Male midwife facing 29 charges of misconduct,

[TheLoneRager]

NMC hearing started today, expected to last four days, of a senior male midwife accused of, among other things, having taken pictures of two women having caesarian sections without their permission and also filmed himself performing a sex act in a hospital toilet.
He faces 29 misconduct charges.

Will be watching this case this week.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10439033/Bullying-male-midwife-alleged-taken-pictures-two-women-having-Caesarean-sections.html

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.

@LaBellina

I openly stated in my birth plan that I did not want any males attending the birth of DS, other then DH. I had an all female team of nurses, midwife, ob gyn and anesthesiologist supporting me and it was great, I felt comfortable and safe. I don’t care if that makes me a bigot for some here or what the male HCP’s at the hospital thought of it. Not my job to spare their feelings.

It’s not women’s job in general to suck it up and be kind during what is probably for most the most vulnerable time in their life. Men shouldn’t be midwives and I always ask for female drs for gynea check ups. It’s not about predatory men per se, it’s about men making me feel more exposed and vulnerable and that’s reason enough to not want them there.

I feel the same. I would not want a male midwife and I am now always asking for female drs and such.
Once I had a male physio and didnt like the way he behaved. Even if it was just putting electrodes on my back and taking it off after 10 mins I didnt like the way he handled the whole thing and it just didnt feel right to be half naked in that room.

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

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.

@NeverChange

Can you imsginecreading that article of he had delivered your baby? To photograph those women are their most vulnerable is despicable.

Yes. The article is how I found out. He induced me (broke my waters) and was my midwife for the day. He wasn't very gentle/kind and insisted I wasn't in active labour when I was quite clearly in a lot of pain, and then he delivered my child very shortly after said denial of active labour but I have no recollection of anything untoward happening. However it has left me feeling extremely unsettled and not to be dramatic, like the birth of my only child has been tainted in some way just by him being involved. I'm sad and my heart goes out to the women affected in far more invasive and unforgivable ways than me. It's such a vulnerable time in your life and women deserve compassion, care, and not to be photographed during this time!

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.

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.

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

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'.

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).

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.

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.

Given that 99% of all sexual assaults are committed by males (of whatever gender), it's pretty good odds that you're going to be safe with a female HCP.

Childbirth is an entirely female experience and men shouldn't be part of it in my opinion. They should not even be the first option for a birthing partner. Only those men who have genuinely studied up on what is expected of a birthing partner and who have the stamina and emotional intelligence to be genuinely present and supportive should be any where near the labour ward or delivery suite. No male midwives!

blue

I was responding to a poster who said that a transman would need to be able to request male care. In that it assumes that a male care giver would actually even consent to being put into that situation by actual request. And that health care is sex based and there's no getting out of that.

The idea that the provisions for wonen should be left to be less safe on the basis that some females who still need that female based intimate care would need to access a male dr who might not even consent to that is not a good idea.

I ended up with a male midwife when my DD was born in 2015. I was unsure at first but he was totally amazing and the care I received was top notch. Maybe I was lucky? Maybe I was more open to receiving care from a male as had been under the care of a male professor following multiple miscarriages and seen other male consultants throughout those investigations.

99% of all sexual assaults are committed by males

I think it's worth repeating this, for those on the thread who seem to think women have reservations about male HCPs for 'bigoted' reasons.

Not all males are sexual predators, but almost every sexual predator is male.

That's before we even get into the issues of: women of various religions who are not allowed to touch or disrobe in the presence of males, women whose modesty or sense of proprietry means they'd prefer female only healthcare, those suffering from trauma effects (conservatively, one in five women experiences rape or sexual assault, so that's likely to be a sizeable part of the female population), and those who just prefer not to receive care from males.

Which is a valid personal choice. To say it's 'bigotry' to ask for or prefer same-sex HCPs is exactly the same as suggesting someone is 'bigoted' for not considering sexual partners of one sex or the other.

Consent is absolute, and boundaries are personal. Nobody should ever be mocked, attacked or impugned for stating their personal boundaries when it comes to consent.

@MaryAndHerNet

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.

Facts give us one part of a story, but not necessarily all.

My thought is always to consider what is unstudied as part of assessing stats. Is there a part of the story, we need to examine further to nail down something definitively?

We know the problem of when you replace sex with gender you generate a bunch of 'facts' which are not necessarily telling the whole truth.

A key part of ANY research is to ask questions about the quality of facts and whether there is inherit bias to those 'facts' as well as looking at the facts.

When you get a bunch of facts, you ask - what does this really show, what does it not show and how realiable are these facts - could there be something else going on that these 'facts' are concealling?

