to be so upset? GP surgery told me I would be removed from their list if I don't have a smear test

[veryworried29]

Namechanging uber-regular here.

I received a text from my GP surgery which said "Please confirm address by phone. If not you will be removed from surgery list."

I rang immediately and was told that if I don't come in for a smear test then I will be struck off the surgery list!

Dh and I have been with this surgery for 18 years and our children since they were born.

I don't feel I need a smear test. We very rarely have sex and when we do it is always with a condom. I have had years of clear smears before me.

I find them horrifically unpleasant, in the same way that some people are phobic about the dentist, infact think I may have a form of vaginismus (sp?) hence the lace of piv sex.

Tbh, it almost feels like I must agree to be raped (sorry for emotive language, but this is how it feels to me) in order to keep a place at my GP surgery.

I cannot begin to describe how upset I am about this. There have been tears.

I'd be grateful if you could bear this in mind when replying ... I know this is aibu, but I do feel I have a genuine aibu to run past you all with this one.

Smear tests don't prevent cancer, they identify it, Winter .

Have to say I have never felt so out of step with any thread ever on MN and don't understand the vilification of a poster who was expressing a perfectly valid point of view...

Just for the record I don't agree it's right for a surgery to threaten removal from their list. That is clearly wrong.

Which vilified poster with the valid viewpoint do you mean JohnCusack?

Thank you Bela, so the risk of cervical cancer must be very low if the test finds cancer in so few women, if I assume that millions of women in the UK are screened?

The GP...

John, if Imagine had explained her reasons in her capacity as a professional, then no problem. It was the manner in which she simply said that the OP was foolish - its the quality of judgement that is problematic. Its about professionalism.

The way a professional conducts themselves even on an internet forum is important as they reflect the profession.

Trust and feeling like your fears and concerns will be respected and treated with sensitivity are massively important to some people, particularly those who may be more vulnerable. I suspect there are people here who haven't always been treated like that... or perhaps it reinforces the fear that they can not talk openly and honestly with a HCP as they will be judged for it.

... even comments on an internet forum can be damaging if ill thought out as a result.

I expect all healthcare professionals to understand just how important it is as basis and essential knowledge. It is the foundation on which the doctor patient relationship rests. Its a partnership where the doctor works with the patient not tells them whats best for them without discussion and understanding on the part of the patient.

Ah, yes John. Glad she/he isn't my GP.

Winter - you think 3000 women a year is low?

Plus, you do realise that the screening detects the pre-cancerous stages Winter?

So that women can be monitored and treated before cancer is fully developed...

Well, we can agree to differ. Personally I'd rather have a doctor who told me honestly what they thought was best for me....not skirted round the issue with lots of platitudes. I can't believe there are many GPs who wouldn't think that the OPs stance was misguided, although they might not put it as bluntly as that in real life.

There are ways of saying the exact same thing sensitively WITHOUT skirting around things.

Put simply, say it without the emotive words.

As I said, I doubt the word "foolish" would be used in real life.

Ultimately it's an individual's choice but it isn't rational (to me) to refuse a potentially life saving test just because its painful/unpleasant. I think that's all Imagine was trying to say before she was flamed.

If its not acceptable for a GP to say it in real life why is it acceptable for them to do it on the internet if they make the point that they are saying it is their professional view by stating they are a GP?

Thats the point. You can not switch off that professional capacity.

Raped seriously - get a grip.

Unless you have been raped and it evokes painful memories.

You either want to prevent cervical cancer or you don't.

Your GP maybe UN but you are being more.

This person has, as far as I can deduce, making an educated and informed choice.

She knows what she is choosing.

Far be it from me to label her for that choice, or any other.

This is the point.

A person who makes an informed and educated choice about his or her own body should not be penalised for that choice, be it abortion, losing weight, drinking less, stopping smoking, doing drugs, declining cancer treatment, declining induction of labour, declining VBAC, declining any other sort of treatment is doing what she or he feels best for his or her body.

Anyone who denigrates that choice, by whatever means, including name-calling, has no credibility, IMO. I challenge him or her, to submit meekly if the body in question is his or her own.

Step up then. On your own, whatever you see or have seen is who you are and that's fine, but stand up for you.

