Transman loses baby during hysterectomy

I wasn't given a pregnancy test before my hysterectomy - they asked when my last period was and I assume my answer deemed it unnecessary. Given the problems I was having, sex was completely off the cards so I knew personally there was 0 chance of my being pregnant.

Absolute insanity.
It's a biological woman.

Why the heck wasn't the patient given a pregnancy test before having surgery?

It was at a women's hospital, men can't have hysterectomies?

What a gruesome story.

No, they weren't assured. They were told the hospital may give them a test. It's right there in the article.

You have no idea what was going on in this persons life.
This is not their fault. It is the hospitals. For failure of care. They PROMISSED a pregnacy test!!!!

They really will just hand out surgeries to anyone crying about being Trans won't they? Maybe I should claim i'm trans top get my own hysterectomy, maybe they will throw in a tummy tuck seeing as my c-section flap is a women-only feature.

Meanwhile my sister has a genuine medical need to have a hysterectomy which would likely solve ALL of her health issues and they flat out refuse while wasting time fannying about trying a million other things that simply won't work or have horrendous side effects even the menopause has nothing on.

I feel like the hospital was trying to be PC due to patients trans status. Surely if he is biologically female and identified as a woman then they would have insisted, I've always had to have a pre op test even if the answers to my questions mean there is zero chance of being pregnanct, but maybe because he is trans they didn't want to cause offence by insisting?

I agree.
I had to have a pelvic MRI earlier this year and before they would proceed I had to take a pregnancy test despite not being sexually active for over 2 years and telling them this. They couldn't proceed until that was done.

Agree with this entirely.

I haven't RTFT so apologies if anyone has already mentioned it, but this has happened more than once in UK hospitals to women (not transmen). It seems such a simple thing to make pregnancy tests before hysterectomies mandatory in hospitals.

LlamaFace19 · Today 11:43
Clearly some did not read the article. The patient was assured a pregnancy test would be done, and it wasn't. This is a mess up on the hospitals' part.

The responses are interesting. If this had happened to a women who identified as their biological sex there would be nothing but sympathy. But because the patient was trans, everyone is blaming her and distinctly lacking in sympathy. Sad. You can not necessarily agree that you can change your sex (as I don't think you can) but still have sympathy for them.

As Ricky Gervais would say, “Everyone is blaming HIM.”

“I wonder if the nurse genuinely thought she was talking to a man.”

In that case I wonder what surgery the nurse thought a man was going to have in the Women’s Hospital!

The hospital clearly has to tighten up its procedures, and train its staff better , but I think the woman involved is also partially responsible, if you have unprotected piv sex with a man and have other possible pregnancy symptoms such as sickness then you need to take responsibility for your own health , which means being aware of what sex you are and how that affects your reproductive health.

At the end of the day it's procedural errors on the hospitals end, possibly exacerbated by the standard processes not being designed with trans patients in mind. That doesn't make it the patients fault, or necessary the nurse asking the questions, depending on what the set questions were and answers given. It means the process needs to be re-examined to remove the possibly of future failings.

First errors was clearly relying on a questionnaire at all and not just testing everyone. It appears that has now rightly been changed.

Other possible issues (though just speculation)

Did the nurse know what surgery the patent was having, or was their role that day just to ask the questions to everyone having any surgery? If the latter, then they may not have realised the patient was female. That would be an procedural error of not having sex clearly noted, and could have been avoided by having more constant care givers or informed handovers.

Were the question ambitious if viewed through the lense of gender woo? Eg. "Have you had intercourse with someone of the opposite sex?". If the patent truly believes they are now a man, they may view their relationship as same sex, so answers a question like that incorrectly. While that could be avoided be the patent applying their own logic, hospitals have to deal with patients who are uninformed, have mental health issues, have strange (to me) beliefs or are just not that bright, so have a responsibility to make their systems robust enough to catch things like that. It should never depend on any patient having/applying their own sense.

