Male midwife facing 29 charges of misconduct,

The percentage of male midwives found to have committed these offences is astounding. Surely the RCM needs to get involved from a safeguarding perspective.

I had a male midwife with my third and I was pretty unhappy with a couple of things he did. In fact unhappy enough I nearly wrote to complain: of course with a new baby I didn’t but even years later I was still wishing I had.

There's quite a lot of social history depicting the abuse of pregnant and labouring women by female maternity staff - young unmarried women being refused pain relief because they were sluts who deserved to suffer, for probably the most common example.
It's also still quite common for poor/uneducated/non-white/young people to have their consent overriden or never even requested by HCPs.

It might also be worth remembering that there are individual men who have literally given their lives to provide women with healthcare (abortion providers murdered by foetus-worshipping maniacs).

This all feels a bit harsh?
Not the many women on here talking about their disturbing experiences with male HCPs.
Funny how with some people speaking up about abuse is "harsh" but not a word agains the abuse itself.

No, shit. It's probably 'bigoted' to even make a complaint, and everyone who was involved in prosecuting the midwife involved obviously did so out of 'bigotry'.

Personally, I would have felt more confident with a female midwife, but then in the 90s males in the profession were like hens teeth. Here's the thing though, in my experience the majority of Dr's and consultants in obstetrics and gynaecology are men, so why are we so accepting of them rather than midwives ? One obstetrician was unable to detect my (7month) pregnancy while he was trying out an internal scanner and while the sales person remained in the room. I suffered from extreme anxiety for the rest of my pregnancy but my complaint was fobbed off because he "just wasn't used to the machine". I believe psychological testing should be used for all students before they choose these specialities or paediatrics

Or they are instantly dismissed because you know hysterical women + system that protect men/consultant as being gods who can do no wrong…

This I think. A man delivered dc1 (obstetrician). He stroked my hair, he told dh in front of me how well I'd done avoiding stretch marks and whilst trying a forceps delivery, made a comment to dh and various junior Doctors about my stretchy vagina which still gives me the rage nearly 7 years on. Minor things compared to some but the difference between dc1's arrival and that of dc2 where everyone in theatre apart from dh was female was immense. I did complain about his comments afterwards but they were shrugged off as jokes. Someone even tried to frame them as compliments.

Do people have their name “dragged through the mud” @Whatwouldscullydo?
I think there’s an odd perception that HCPs are treated like famous people who are publicly named if accused of sexual misconduct but that’s actually not true.
The press will only report once the NMC or GMC hold tribunal hearings or criminal cases are underway.
And yes, HCPs can ask for chaperones to protect themselves- but guess what.. an abuser won’t do that because they want the privacy.
In my case I wrote to the CEO of the hospital Trust asking for mandatory chaperones in cases like mine (paediatric consultant appointment behind closed doors). They categorically refused.
They also categorically refused CCTV.
So how can women protect themselves other than by asking for female HCPs? Though even though that doesn’t guarantee that a female can’t be abusive.

bigotry
/ˈbɪɡətri/

noun
obstinate or unreasonable attachment to a belief, opinion, or faction; in particular, prejudice against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.

Women wanting safety from men isn't bigotry. It isn't unreasonable as it's easily proven that a good majority.of women have experienced some form of abuse, aggression, harm etc at the hands of a man.
Therefore, concerns are.raised on the back of facts and figures, not irrational or unfounded fear.

Well the easy solution to that os fir men to change their behaviour towards women. But as we know sone people are desperate for women to have their rights to single sex provision removed so not to upset the males who take it as a personal.attack and then we have people who have the nerve to instead of being upset or angry at the males responsible for making wonen feel unsafe , are instead angry at the women for feeling that way, and dumping the problem.on them to fix . To frame it as it actually doing women a favour to have to have males present at all times and give us the responsibility of having to navigate requesting female care , is a particularly absurd take tbh

I agree @Wreath21
After giving birth to my first a consultant in the room didn’t ask for consent before putting her hands inside my vagina/ anus. The other members of the team in the room looked horrified, not a single one of them vouched for me though.

There’s issues with care everywhere. Can’t just blame men for it.

What about male sonographers (for pregnancy)? I've had a few scans done by men (both internal and external) and in general the experience has been fine or even particularly good and kind. I've also been seen by very insensitive midwives who told me off for going for a scan after a miscarriage two days prior as they said ut was too soon (but someone else had decided I should have the appointment). She didn't even give me her condolences for what had happened two days before.

I personally wouldn't mind a male midwife in principle, but of course if something seemed off I'd say something. Now reading these articles I have to agree it sounds like there's a lot of bastards for such a small group of people.

