Many women say it should go without saying: Your doctor should not be able to give you a pelvic exam without first getting your permission.
That鈥檚 the law in Illinois. Yet in many states 鈥� including Missouri 鈥� physicians aren鈥檛 required to ask first. And the practice of giving women such exams while under anesthesia has long been commonplace, as a way to train medical residents. Explicit consent has not always been part of the equation.
For two years running, Missouri Rep. Shamed Dogan (R-Ballwin) has introduced . On Friday鈥檚 St. Louis on the Air, Dogan explained that he was inspired by national media coverage of the issue. (Most recently, the New York Times .)
But, he noted, the speaker of the House has so far failed to assign his bill to a committee. With that inaction, Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, has in effect single-handedly blocked the legislation from ever getting a hearing, much less proceeding to a vote.
Dogan said he welcomed the back-and-forth that could take place in committee.
鈥淲hen you have a hearing on a bill, that鈥檚 when you get an opportunity to hear from members of the public, from the associations, from medical students, from doctors, from everybody who has a stake in this issue, about what the reality is,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd we didn鈥檛 have that opportunity.鈥�
Still, he noted that he鈥檇 based his bill on current guidelines for obstetricians and gynecologists.
鈥淚 see no reason why anybody should object to putting into legislation what鈥檚 already in their professional guidelines,鈥� Dogan said.
Both St. Louis University and Washington University medical schools said they do not perform such examinations without meeting a strict set of guidelines, including full consent. That is also true of BJC Healthcare, the hospital chain where Wash U鈥檚 residents practice. (SSM Health, which employs St. Louis University medical students, did not answer our question by press time.)
But Jill Delston, a philosophy professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said she believes the practice continues today. Delston explored the practice in her new book, 鈥淢edical Sexism.鈥� And in addition to what she鈥檚 read in national media coverage of the issue, she鈥檚 gotten feedback that makes her fear that residents continue to perform such exams while their patients are anesthetized.
鈥淎necdotally, after my talks, I do have medical professionals come up to me and say, 鈥榊es, this is something I鈥檝e experienced or I have done,鈥欌�� Delston said. 鈥淪o yes, I think it鈥檚 still occuring.鈥�
Listen:
If Dogan鈥檚 effort fails to gain traction again this session, he said he鈥檇 like to introduce the bill a third time but isn鈥檛 sure.
鈥淚鈥檓 in a little bit of an uncomfortable position, honestly, as a man sponsoring this legislation,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to have one of my female colleagues take the lead on it next year. So, I hope some of them might be listening [today].鈥�
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is hosted by and produced by , , , and Joshua Phelps. The engineer is , and production assistance is provided by Charlie McDonald.
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