Blogs are taking aim at this surgeon, and the physician-haters can’t wait to pile on: “As someone who spends a substantial portion of his professional time teaching medical students, I can tell you that this kind of attitude”“that physicians are gods, not mere mortals, and wield power over other human beings that no one dare question”“is inculcated in them from the very beginning of medical training. It is an ugly secret of our medical training system. And the more prestigious the institutions where physicians receive their training, the more overweening is this attitude.”
(via Orac)
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This is ths comment from the “Feministe” site by a woman who clainms to be a physiology professor at a “prestigious mecdical school.” The nuance is quite impressive. Sometimes people hang themselves without any help whatsoever.
“Surgeons are the worst, they cut people’s f*cking asses open with sharp knives, and they are basically used to functioning as dictators in the operating room. These leads to the development of attitudes which makes perfect sense in light of the practical demands of surgery. But they do not work well in other areas of life. Put a surgeon in charge of any enterprise that requires leadership through persuasion or consensus, and you are totally f*cking f*cked.”
-Dr. Kranky
I don’t agree with the blanket comments about the arrogance of doctors, but are there any options besides 1) you’re a doctor hater, or 2) what happened is totally A-OK? Is it really hard to understand how a patient who discovered a surgeon touched that part of her body while she was unconscious, for reasons having nothing to do with her surgery, might feel creeped out and uneasy? Basically, you’re trusting a surgeon with complete and total access to your body. 99.999% of them would never abuse that. But why plant that seed of doubt in your patient’s mind?
Here is the disconnect: the surgeon places a meant-to-be-humorous mark on a patient in a place where no one will see it but her. A private joke between himself and the patient. Chuckling WITH her, not at her. The patient, however, like most patients, has an inflated sense of her own sexual appeal and assumes this was a lascivious gesture. Let’s make something clear: an unconscious, anesthetized, drooling woman holds very little charm for most doctors. Get over yourself, ma’am.
Anonymous 8:53, he had no right.
It was a crummy thing to do. He should never do it again.
Trusting a surgeon to cut into me and stitch me up while I’m out cold is indignity enough for any woman.
I don’t want anyone presuming I would enjoy unpermitted liberties with my body when I’m unconscious or unable to resist, certainly not a surgeon.
“A private joke”?
My understanding is that the patient didn’t know ahead of time and didn’t give permission. So if it was a joke, it was pretty one-sided.
Does she deserve financial compensation? Not hardly. This suit is frivolous and I hope it’s thrown out.
But, frankly, giving silly little stick-on children’s tattoos to adult patients to supposedly “cheer them up” is just… weird. Sex has nothing to do with it. Regardless of where the surgeon put his silly little tattoo, it would have been weird. It’s just unprofessional to surprise patients with attempts at humor while they’re under anesthesia.
As for Feministe, a rant is a rant. I’ve seen as much or worse on some of the physician blogs.
As a (male) med student, I am amazed and disgusted by the tone of both the post (specifically, “[T]he physician-haters can’t wait to pile on.”) and some of these comments. What this surgeon did was, in fact, battery – there are no two ways about it. For starters, touching someone without their consent is, by definition, battery (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/battery). Are we to imagine that somehow the placement of this tattoo (temporary or not) was covered in the informed consent the patient signed? Moreover, if the intent were simply to “make the patient feel better,” why put the tattoo on the “belly,” “below the pantyline” or even anywhere near it? How about the hand? I’ve never seen a pediatrician put a Dora the Explorer sticker on a kid “below the pantyline.” How is this any different? This offense, and others like it (I’ve heard similar stories already after just a year of med school) are made that much more grievous by the “social contract” if you will, and likely by an actual legal contract, between patient and physician in which the patient and the physician – not to mention the explicit ethical obligation enjoined upon the surgeon by his education, training, and role as a healer. Clearly the physician thought it was funny, but would it be equally funny if the situation were reversed and the patient (or anyone else) wrote “Quack,” or “This man is a child molester” somewhere on the surgeon’s body without his consent? If this clown did the same thing to my wife, I would be livid.
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