Men asked if pregnant before x-rays

[ResisterRex]

In the Telegraph today:

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/28/nhs-trusts-ask-men-pregnant-government-removes-word-female-guidelines/

Male cancer patients and those having X-Rays and MRI scans are being asked if they could be expecting after the Government removed the word “female” from the law governing the medical procedures and replaced it with “individuals”.
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, in Liverpool, now asks “ALL patients under the age of 60, regardless of how you may identify your gender”.

Identifying your own "gender" won't mean you're male or female. And replacing medically accurate language in this case, has the effect of erasing women. One man was reportedly upset:

"One woman whose husband has cancer says that the question before a scan had caused “unnecessary confusion and agitation” and was “unfair” as a combination of steroids and brain surgery had made him emotional.
She added: “This was very confusing for him in his post-surgical daze, his vulnerability and needs completely ignored.”"

It is not all trusts but this one doubled down:

"“We believe asking all people who are having their abdomen imaged/scanned in this way, regardless of gender, is the least intrusive way of ensuring it is safe to proceed.”"

Dept of Health not impressed, it seems!

"When asked about the change in language, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “Patient safety is paramount, especially when there is a risk that foetuses may be exposed to damaging radiation. Therefore, it’s important that all biological females of child-bearing age are screened for potential pregnancy to avoid this risk.”"

so what happens when we've blurred the lines so much that kids no longer grow up knowing who can and can't get pregnant? because that's the way we're heading.

Teaching kids that girls can have penises and boys can have vaginas, that men can have babies and sex doesn't matter.

Men currently will either be offended ny the question or laugh it off but we're not far off a generation who won't be clear on how sex works

I wonder how far we are from being denied health care if we won't answer stupid questions like 'what is your gender identity?'

Lots of computerised systems won't let you move on till you've completed a field so it will be 'comply or else'.

I also share the worries that there'll be massive confusion around who can and who can't get pregnant if this shit show continues. It'll be females who bear the brunt, as ever.

This is really strange. I'm a radiographer and we have one generic form for all patients, but this is no excuse. Just because a question is on a form, it doesn't mean you have to ask it out loud and wait for the answer. If I note that the patient is male, or female not of childbearing age, I just tick "no" myself and move on to the next question.

I am in no way defending this practice, it's clearly ridiculous, but I'm wondering if it really is a rule at most places?

As I said above, there is no such rule that you must ask at my hospital, but I've noticed a number of staff insist on doing so, usually as loudly as possible along with sighing and eye rolling saying "you never know these days" or "sorry, it's the rule to ask" (it definitely isn't!) I'm not sure what point they are trying to make but I feel so embarrassed when they practically yell at some 60 year old lady "are you pregnant! You never know!". Cringe!

The IT systems really don't help. We have been discussing how to get an alert on a woman's record when she has eg had a hysterectomy and no chance of getting pregnant and as yet don't seem to be able to achieve even something as simple as this.

It means young women with cancer of the cervix for instance and extremely ill and NO reproductive organs left still get asked if they could be pregnant. Most understand and give good natured replies but it's pretty awful that they get asked this EVERY time they come for a CT scan or whatever.

Honestly every man who is asked this should ask for a pregnancy test. By going along with it we are accepting it, we need to push back.

Sounds like a very cruel practice which disregards the emotional needs of a huge fraction of the population.
Some male patients can undergo very "emasculating" procedures when dealing with conditions such as prostate and testicular cancer. It's well documented that resulting hormonal changes (partial feminisation: losing body hair, growing "breasts", etc.) can be very distressing. They will also often have become infertile.
Asking such patient whether they might be pregnant is seriously insensitive.

There's a great article on this by Dr Max Pemberton in today's DM. He makes some very valid points and is also very fair.

maybe they should ask for a pregnancy test to be on the safe side

@1moreglassplease

There's a great article on this by Dr Max Pemberton in today's DM. He makes some very valid points and is also very fair.

www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-10666191/NHS-obssession-asking-men-pregnant-puts-patients-risk-writes-Dr-MAX-PEMBERTON.html

I think it is great that some of the woke-speak is also annoying men now. If it only annoyed, inconvenienced, and threatened women nothing would happen. It would stay. But now ....

