Importance
of Filing Complaints Against Medical Professionals / Facilities
Medical Patient Modesty encourages
anyone who has had a bad experience with a medical professional
or medical facility to pressure the medical community to remedy
these situations by filing as many complaints as necessary for
change to take place. This includes
- Unnecessary intimate procedures
without prior understanding and consent.
- A medical professional of
the opposite sex who should not have been present for intimate
procedures.
- Unnecessary exposure and
visual access of intimate areas of the body.
To illustrate this need for more
individuals to express their grievances and file complaints,
read this letter
that Misty Roberts, the president of Medical Patient Modesty
received from the Georgia Composite Medical Board after she
filed a complaint with them on behalf of a woman who went to
an all-female ob/gyn practice in Georgia. This practice advertised
on their web site that they were an all-female staffed clinic
and that they were the only all-female ob/gyn practice in that
particular county. This patient was deceived by her female gynecologist
who assured her that she would be awake for a hysteroscopy.
However, the lady was given Propofol that left her too sedated
to speak up against the male anesthetist who was present even
though the practice was advertised as an all-female staffed
practice. The lady suffers from PTSD because of her horrible
experience and shared that she would have never consented to
Propofol if she had known it would have been given to her.
Misty had one simple request of
the Georgia Composite Board: reprimand the doctor and
the practice for false advertising. The Board should
have required the practice to remove all references to an all-female
practice if male anesthetists came to the practice to assist
with procedures. Also, the lady should have been given the option
to have the procedure performed using local anesthesia as is
commonly done in many other doctors’ offices. It was apparent
this practice took advantage of the lady to make more money
since she had good insurance.
As you can see in the letter
from the Georgia Composite Board, they closed this complaint
with no clear explanation. It appears as if they probably rushed
through the complaint and did not really care. Medical boards
are often unfair and on the doctor’s side because they
are run by doctors.
Misty also filed a complaint with
the Iowa Board of Medicine on behalf of a man who was alarmed
to learn that the disposable underwear he had been given had
been removed and his pubic hair shaved while he was sedated
for a venous ablation procedure that involved incisions around
his knee only. He was never informed about this pre-procedure
prep and would have never consented to the procedure had he
known. Furthermore, he found out afterwards that this procedure
is often performed a more relaxed office environment with a
local anesthetic rather than in an operating room with sedation.
The doctor who performed the man’s procedure even offers
the no-sedation option at the same hospital, but she did not
do so for this man. Another doctor told him that not only was
there no reason why his procedure had to be done in an operating
room with sedation, but that they do not shave patients’
groin / pubic area for this procedure at his hospital.
Misty asked the Iowa Board of
Medicine to reprimand the surgeon for her unethical behavior
and levy a requirement that she document in a consent form that
she has explained the possibility of visual and physical access
of intimate areas of the body for all patients.
Look at this redacted letter
from Iowa Board of Medicine Misty received in response.
The board apparently did not treat this as a serious issue.
They claimed that what happened to this man did not seriously
impact patient care which is a profound lie.
Pelvic exams without consent
finally have been recognized as a form of sexual abuse.
Other intimate procedures are no different. No intimate procedures
should ever be done without a patient’s expressed consent.
Check out this investigation by
Spotlight on America, “Citing
'national crisis' of inadequate doctor discipline, some call
for overhaul of system | The National Desk.”
This investigation revealed that
doctors tend to dominate most state medical boards and the need
to rectify this imbalance is to replace them with members of
the public who are not a part of the medical profession.
Spotlight on America shared
this: “We found Alabama and South Carolina’s medical
boards don’t currently include a single member of the
public. Florida, Kansas and Iowa have just three public members
each compared with 12, 12 and six doctors respectively. Only
California and Delaware have a near equal balance.”
Thus, most complaints are not
taken seriously, which is problematic because it enables doctors
and medical facilities to continue their wrongdoing.
So many doctors, especially male
gynecologists, have gotten away with sexual abuse for many
years. Look at our list on SexualMisconductByDoctors.com
for an example. You will notice many more patients felt empowered
that they could come forward when one patient filed a complaint
when a doctor sexually abused her. The same thing happened with
Dr. Larry Nassar.
Thankfully, sexual abuse of female
patients by male doctors is taken more seriously today. For
example, pelvic exams without consent have received more attention
over the past few years, resulting in some law firms taking
on those cases by virtue of these exams being considering as
sexual abuse. Furthermore, multiple states have passed laws
specifically banning non-consensual pelvic exams.
The truth is there are other
intimate procedures done without consent besides pelvic exams,
such as rectal exams, unnecessary removal of underwear while
the patient is sedated or under anesthesia, shaving the pubic
/ groin area, etc. that constitute sexual abuse under guise
of medical care. We need to fight this like the many women who
pushed for an end of pelvic exams without consent.
Sadly, the same protection has
not been afforded male patients because our society does not
want to acknowledge they are also sexually abused by medical
professionals. Many men do not feel comfortable speaking up
because they are often labeled as weak and feel they won’t
be taken seriously. For example, one man decided not
to complain about a female doctor for pulling down his underwear
to examine his hernia against his wishes because he was afraid
he would lose his health insurance (probably an unfounded fear)
and the doctor might label him as crazy.
While it is common for medical state boards, hospitals, offices
of patient education, patient advocate groups, etc. to not take
patients’ complaints seriously, it is, nevertheless, important
for as many people as possible to complain so they cannot deny
that a problem exists. The more complaints they get, the more
likely there will be changes.
We recommend you read the article, “What
You Should Know About Surgery,” before
you have any procedure. But if you have been wronged in any
way, please consider pursuing the following avenues as a way
to express your grievances and keep up the pressure so that
together, we can enact much-needed change within the medical
industry.
Complaints You Should
File
1) Medical
Board in Your State – Many of those medical boards
have a form you can fill out.
2) Patient Experience or Patient
Advocate Office at the Hospital – Many hospitals have
this department where you can file a complaint.
3) Medical Facility’s
web site – Some medical facilities have a form on their
web sites you can fill out to file a complaint.
4) Office of Sexual Misconduct
– This department exists at numerous university hospitals.
If you had an intimate procedure done without your consent,
you should file a complaint.
5) Consult with an attorney
for certain cases.
6) File a complaint with the
Better Business Bureau, especially
if the practice or medical facility you used had false advertising.
7) File a tort claim in your
state if you had an intimate procedure done without your consent.
This violation would fall under medical battery.
8) Submit a Complaint
through Consumer
Watchdog.
9) Write a letter to the administrators,
such as the practice administrator at the medical facility where
you had the procedure.
10) File a complaint with The
Joint Commission.
11) File a criminal complaint
with the local police department. If the incident occurred at
a university hospital, file a complaint with campus police.
Resources to Check out:
Choosing
a Doctor and a Medical Facility
Patient
Modesty Friendly Doctors
What You
Should Know About Surgery
Unnecessary
Underwear Removal For Surgeries
Sedation,
Versed, and Your Procedure
Modesty
Concerns for Procedures and Surgeries
Why
You Should Have a Personal Advocate For Surgery?
Surgery
and Your Modesty
Surgery
and Your Modesty - Youtube Video
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