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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think they shouldn't have made me take a pregnancy test.

123 replies

ItsNotPossible · 02/04/2014 20:13

This is light hearted because I do understand rules are rules, but.......

I was in hospital today to have a minor operation. Beforehand I was asked if I could be pregnant. I replied no definitely not and the nurse ticked the form happy with my answer.
Twenty minutes later she returned to me with a pee pot and said I needed to take a test. Not really a problem, it's just a quick pee in a pot.

However:

I am 54 and haven't had a period for 3 years 4 months.

I November I completed 8 weeks of daily radiotherapy to my pelvic area which would have left me infertile.

I was in hospital to have an op to re-open the top of my vagina and entrance to my cervix as the radiotherapy had fused them together. I didn't have sex with my DP during the 8 weeks of chemo and radiotherapy because I was too ill. That finished in November, we still haven't been able to have sex since completion of treatment because I was fused Grin

All of this they were aware of. How much blummin evidence of not being pregnant does one need.

OP posts:
hoobypickypicky · 02/04/2014 21:19

Having good medical reason for pregnancy to be an impossibility, I'd have been angry, hurt and felt belittled. I would have refused to comply and complained like hell. The words 'eff off' may have been used if the staff had persisted.

breatheslowly · 02/04/2014 21:20

I was asked for a urine sample for a pregnancy test when I went in 6 weeks after giving birth to fix my episiotomy that had completely opened back up (it was yuck). I said "no" as unsurprisingly I hadn't had sex. The nurse checked with my surgeon who said that it was fair enough and I didn't have to do it. There is clearly some discretion available if you manage to get the right person.

Letsgoforawalk · 02/04/2014 21:24

YANBU
The company (Celgene) that make and sell Thalidomide have very good reasons for making sure that the women who take their drug do not get pregnant. you can google 'Celgene pregnancy prevention programme' and find this quite easily, but I've copy and pasted it here. this is their criteria for defining someone of childbearing potential:
"Women in the following groups are considered not to have childbearing potential and do not need to undergo
pregnancy testing or receive contraceptive advice.
• Age ?50 years and naturally amenorrhoeic for ?1 year. Please note amenorrhoea following cancer therapy does
not rule out childbearing potential
• Premature ovarian failure con?rmed by a specialist gynaecologist
• Previous bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, or hysterectomy
• XY genotype, Turner syndrome, uterine agenesis.
Women of childbearing potential are all other women who are menstruating or perimenopausal, even those who
abstain from sexual intercourse. Treating physicians are advised to refer their patient for a gynaecological opinion if
at all unsure as to whether a woman meets the criteria for being of non-childbearing potential."
From what you wrote OP you fulfil the first criteria. A blanket pregnancy test for 'every woman under 55' may be effective but is probably unnecessary. Directing the ward manager to the above criteria with a question about the cost of pregnancy tests might just prompt them to rethink.
I hope the op went well and you are recovering nicely Smile

MrsShortfuse · 02/04/2014 21:25

I've had a hysterectomy and a nurse still managed to argue with me.

RevoltingPeasant · 02/04/2014 21:28

WitchWay that is a very, very good point!

You know, this just helped me realise why that interaction has always niggled at me a tiny bit. It was because they asked if I could be pregnant and then when I explained to the male surgeon and registrar about our fertility issues, I just got "not good enough" back.

I felt pretty stupid having just said something so intimate to two strange men when they didn't even need to know, as they weren't going to take my word for it anyhow.

The more I think about it, the more it seems like a patient dignity thing. Why not just test all women under 55 and say it is a blanket policy? No need for humiliation, getting into the patient's sex life etc then.

RevoltingPeasant · 02/04/2014 21:32

Letsgo the problem with your list is that it only talks about women's biological capacity to be pg. It ignores whether they actually could be or not.

For example, should a lesbian who has not undergone artificial insemination or IVF be required to have a pg test? She does not fall under any of your categories but she won't be pg without a miracle!

KatyMac · 02/04/2014 21:38

I was in having a D&C because I'd had a miscarriage

They made me do a pregnancy test - it came back positive........apparently that is normal Sad

AnyaKnowIt · 02/04/2014 21:40

Its smacks of silly wimin don't know their own bodies.

Fine offer the choice to do a pregnancy test but don't demand one.

cafecito · 02/04/2014 21:42

as others have said, if if if you had been pregnant, you could have sued them to oblivion. it may also have complicated procedures, etc etc - even when people say 'there's no way' pregnancy tests may be done to just check for certain especially in surgical cases

justtoomessy · 02/04/2014 21:48

Anyone 60 and under has a pregnancy test in my A and E. Its just procedure.

hoobypickypicky · 02/04/2014 21:48

cafecito, in my case "there's no way" and I'd feel bloody upset and belittled if I got told otherwise. At best, it's patronising. Worse still, it's distressing.

