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Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

nytimes.com

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Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#31

Post by Zak »

cperciva wrote: post #3

she used the app Nurx for birth control because she felt uncomfortable visiting a doctor Frankly, this terrifies me. Getting medication which is generally accepted to be mostly safe from a pharmacy because it's cheaper and more convenient than seeing a doctor, sure. But if you're not comfortable seeing a doctor... you should probably be seeing a doctor.

Why does this terrify you?

A person you don't know has trust issues with the medical community. If those issues are unfounded and she's being irrational, her choices won't affect you beyond a potential trivial increase in your health insurance premiums and/or taxes. There are many other bad health decisions people habitually make that have a larger impact there than a small number of people having an irrational aversion to seeing their doctors.

Or do you think she might have a rational aversion to seeing her doctor, which would have frightening implications for other people?

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#32

Post by kaitai »

cperciva wrote: post #3

she used the app Nurx for birth control because she felt uncomfortable visiting a doctor Frankly, this terrifies me. Getting medication which is generally accepted to be mostly safe from a pharmacy because it's cheaper and more convenient than seeing a doctor, sure. But if you're not comfortable seeing a doctor... you should probably be seeing a doctor.

A lot of people have had bad experiences with doctors, and in particular sometimes bad experiences around discussing sex and sexuality with doctors. Teenage girls trying to get birth control are told they are irresponsible or are sluts; parents get involved and send mixed messages regarding relationships with health care providers; and docs can cause a lot of trouble when they're not well-educated about things like endometriosis or aren't good at certain procedures.

A few years back I went to a doc to get a birth control prescription because I couldn't get it without seeing a doc. By various evidence-based(-ish) guidelines I knew I did not need a Pap test, and I also knew the guidelines had recently changed to every five years. I'm healthy and at that time I was still young enough to have no restrictions on birth control prescriptions, and it was just a renewal of the same thing I'd had for years. The doc would not prescribe the pills to me without getting a Pap smear, despite the unnecessary nature of the test. In the process of opening things up with the speculum and shoving that toothbrush up to my cervix, the doc cut me with the metal speculum, thereby turning a stupid unnecessary appointment for a maintenance med into a traumatic bleeding-all-over fiasco. I'm still much more nervous about Pap smears than I used to be.

I know a lot of doctors -- they avoid seeing doctors. I avoid seeing doctors when I'm not sick as much as possible as well. The only reason the health insurance industry in this country ever gets my money is because I have so far had to see a doc for the birth control, while having no health problems. Nurx et al sound like a great solution for healthy people in need of birth control.

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#33

Post by [deleted] »

cperciva wrote: post #3

she used the app Nurx for birth control because she felt uncomfortable visiting a doctor Frankly, this terrifies me. Getting medication which is generally accepted to be mostly safe from a pharmacy because it's cheaper and more convenient than seeing a doctor, sure. But if you're not comfortable seeing a doctor... you should probably be seeing a doctor.

[deleted]

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#34

Post by bronson »

drumdance wrote: post #29
cperciva wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are technically seeing a doctor Sure, and "medical marijuana" dispensaries technically require that you get diagnosed with something which marijuana can be used to treat. When doctors are being paid by a company which sells the product they're prescribing, I lack confidence in their ability to render medical opinions in the patients' best interest.

Birth control, unlike marijuana, has no recreational use.

Despite Rush Limbaugh claiming otherwise. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush_Limbaugh%E2%80%93Sandra_F...

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#35

Post by cperciva »

criley2 wrote: post #27
cperciva wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are technically seeing a doctor Sure, and "medical marijuana" dispensaries technically require that you get diagnosed with something which marijuana can be used to treat. When doctors are being paid by a company which sells the product they're prescribing, I lack confidence in their ability to render medical opinions in the patients' best interest.

Hey, no, ok, I work in the medical software field (EHR provider who has a number of telehealth options) and the comparison of telemedicine to a dispensary or a pill mill is offensive and ignorant. Telehealth is extremely effective in a number of cases, generally with the elderly and those with anxiety issues. It's very very cost effective, provides some of the best clinical data on patients empowering better diagnosi…

Oh, I absolutely support the concept of telehealth. But telehealth provided by a company which sells specific medications is a very different matter.

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#36

Post by DanBC »

cperciva wrote: post #35
criley2 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, no, ok, I work in the medical software field (EHR provider who has a number of telehealth options) and the comparison of telemedicine to a dispensary or a pill mill is offensive and ignorant. Telehealth is extremely effective in a number of cases, generally with the elderly and those with anxiety issues. It's very very cost effective, provides some of the best clinical data on patients empowering better diagnosi…

Oh, I absolutely support the concept of telehealth. But telehealth provided by a company which sells specific medications is a very different matter.

Would it help if the doctoring was split off from the online pharmacy?

So both still telehealth / online, just separate.

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#37

Post by sokoloff »

drumdance wrote: post #29
cperciva wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are technically seeing a doctor Sure, and "medical marijuana" dispensaries technically require that you get diagnosed with something which marijuana can be used to treat. When doctors are being paid by a company which sells the product they're prescribing, I lack confidence in their ability to render medical opinions in the patients' best interest.

Birth control, unlike marijuana, has no recreational use.

As an engineer, I would argue that birth control's primary use is recreational.

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#38

Post by bpchaps »

cperciva wrote: post #3

she used the app Nurx for birth control because she felt uncomfortable visiting a doctor Frankly, this terrifies me. Getting medication which is generally accepted to be mostly safe from a pharmacy because it's cheaper and more convenient than seeing a doctor, sure. But if you're not comfortable seeing a doctor... you should probably be seeing a doctor.

I have significant social anxiety and see a doctor about it. Yet, buying condoms is up there in the top ten most uncomfortable things I know of.

Your thoughts on this are way, WAY too simplistic. It's incredibly aggravating to see you being upvoted for this nonsense. Maybe in a perfect world with perfect self-understanding, but that's not the world we live in.

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#39

Post by cperciva »

DanBC wrote: post #36
cperciva wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, I absolutely support the concept of telehealth. But telehealth provided by a company which sells specific medications is a very different matter.

Would it help if the doctoring was split off from the online pharmacy? So both still telehealth / online, just separate.

Absolutely. I'm quite happy with online pharmacies and telemedicine as separate concepts; it's the conflict of interest inherent in "we'll refer you to a doctor who will give you a prescription so that we can sell you these pills" which concerns me.

Re: Birth Control via App Finds Footing Under Political Radar

#40

Post by cperciva »

sokoloff wrote: post #37
drumdance wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Birth control, unlike marijuana, has no recreational use.

As an engineer, I would argue that birth control's primary use is recreational.

Is a ski helmet recreational? Not directly; but it makes a recreational activity safer, so it provides indirect recreational value.

Whether birth control pills are used for recreational purposes is a question of semantics; they have no direct recreational use, but make indirectly support recreational activities.

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