My dad has a form of dementia that starts early, he was 50. The amount of time I spent wrangling GPS and Specialists to get him diagnosed, plus the time and stress spent trying to convince him he needed a scan, could have been ruined by a ridiculous question like that, giving him enough reason to believe that the HCPs weren’t clever enough to realise that a 50 yo man could not be pregnant, let alone would he have any faith in a diagnosis, which would be impossible without an MRI. I like to think even he would have laughed in their faces.

About a third of the population will develop dementia.

Slightly off topic, but staff insisted I take a pregnancy test before a minor hospital procedure recently.

I'm 58.

Well I guess there is a chance - a zillion to one but a chance. But asking people for whom there is zipidee doodah never every chance is just silly

World gone mad

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

Sex matters in health care for medical reasons. They need two boxes on paperwork... sex for medical reasons, gender for knowing how to address the patient.

Agree. However the NHS interface can't cope with this... so treat gender as religion instead IMO 🤷🏼‍♀️

Just been talking to DH about this, his initial response on the possibility of a doctor asking if he was pregnant was that it was an indirect reference to his weight.

It's Felix of colourful dungarees fame, discussing this on TalkRadio.

Radiographer here!

Just to clarify that Benjamin Cohen is correct to some extent about generic forms! However this only applies to MRI scans which have a lot of contraindications requiring patients to be screened for safety reasons. Pregnancy is only a small part of that screening! And it must be done with a qualified radiographer as patients can be quite unreliable about their history!

For examinations using radiation all females between 12-55 undergoing abdomen xray imaging or any CT imaging are asked if they are or could possibly be pregnant. There is no screening form for Xray/CT. Until recently a form was used for females to check pregnancy status. In more recent times this is just a tick box on our system.
Rumblings in my dept about asking all patients as per SOR guidance but nothing official yet ! This is in an inner city general hospital with a large number of drunk/drug affected patients with the potential for offense to be taken! Most staff are not happy about it and feel it undermines their profession and reduces patients confidence in their HCPs.

@FannyCann

The IT systems really don't help. We have been discussing how to get an alert on a woman's record when she has eg had a hysterectomy and no chance of getting pregnant and as yet don't seem to be able to achieve even something as simple as this.

It means young women with cancer of the cervix for instance and extremely ill and NO reproductive organs left still get asked if they could be pregnant. Most understand and give good natured replies but it's pretty awful that they get asked this EVERY time they come for a CT scan or whatever.

As a radiographer in a busy dept I don't always have time to look back through a patient's history but if there is something in the CT request form that shows the patient has no reproductive capacity I will tick the not pregnant box. I try to be sensitive and not upset patients. It's not always possible to see this info so a marker about this would be so much better!

From the Times letter page -

mobile.twitter.com/drunkpopinjay/status/150982981387129653

(As an aside, the letter in the bottom right hand corner is not relevant but still very amusing!)

Link doesn't seem to be working so -

@ResisterRex

It's dangerous. Working it through, you could have a male who self-IDs as a woman and claims not to be sure if pregnant/says is pregnant. Then they don't do a scan, and then what? Someone dies?

To be frank, in a life saving situation any self IID trans women who states that they might be pregnant or not sure has only themselves to blame. They know they don’t the necessary gamete and uterus to be pregnant and if they want to play games in life saving situation more fool them

@JanetheObscure

Slightly off topic, but staff insisted I take a pregnancy test before a minor hospital procedure recently.

I'm 58.

I had this some years ago- I was in my late 40s, asked when last period was- couldn’t remember as peri menopausal Asked to take pregnancy test. I said no need as not having sex and had not had sex in some years. That was distressing enough to have to say when I’d already told them I was no way pregnant. But then they insisted on pregnancy test. I told them again no way , and I knew what being pregnant felt like. They forced me to have test or no treatment. They were bang out of order…had an apology later. It was very upsetting to be treated like a child who didn’t know and they didn’t trust.

Men sympathetic to the ridiculousness of this will surely start claiming they identify as pregnant. Wonder how the NHS will respond then.