Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
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Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#2So she was lied not only by doctors, but also by her parents. She was underage so doctors didn't have to tell her, and couldn't tell her if parents prohibited them... soo... yeah doctors lie.
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#3how is this related to technology?
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#4So she was lied not only by doctors, but also by her parents. She was underage so doctors didn't have to tell her, and couldn't tell her if parents prohibited them... soo... yeah doctors lie.
This.
But if the doctors really cared about it enough they could have simply refused to say anything, forwarding questions to the parents instead. But instead they made up an imaginary condition.
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#5So she was lied not only by doctors, but also by her parents. She was underage so doctors didn't have to tell her, and couldn't tell her if parents prohibited them... soo... yeah doctors lie.
Indeed, and at the time when this was done to her, and for most of her life, she had no legal right to see her own medical records. IIRC That was only introduced sometime in the 80s in the UK.
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#6The article is about the treatment of intersex children in the UK, but the same is true for them in the US.
See these links for more regarding treatment in the US:
[0] Long Atlantic article - https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/should-we...
[1] Brief NBC article with a couple interviews - http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6994580/ns/health-childrens_health...
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#7So she was lied not only by doctors, but also by her parents. She was underage so doctors didn't have to tell her, and couldn't tell her if parents prohibited them... soo... yeah doctors lie.
I believe that this kind of thing should be considered criminal. It reminds me of this case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stump_v._Sparkman
The patient should always be informed of their condition and what the therapy or surgery that they are undergoing is about.
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#8So she was lied not only by doctors, but also by her parents. She was underage so doctors didn't have to tell her, and couldn't tell her if parents prohibited them... soo... yeah doctors lie.
My understanding (which seems consistent with comments in the article) is that at that time, not telling the child was fairly standard medical practice, and thus would likely have been the doctors' recommendation to the parents. I've seen other stories in the past where parents of intersex children have said essentially, "We were so confused and in shock, we just went along with what the doctor said would be best." So yeah, all of the adults involved are culpable, but in a lot of cases it really was the medical experts driving the decision.
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#9This is not a new thing, it has been known since before the 2000s, and was written extensively about by Fausto-Sterling in her book Sexing The Body. Doctors -- even today -- routinely withhold this information from intersex children, believing that it is for their own good. Unlike the article's suggestion, it is a widespread practice not limited to the UK.
A fun fact about the idea that you can ask for your medical records, is that the staff may redact any information they think would be harmful to you.
Re: Intersex patients routinely had diagnoses withheld by doctors
#10How do doctors, parents, anybody think this is a good idea? Hiding things from kids that are guaranteed to become a problem later in life is rather a guarantee that the person will be traumatized when they do find out, and have major trust problems from there on out.