both by design and by necessity--blogger doesn't support more than 5 questions. The examples were to make sure that it was obvious that all kinds of medical practitioners were included in the category of "medical practitioner."
I'm with G -- it makes a big difference to me what kind of medical practitioner we're talking about.
As for straddling you for CPR (c"v), anyone MUST do it. There's a clear and present difference.
You left off one option. I know it may now be a minority, but I am a woman and I would prefer a male doctor. Its personal preference, I have just had better experiences with male doctors or maybe its because of some less than good experiences with female doctors.
You'd have to know me better to know how far from snarky my answer was
Oh the levels of joy as yet undiscovered.
I'm with G and Bas Melech. It very much depends on the type of doctor. For dentists, orthodontists, optometrists, orthopedic surgeons, dermatologists and doctors like that I have no preference of gender. However, I would feel very uncomfortable seeing a male gynecologist, and I feel more comfortable with female therapists.
(And I've tried commenting twice before, but for some reason blogger doesn't like me. Hopefully this time it will work.)
I saw an English halacha sefer discussing the preference for a female doctor, all things being equal. But, I would argue all things are rarely equal and I also had to wonder if the posek had been in a modern medical practice because doctors today are assisted by an entire team of males and females.
First off most doctors practice in practices that include many doctors and nurses/technicians. Lines are long and doctors rotate between many offices. If I have an appointment on Monday, I might be able to see Dr. Sue, but if I need an appointment on Thursday, I will probably have to see Dr. Bill. I don't think my Orthopedic office has a female doctor on staff, but when I feel and hurt my back I just was happy to get an appointment.
If I'm talking about an OBGYN, I've found that the male doctors are more willing to be on call than the female doctors, but that might just be my experience. I'm use to male doctors and was embarrassed when I asked the doctor who I was assigned at my practice (a lady) if she was the nurse. Turns out I liked her so much I asked if she would be available for the delivery only to find out she doesn't deliver because she clocks out. I had a male doctor on call, but ended up in the OR with a female doc and a team of techs and nurses that were split about 50/50.
And, since we do live in a co-ed world, nurses and techs are almost as likely to be male as female today. I had to have an x-ray of my back and was surprised that once I was ready in the little "robe" provided that I was greeted by a male, rather than a female. . . there is only one x-ray tech, so if I wanted to get a diagnosis, I was going to be working with this tech.
Things are rarely equal. I just try to find practices that I like. The day of a private practice doctor who does everything but take your weight and height is long past.
And sometimes you don't have a choice. When my wife had our twins, there were so many people in the room at the time. There was my wife and I :-) Then there was her OB (male), a nurse (female) assisting him, then there was a doctor for the babies (male), 2 nurses (female), one for each baby, then there was the anesthesiologist (male), a nurse (male) assisting him. There may have been others, but I don't recall.
Mark
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