Do you want others dictating to you how you should act about your own body or else?

But John you're (presumably) not a GP. For a GP to dismiss someone's worries as 'foolish' is at best breathtakingly insensitive, at worst, worryingly negligent. Even on an internet forum.

GossipMonster Nice back-tracking there... Nice to see you were at least capable of that much imagination.

She doesn't want a smear. She finds it invasive. As other women on this thread do.

You have no right to ridicule her feelings and tell her to "get a grip". I'm officially, as someone who has been, saying she is perfectly entitled to feel they're comparable. I will not claim to represent all survivors, but for now, my opposing opinion is as equal as yours.

'Raped seriously - get a grip.

Unless you have been raped and it evokes painful memories.

You either want to prevent cervical cancer or you don't.

Your GP maybe UN but you are being more.'

I was raped. He roofed me in a drink and raped me. I was able to get past it. Others are not and have a lot of problems from it. Far be it from me to tell them to 'get a grip', they did not commit the crime committed against them. Their rapist did that.

How dare you minimise that.

*my opposing opinion equals and negates your judgmental opinion.

I am horrified and disgusted that you liken a smear test to being raped.

It's a wonderful free test to check you don't have a horrible disease. How ungrateful you are.

Kytti- how ignorant. Have a word with yourself.

I am honestly really struggling to find words for the people who are telling a woman she should be grateful to have her vagina penetrated against her will- and when a threat to remove necessary medical care is made for failure to consent then it is not a freely made choice.

Absolutely disgusting!

Kytti the point is having a smear test, especially under duress, is capable of bringing back horrific memories. Therefore some women make an informed decision that the risk (as a combination of both likelihood and severity) of having a smear is higher than not having it.

I am not in that position and have just remembered I got my letter last week and need to book one, and am glad I have the opportunity to. That doesn't mean I think all women should be forced to have one irrespective of their views.

Go into the surgery and speak to someone sympathetic. See if you can take a friend or partner in with you and hold your hand- they won't see anything up that end. I think you need to have it though.

I had years of clear smears then a 4cm tumour on my cervix out of the blue- I was go smacked but so glad I'd gone. I had to have a radical hysterectomy which was horrible.

Are there any Polish ladies on this board who can tell me if this is now the law in Poland

myownwife.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/is-poland-planning-a-smear-campaign-against-women/

If this in fact did/is happening then we need to ask ourself - yes you as well Kytti and Gossip is this something we would tolerate in the UK.

Because this sort of thing could happen here if we don't assert our rights and question and complain about our treatment

Btw, in terms of boundaries of doctors and their conduct on the internet, the GMC guidelines (2013) and subsequent response should be read.

www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/ethical_guidance/21186.asp
www.gmc-uk.org/publications/21833.asp

Key paragraph:
5. The standards expected of doctors do not change because they are communicating through social media rather than face to face or through other traditional media. However, using social media creates new circumstances in which the established principles apply.

It also states:
17. If you identify yourself as a doctor in publicly accessible social media, you should also identify yourself by name. Any material written by authors who represent themselves as doctors is likely to be taken on trust and may reasonably be taken to represent the views of the profession more widely.

Though the notes also state that they are guidelines rather than rules and that professional judgment should be applied. To this end I certain do not feel that any doctor on MN should name themselves if they state they are a doctor, but they should take on board the GMC's comment that anyone who represents themselves as a doctor 'may reasonably be taken to represent the views of the profession more widely' - and thats where it becomes dodgy ground if you are going to go round calling people 'foolish' in that capacity or making other particularly insensitive remarks about a very sensitive subject.

I hope that Imagine has not hidden the thread...

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius - Just to come back to your point many pages back, HPV is really easy to transmit - so you can get it from sexual contact rather than sexual intercourse (e.g. fingers, sex toys etc). I believe there can also be transmission to babies from infected mothers. This is why there are recommendations that even women who have not had penetrative sex attend for screening.

Something well over 99% of cervical cancers are associated with HPV. In technical parlance, HPV is a necessary but not sufficient cause of cervical cancer: this means that you have to have been infected with HPV to get it, but that other things have to go 'wrong' too (we don't know enough about what yet).