Re: Husband in room -- Why?
From: AMD (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Thu, 17 Sep 1998 11:24:15 -0500 (CDT)
This might be ignorance on my part, but why would a husband want to
attend his wife's annual exam? I can certainly appreciate a husband
being willing to be there for his wife's benefit and support, but I
can't imagine my husband actually wishing to observe for his own
benefit. Don't get me wrong -- my husband would go with me if I really
wanted or needed him to be there, but it is certainly not something he
would initiate.
Is this usually just curiousity or do some husbands want to play an
active role in their wife's health care? Or do they want to "supervise"
the other man looking at his wife's breasts and genitals?
The downside I could see would that it might make a woman less likely to
be truthful if she has concerns/risks that she doesn't want to discuss
in front of her husband. And it would certainly make it difficult to
reach out to a woman that the doctor suspects may be in a dangerous
relationship. And what if the doctor observes signs of an STD?
This question is meant to be general rather than the specifically
directed at the original poster.
Andrea
At Wed, 16 Sep 1998, D. Ashley Hill, M.D. wrote:
>
>At Wed, 16 Sep 1998, Margaret wrote:
>>
>>My husband has asked to be with me during my next routine pelvic exam
>>and to be in the exam room with me. I don't mind him being there, but
>>is it going to be a problem for the doctor?
>
>It is very unlikely that the doctor will have a problem with this. None
>of the 5 doctors in my practice mind if husbands (or, sometimes,
>same-sex partners) accompany patients during exams. However, let me add
>a different side to this issue:
>
>During pelvic exams your doctor may find something unexpected, like a
>vaginal infection, or need to do a rectal examination. I mention both
>of these because, in my experience, both produce the most "interesting"
>reactions from spouses who are watching. If a significant vaginal
>infection (ie yeast infection, bacterial vaginosis, etc) is noticed, the
>doctor may remove the discharge from the walls of the vagina using a
>large cotton swab, then discard the swab in a special garbage can. There
>is just about no way the husband can miss the swab, covered in discharge
>(just trying to set the tone for you), as it goes in to the waste
>basket. Almost every husband or boyfriend gets a really disturbed look
>on his face as he sees the swab. If a rectal is necessary, the doctor
>may take a stool sample from the finger-tip and place it on a card to
>check for blood. Most women I know do not want their spouse seeing
>their stool wiped on a card. To a doctor this is "business as usual"
>but to a husband or boyfriend it may be a side of things he did not
>anticipate seeing.
>
>Some patients and their husbands regularly accompany each other to
>medical exams, and neither mind having private details exposed to the
>other. On the other hand, most women I know do not want their husbands
>to watch them insert or remove a tampon, or have a bowel movement, and
>prefer that some things like medical exams are left private.
>
>Good question. Take care,
>
>--
>Ashley Hill
>David Ashley Hill, M.D.
>Associate Director
>Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
>Florida Hospital Family Practice Residency
>Orlando, FL
>http://home.mpinet.net/dahmd
>
>The above is intended for general medical education,
>and is not for specific medical advice.
>I apologize, but I am unable to answer personal e-mail
>due to time constraints.
>
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