Good quality medical research relies on these principles being used to be critical of facts.

What I'd be interested in, is stuff like, were complaints raised against these individuals and if so, how many and how were they handled? And then did other staff know things, and then fail to report it and if so why did they fail to report it?

'Facts' are not necessarily reflecting the bigger picture.

I do think, you have to ask things like 'were male staff in midwifery being protected by the hospital in order to protect themselves in someway' - either for staffing levels or to avoid accusations of sexism? Or were female staff intimidated by a male member of staff in someway?

Whats striking in many very high profile cases of abuse, is that basic safeguarding failed because the offender had fostered close relationships with other in power and then complaints were brushed away by the 'oh but he's not like that, I know they wouldn't do that' mentality or because there is a fear in someway (for example, they'd lose funding or they'd end up in a legal case).

I think the sheer number of examples of male HCPs offending against women and children in recent years, there is a case to be made that the NHS should be having an inquiry into this and why its happening so often?

The fact no one seems to be even thinking of it never mind calling for it, in the context of the me too movement, really does show how far down the priority and political list this is.

All it does it allow the NHS to carry on and not change things. There's clearly something wrong, and I don't think its just that males do these things. Its that something is also enabling them to get away with it for a long time.

@ArabellaScott

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.

Given that 99% of all sexual assaults are committed by males (of whatever gender), it's pretty good odds that you're going to be safe with a female HCP.

A good way to protect yourself is to have someone you know and trust with you during healthcare procedures which make you feel vulnerable. If any HCP were to object to this, they should have to give a very clear explanation as to why it couldn't happen. It is, of course, usually acceptable for someone giving birth to have a friend or relative with them the whole time (at least pre-Covid ISTR it was acceptable for your birth partner to accompany you even when you were having a c-section). I am aware that there are cases where the person 'volunteering' to accompany the patient is someone who poses more of a risk to the patient than any HCP and that there should also be provision for HCPs to check, in confidence, that the patient is happy with the person to be present.

(Also, while you might be safer from sexual assault if you insist on no male HCP, you are still potentially at risk from abusive behaviour from female HCPs - as more than one PP has described.)

So again women solving the issue , by dragging friends along, who shock horror might have work and responsibilities. Rather than just saying no to a man?

Why are you so keen for men to he able to be able to intimately examin women

Why are you so keen for men to he able to be able to intimately examin women

Grim, and absolutely creepy

@Wreath21

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).

But we’re not talking about social history here, are we? We’re talking about how some male midwives may have / have recently abused the trust put in them by their female patients and by the health system.

Why are you trying to take the focus of the thread away from these men and onto some female midwives from the past?

I wouldn't want a male midwife with me during labour or in the period after birth. It was a very vulnerable time- through most of my labour there was just one midwife there and I wouldn't have felt comfortable with that midwife being a man- I would have felt exposed and inhibited.
After I gave birth I ended up in theatre and I wasn't bothered that there were a mix of male and female staff - I think I felt safe because there were several of them.

@Wreath21

(Also, while you might be safer from sexual assault if you insist on no male HCP, you are still potentially at risk from abusive behaviour from female HCPs - as more than one PP has described.)

You’re really determined to shift the focus away from the men, aren’t you?

@ArabellaScott

99% of all sexual assaults are committed by males

I think it's worth repeating this, for those on the thread who seem to think women have reservations about male HCPs for 'bigoted' reasons.

Not all males are sexual predators, but almost every sexual predator is male.

That's before we even get into the issues of: women of various religions who are not allowed to touch or disrobe in the presence of males, women whose modesty or sense of proprietry means they'd prefer female only healthcare, those suffering from trauma effects (conservatively, one in five women experiences rape or sexual assault, so that's likely to be a sizeable part of the female population), and those who just prefer not to receive care from males.

Which is a valid personal choice. To say it's 'bigotry' to ask for or prefer same-sex HCPs is exactly the same as suggesting someone is 'bigoted' for not considering sexual partners of one sex or the other.

Consent is absolute, and boundaries are personal. Nobody should ever be mocked, attacked or impugned for stating their personal boundaries when it comes to consent.

Bigotry is saying that no men should be allowed to work in maternity or gynaecological care because they, by virtue of being men, must be sexual predators. Requesting female HCPs is generally regarded as a proportionate response of achieving a legitimate aim - and most medical centres, hospitals etc ask if you have a preference. The only time it can get complicated is if, due to the staff situation on a specific occasion, there is no staff member of the preferred gender present who is qualified to treat you, especially if it's a clinical emergency (in which case the HCPs may have to decide whether it's better to let you die or suffer permanent harm, or to allow someone unacceptable to you to treat you.)