Reply to JSMD on Dr. Maurice's Blog

I was using “assault” in the context that any violation (improper touch, consensual sex, rape etc.) of a patient is an assault to that individual. “Infringing” on an individual’s intimacy rights is too soft of a word and not a correct assessment of how the individual feels.

If a woman was in a situation that every tenth man she saw was a sexual predator wouldn’t you advise her to avoid that situation?

JSMD, let me quote you so that I get it correct: “Few providers would risk years of study and their entire career. I'm sure the streets of big cities are far more dangerous for assaults.”

In going through some old posts on How Husbands Feel Yahoo group I found the following:

“I wonder if your wife would be grossed out if she realized there was a better than 1 in 10 chance that the doctor examining her is a sexual predator? Look, at any given moment, according the U.S. Dept. of Justice, some 200,000 men are incarcerated, or on parole or probation for offenses that fall under the broad category of "sex crimes". Bear in mind this includes everything from violent rape to exposing oneself, to hiring a prostitute. Now let us suppose (and this is just a guess on my part) that there are an additional 200,000 men who are guilty of a sex crime but have never been caught, or have been released from prison, etc. The adult male population of the U.S. is about 100,000,000. So, there is only a 1 in 4000 chance that an average man is a sex offender. Why does physician sex offense occur at a rate 25 times greater than the average male population, and more importantly, why is it tolerated?”

The figures come from the US Census, US Dept of Justice and the Vanderbilt and other studies on physician sexual misconduct.

I find that these statistics are appalling and are a disgrace to the medical community and are beyond acceptance. No wonder many people are becoming more and more insistent on same gender care. These statistics help cement my distrust of the medical community and the integrity of the “system”.

Equal opportunity laws have been a huge leveler in the treatment of minority groups such as women in the past. I have not said that men should not practice medicine or work in medical fields. What I have said is that men should not be working in an area where they will be in a position to examine, treat or care for women in situations where intimacy can be violated. JSMD, touting the “Equal opportunity laws” as more important than the rights of an individual seems to be a travesty of justice. If equal opportunity becomes more important than the rights of an individual, more and more people will refuse to receive medical care to preserve their emotional and physical wellbeing over their medical care. Yes, even to the point of death.