Which is why I speculated that they didn't know what the operation was.

Their policy to base a pregnancy test on a questionnaire is clearly not a 100% fail safe. The nurse was sure enough to not do one though.

I agree, she could just be really, really bad at her job

According to the story, she did request a pregnancy test but the hospital determined it was unnecessary based on her answers. So maybe she lied about her sexual activity or menstruation.
Testing isn't automatic here either. I can confirm this from my own experience. They trust your answers. Maybe they shouldn't.

I think that there are many, many surgeries performed unethically by medics who are bad people with bad motivations. Huge numbers. "Gender affirming" [sic] surgeries are just one of many, many procedures where it is taken as read that the entire procedure is unethical, and therefore I'm totally unsurprised when other basic safety and care falls down.

E.g. the number of women who die after "routine" [sic] tummy tucks or "butt lifts", or have horrible side effects like Linda Evangelista and that grotesque fat freezing thing.

So yeah - I think any doctors etc who are prepared to carry out dangerous surgery with no medical reason are inherently unethical and incompetent. And I would advise any woman I cared about to run far far away.

It's clear that it wasn't standard practice.

In an email from the hospital, Mr Pohlner was told that depending on his last period or if he was sexually active that he may require a pregnancy test.

'May'.

The night before the operation, a nurse used a chart to ask him a series of yes and no questions that ultimately ruled a pregnancy test wasn't required.

So Pohlner's responses determined that no test was performed.

It's a really stupid process

Why didn't they do a pregnancy test themselves?

Where is the personal responsibility in this?

And the fact the vast majority of women would be aware they are pregnant by 4 months.

everyone is blaming her and distinctly lacking in sympathy.

This is nonsense. The thread is a mixture of views. Not everyone is blaming the patient. I am not. The hospital should not use a questionnaire that can be swayed by trans medicine or self-perception or interpretation from a nurse (bearing in mind Victoria is completely captured and it would not surprise me if a young nurse didn’t actually understand what they were dealing with). It’s entirely the hospital’s fault.

sure, but they still know it is a possibility, and don't go charging in for hysterectomies without checking

Many cis women dont find out they are pregnant until they give birth'

'Many'? Really?

Having googled placenta accreta, this is when the placenta is too low down and attaches to the area used for c-section. It apparently is but c-section from about 35 weeks is required. Google suggests there is up to a 7% risk of maternal mortality.

As for testing for pregnancy as standard. I had a hysterectomy. There was no way my uterus would have held a baby so I wasn’t tested afaik, albeit the hospital may have just drawn enough blood to check during the pre-op bloods. Idk. Private medical btw. However, this is a very different scenario and I agree, a test absolutely should have been taken.

It does very much sound like a terrible error on the part of the hospital.

As for judging the patient, I'm fairly sure I'd still be a bit judgy even if the patient wasn't trans, because anyone sensible in that situation who was in a sexual relationship, hadn't had a period and was experiencing nausea would have done their own pregnancy test. But legally speaking, I'd say all the fault was with the hospital (assuming the facts are as reported).

I thought that pregnancy tests were compulsory before surgery? I had a mundane surgery and despite being a lesbian who's never been with a bloke, I was given one.
No arguments, standard as people fib, or are in denial sometimes, or unaware of pregnancy status.

@Superfood would you say the same to any woman who underwent a hysterectomy? Or indeed any elective surgery?

Many cis women dont find out they are pregnant until they give birth, so Im not sure why youre that surprised. Being trans has nothing to do with it. And particularly if someone if taking hormones, they might not notice a lack of a period.

What this is, though, is a massive case of medical neglicence. Regardless of whether the person is trans or not.

I'm not aware of any women with children having medically unnecessary hysterectomies. Nor any medical professionals who would agree to carry it out.

All the women I know who have had hysterectomies have needed them for medical reasons.

It seems that this is a unique situation where risk/benefit analysis, and the Hippocratic oath, don't apply.