I don't know where the fuck my ovaries are now, but they sure as sure ain't in my body any longer. There's no way.

ACatCalledColin · 02/04/2014 21:48

Do they regularly test for pregnancy before surgery these days then? I admit it's been a while since I last had an operation (well actually only four years so not really that long) but I don't think I was tested for pregnancy. I was asked if there was any chance I could be pregnant beforehand however as I wasn't sexually active at the time I said no and that was that. I think they just took my word for it. That could be potentially dangerous of course as not everyone is truthful about these things.

Letsgoforawalk · 02/04/2014 21:51

revolting peasant without getting into a long detailed debate about assumptions about lifestyles, I totally agree that it seems ridiculous for some women to be quizzed about this after they have stated the impossibility of it. There have to be some universal well thought through criteria for such things.
The list is not my list, it was produced by a multi million pound 'big pharma' company who make a drug that causes terrible birth defects if taken by women who are pregnant. They have gone to a lot of trouble to make sure that it is clear who should be having pregnancy tests to ensure that the drug is not given to anyone who may be, or could get, pregnant. I would think it makes sense to 'borrow' their criteria if you needed to reliably categorise someone as potentially childbearing or not.
Sometimes nurses, doctors etc have to have these uncomfortable conversations. If they cannot do this without 'humiliating' the patient then it is not the fault of the subject matter but of their communication skills or their own discomfort with the subject. (or lack of appropriate time and facilities in which to have a sensitive discussion....)

hoobypickypicky · 02/04/2014 21:51

Justtoomessy, what about patient choice (I'll overlook the 'anyone' as I presume you don't test men)?

I'm serious, surely you can't tell us that every woman under 60 has a pregnancy test in your A&E. Some must, as I would, exercise their right to decline.

RevoltingPeasant · 02/04/2014 21:53

Colin they do at my hospital. Another time, a female registrar asked if I could be pg. I said no. She turned to the consultant and said "Shall we test her?" Angry

Just have a blanket policy or if you going to ask, do women the courtesy of believing them!

RevoltingPeasant · 02/04/2014 21:56

Letsgo, yes sorry, I know you didn't write the list.

Personally I think it is fine to test routinely as there will always be some women who genuinely don't know, and rather than upsetting a woman who is infertile, or whose husband has died, or whatever, it would be easier to just say sorry, it is policy, rather than getting into the details when as you say, there often is not time.

PicandMinx · 02/04/2014 22:00

At the A&E at my local hospital, every woman that is under 60 is assumed to be pregnant until the test comes back negative!

Annietheacrobat · 02/04/2014 22:05

57 cut off at mine.

ICanSeeTheSun · 02/04/2014 22:08

what a waste of NHS resources in doing pregnancy test that will be negative.

AskBasil · 02/04/2014 22:08

Why not just have a line on the consent form which declares that you are not pregnant and waives any legal rights if you are?

What happens if a woman refuses a pregnancy test because she knows she's not pregnant? Is she refused the pregnancy-unrelated medical procedure she's gone in for?

Sounds like another case of the NHS bullying women to me. What a waste of NHS resources.

Why ask if you're going to ignore the answer? What's the logic behind that? Either do the test as a routine or respect the answer you're given. Don't ask and then demonstrate that you have no respect for the answer.

Elfontheedge · 02/04/2014 22:11

Well they repeatedly asked my cousin if she was pregnant when she was in hospital. They just couldn't grasp the meaning of "no I'm a lesbian, I haven't had sex with a man for 16 years" Grin

mummytime · 02/04/2014 22:12

So if I came into your A and E with a broken ankle you would expect a pregnancy test?

greenfolder · 02/04/2014 22:12

interestingly, when i went in for hysterectomy i was asked. i had to take a sample in but i was never told it was for a pregnancy test, but i assume they must have tested without asking

carabos · 02/04/2014 22:12

What's the rationale behind the arbitrary cut off ages? Clearly not scientific or they would all be the same.

And what happens if you refuse the test? Would they really refuse to treat you? Really?

LineRunner · 02/04/2014 22:14

My hospital has an age range of 13 to 55 for asking.

I pity the 13 year olds, frankly. I hope they get treated with a bit more dignity than the 50+ group.

(I staved off a pregnancy test by saying I was in the middle of a very heavy period. Which seems odd if they need to be 'sure'.)