But the report states the vaginal exams are ‘unnecessary’ and ‘unindicated’, what are they actually testing for? Do the young girls subjected to something that is extremely intimate and often uncomfortable, undignified and traumatic actually know there isn’t any real need for them to undergo it? That they can decline? It’s all very uncomfortable considering these are young teenage girls. Lots of drs inc obstetricians in agreement that this practice is wrong on Twitter. Yet it’s so widespread.
The issue I think is that there is best practice, and what is normally done. A lot of these things, even the plain jane annual exam, are not really best practice. Because they are unnecessary.They aren't economically efficient and they take p time doctors could be doing other things and they don't improve health outcomes. Similarly with many of the tests they do - they are expensive, it is a waste of resources, and when you crunch the data it's not an effective way to help the patients. In fact many of these tests and procedures probably end up causing unnecessary interventions that are painful and negative and cause stress for the patients.
But the attitude of many doctors, and in fact many of the people they treat, is that it is not thorough if you don't do all this stuff. Talk to a bunch of Americans about their health and they will be all over getting blood work done for this or being screened for that. They cannot seem to believe that all this does not make them healthier. Pelvic exams for teens who aren't sexually active falls under the same thinking. If they are insured properly they have been going for a yearly check-up to a paediatrician all their lives, often including a visual exam of the genitals, they are used to the idea that it is just what you do. When they get to the mid teens they will likely begin to see a doctor who treats adults, maybe a GP but also it may be that they are sent to a gynaecologist for women's health because of the way specialists work in the US. They will still expect yearly checks and if you believe in checking everything, that includes a pelvic exam.
In countries with some form of socialised medicine, a lot of these practices have been discontinued when it became clear that they were not effective. Because it cost the system money that could be better used elsewhere. Doctors and patients think that's important and see it is in their own best interests both financially and in terms of health.
That doesn't happen so much in the US because of the way their medical system operates. But it's also part of their medical culture to treat almost everything from a very aggressive and invasive standpoint - and that isn't just the doctors it is also the patients. Kind of like American restaurants - they want to see big portions on their plates, value for money, you know.