I wonder if anyone can name any set of circumstances where bigotry-based bans and prohibitions and moral panics have ever done anything other than make things ultimately worse for those they will supposedly protect. An 'only women can practice gynaecology/obstetrics' would most likely lead to reduced funding (and reduced pay of course) for those working in the sector, which would lead on to staff shortages and an already underfunded type of healthcare being pushed further into the background.
It would also lead to an increasing culture of sex segregation, which would not benefit women at all (it really, really isn't that big a distance from 'women should be able to avoid interaction with men if they feel at risk' to 'women must be kept apart from men ie placed under far more restrictions than men, for their own safety, whether they like it or not.'
Feminists have fought for centuries for women to be able to go out 'unchaperoned', to mix with men other than their male owners, yet there is an increasing strand of feminist thought demanding women retire from public life because waa, penis!

As some PP have said, there are problems with women's healthcare, and issues around patient consent being overridden, but these need addressing overall. And insisting that any man who wants to work in obstetrics/gynaecology must be a woman-hating predator is absolutely not the way to fix this.

Of course I understand, but they’re presenting male.

This seems to be the way things are going

@makingmiracles I agree and have thought this about gynecologists. At a time when women are vulnerable, lying there being examined by a male does not always feel comfortbale. For a start, they can't possibly understand the pain or mental impact of having something wrong with you can be. There have been a couple of occasions where I definitely would have preferred a female.

I'm.sure staff can also object to being placed in certain situations too. Asking fir a male specifically to do an intimate exam. Well he would have a right to refuse as its his name dragged through the mud should a complaint be made. A female chaperone would also have to he present. There is no way to get out of your sex

What? This makes no sense. Why would trans men need male healthcare? They are biological women

Plus they are there to deliver care. Not affirm identities. That's the friends and families job.

TWENTY NINE offenses is AT LEAST twenty nine separate occasions where nothing was seen, spotted, no one complained, no one challenged etc.

Its convenient for a hospital to lay it all on the idea of 'a rogue male member of staff' rather than asking rather more questions about the culture at the hospital and how women seemingly haven't said anything. Repeatedly.

If you just ban male midwives, you almost let the hospital off the hook and don't ask a lot of the questions which might protect patients from other members of staff. In maternity and in other departments.

I think, to a degree, the fact this has occurs in a maternity ward, is actually a bit of a red herring.

Plus the issue of trans men who give birth, imagine if they couldn’t access male healthcare for womens issues?

A transman is female, you do understand? They don't need 'male' healthcare.

Sickening.

I would’ve refused a male midwife for reasons sort of unknown, I knew I just wouldn’t be comfortable. My husband couldn’t understand why. Well this is why!!

I was very pleased when the whole team doing my c-section for my second birth were women. It put me at ease at a very scary time.

If this is how you're thinking you need to prove that having male midwives has improved the care of women.

Can you do that?

I think I covered that in a previous post actually.

I always end up commenting on threads of this sort because I can’t abide the adoration that goes with HCPs, usually men, that allows abuse to be perpetuated.
I was sexually assaulted by a paediatric consultant - a man, who is married to a man, so allegedly homosexual. I was not believed by the hospital when I reported it.
I was made to feel like I was insane, frankly.
I have emails from the senior paediatric consultants in that hospital- written between each other, agreeing to leave out references to sexual “harassment “ when replying to my MP who had made representations on behalf.
Not assault - harassment- minimising.
The first female consultant (who was the first HCP I told) tried to convince me a) it didn’t happen and b) the consultant shouldn’t be reported.
I told her I wanted a formal complaint lodged.
4 weeks later it still wasn’t.
I have emails between the consultants asking if they should just not bother to write back to me after I got the first decision into their alleged investigation and I had a complete breakdown.
They sent Social Services to investigate me. I have evidence of the lies they told SS.
They ignored vital evidence and made excuses for the “lovely gay consultant”. For instance, that he had a photo of me, taken and shared without my consent.
That consultant is still practicing. He is a neonatal lead in his hospital- just think how many young, vulnerable women (and men) he has access to.
I believe he is doing the same thing to another woman currently but can’t prove it.
I’ve been to the police etc and matters are not finally concluded but .. the hospital also lied in a published FOI request about the nature of the two formal complaints registered against him.
In his case sexual assault complaint (I am one of those complaining) and whatever the other one is - are publicly described as “communication “ complaints.

I never see a male HCP alone unless it’s an emergency. And I do not blame others for doing so either

female midwives/ nurses have also done disgusting things though. Including murdering patients.

You could never stop men from becoming midwives, the majority of them are fab! There’s always going to be some that aren’t but that’s the same for women too.

Plus the issue of trans men who give birth, imagine if they couldn’t access male healthcare for womens issues?