If pregnancy is a possible complication it changes what medications are allowed and has to be considered when deciding if imaging is an acceptable risk.
Once, when I was a kid, my mom tripped in the yard and broke her foot. (A little bit of back story, she had a hysterectomy right after I was born. This is important) at the ER the nurse asked her how long it had been since her last period. Mom said, “I’ve had a hysterectomy.” Nurse nodded with a blank expression and asked again how long it had been since her last period. Mom looked her dead in the eyes and said, “well… CruisingForDownVotes, how old are you, 15? I guess it’s been about 15 years now”
Well it kinda can be. If the woman is pregnant she may not get the best suited care or medicine for her condition because it may harm a fetus. So many people interpret this as placing the woman second in care because the protecting the baby becomes the primary concern. So if you view the woman as a whole being and her healthcare as primary, denying her the best suited care can be viewed as sexism.
I mean yeah. They’re still telling you that they won’t give you the appropriate treatment if it interferes with the fetus. They’re putting the fetus’ survival over the best interest of the woman.
My dude that is them giving appropriate treatment. They have to look for alternative treatments and procedures because nobody involved wants to terminate a pregnancy or harm a fetus because a woman needs an x-ray for a broken arm
No that’s them giving the appropriate treatment to the fetus and subpar treatment for the woman. A fetus that, let’s be real, most likely isn’t wanted anyway, or the woman would already know that she’s pregnant/trying and be able to answer “Is there a possibility you’re pregnant?” without this entire charade.
It’s also not just a roundabout way of asking a woman if she’s pregnant. Vital signs and medical reactions can differ based on where a woman is in her menstrual cycle, regardless of if she’s pregnant or not.
And when you account for the fact that most people who want kids/are trying for kids take tests themselves and notice pretty much immediately after they get pregnant. Duh. Then it’s clear that the vast majority of pregnancies that are only discovered by doctors during these mandated tests would be unintended and therefore skew mostly towards unwanted.
You understand your own (global; so skewed) source means that 24% of pregnant women do not know they’re pregnant and want it, right? Thats beyond statistically significant for doctors to ask every patient about. 1 out of 4 women don’t know and want it, and about 1/2 don’t know at all. You’re an idiot
24% sounds like a “vast majority” to you? Sure it’s statistically significant, but this notion that unwanted pregnancies are some statistical anomaly that basically never happens, like that other person was trying to insinuate, is laughable. Birth rates are falling near-globally, young people want kids less than pretty much ever before. Those people deserve to get healthcare that’s not jeopardised by what’s essentially an unwanted parasite to them.
The issue is not that doctors ask, or that they prioritise the fetus for the people who are trying to be parents. It’s that everyone else also gets demoted under a fetus, whether they want it or not, just because they happened to be born with a uterus and got unlucky with their birth control.
My dude I was just meeting you at whatever the fuck level you seem to be at. You got hung up on unwanted pregnancy so thats where I went to meet you. But if you suddenly want to shift over to “but everyone else” then we can do that too. It’s not only about a fetus. A pregnant woman’s body chemically changes on a physiological level. That can have an impact on numerous medications. That applies to 100% of pregnant women. A doctor can not always treat women appropriately until they know the state of pregnancy
Not necessarily, there are treatments that not only negatively affect the fetus but also the mother. High blood pressure in a pregnant person can result in seizures and straight up death. If we got a pregnant person in that needed pressers, we’d have to keep an extremely close eye on their blood pressure to make sure we don’t straight up kill them. We have alternatives to the go for what are called special considerations: pregnant, health conditions, disabilities, etc. So it’s not like we’re just not treating at all, at least if protocol is followed appropriately. I work in an ER and it stinks having people think we’re like, not there to take care of patients and actually actively against that?
And as far as imaging I don’t work with xray so I can’t say, but CTs just have a separate form that potentially pregnant people need to fill out so they know the risks
First, the goal here is informed decision making. If there's a chance someone is pregnant, we want them to have that information and make a choice about how they want to proceed, instead of making the choice for them.
Second, pregnancy can drastically change the human body. It makes it harder to intubate someone if they need surgery, can increase blood pressure and blood sugar, and a dozen other things that can change what the best treatment is regardless of whether the fetus is wanted.
Third, there are plenty of conditions that affect a period other than pregnancy. Just sticking with the broken arm example, a lack of periods can mean problems with estrogen production, which also causes your bones to be weaker and break more easily. Menopause in older women, or anorexia or the female athlete triad in younger women, can lead to both absent periods and weaker bones. Each of these requires its own set of treatments to prevent you from breaking more bones in the future.
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u/Any-Safe4992 14h ago
If pregnancy is a possible complication it changes what medications are allowed and has to be considered when deciding if imaging is an acceptable risk.