Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Nov
22
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“…We Test All Of Them, Whether They Like It Or Not.”
“Do you want to be tested for STDs? No? Alright, you’ll be okay. For teenagers, we test all of them whether they like it or not.” – Certified Nurse Midwife to 33 year old mother who declined Sexual Transmitted Infection testing.
There are 19 comments to this post.
This was me. It was during a PAP and I had my feet up in the stirrups when she asked me this.
I was a little shocked that she had so little regard for patient autonomy that she regularly tests women without their consent or knowledge. I had crappy insurance so everything extra was out of pocket. I’m a little sensitive to being charged for things that cost me extra. (I now have no insurance whatsoever. Thanks a bunch, healthcare reform 
)
Sure enough, even though I declined it. When I got the PAP results in the mail, my STD testing (That I declined) was negative. I haven’t been back there.
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Mama Wrench had this to say,
Nov 22, 2011 @ 3:19 pm (Quote)
Um… correct me if I’m wrong, but many STDs — herpes, chlamydia, HPV, etc — can either be life-long, or exist for years without symptoms. Others can be treated but still impact a woman’s fertility and immune system decades down the road. So WHY would you only test teenagers, when those teens will presumably grow into WOMEN who may have STDs and never know?
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I once had my a doctor at Student Health tell me that they would automatically test all pap smears for chlamydia because the rates on campus were so high. I’m in Canada, so extra tests don’t cost us anything, but it never even crossed my mind that STI testing would be something you’d have to consent to, I just thought it was routine, like the pap itself.
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This reminds me of when I declined std testing with my last pap smear but the dr told me that she tests everyone under thirty. Ugh
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This reminds me of an article in my college newspaper. The writer had gone to Student Health with a bad case of respiratory flu. They asked her to pee in a cup, which she thought was strange. When the doctor came into the room, his first words were, “Good news, you’re not pregnant.”
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Heather P Reply:
November 24th, 2011 at 3:29 am (Quote)
This happened to me when I was 20 too. I went to the doctor’s office with Pneumonia. My blood pressure was so low I shouldn’t have been concious. They brought in several students to show off my blood pressure and took it around 15 times. After making me wait four hours, the doctor came in and announced, “You’re not pregnant or anemic, lets give you some anti-nausea suppositories” Nausea was not one of my symptoms and I was not sexually active at the time. I ended up coming back to the office a week later and a different doctor correctly diagnosed and treated me.
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juliewashere88 had this to say,
Nov 25, 2011 @ 9:44 am (Quote)
Because teenagers aren’t experienced and knowledgeable enough to know their rights as patients?
I think everyone SHOULD get an STD test, but no one should be forced to “whether they like it or not.”
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Nina Williams had this to say,
May 16, 2012 @ 9:43 am (Quote)
Wait,what was that?Im quite speechless about this.I think people should have the option to opt out on this wether they are a teenager or not.
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Add Your Comment.
Because those damn dirty teenagers are the only one’s at risk? *Major Eyeroll*
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Nicole Reply:
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:53 pm Nicole(Quote)
RIGHT?! Actually, because they are at the beginning (usually) of their sexually active life, they are LESS likely to have STDs than women in their 30s. 1 in 4 high school students has an STD/STI, 50% of the adult population has one.
Also, being young doesn’t mean you don’t have the right to refuse testing. This midwife is messed up.
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AK Reply:
November 22nd, 2011 at 2:55 pm AK(Quote)
Where do you get those statistics from? Those seem awfully high.
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Nicole Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 11:18 am Nicole(Quote)
I’m pretty sure those are CDC stats. I couldn’t find anything from the CDC on teen rates, but here is a reliable link for you on that.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88140117
And here are is the CDC stat for American adults concerning HPV (which is a sexually transmitted disease)
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88140117
I know it seems horribly high… but that’s what it is.
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Ashley Bean Reply:
November 22nd, 2011 at 7:47 pm Ashley Bean(Quote)
I was a virgin until 19 and had my first pap at 18. My dr asked me if I was sexually active and I told him no. He then asked if I wanted the STD testing since I was still a virgin. I told him no and he was very polite about it. The nurse was not so nice and bascially told me she didn’t believe me because I was “too pretty” to be an almost 20 yr old virgin. (yea because beauty has an effect on the ability to say NO right?)
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jaed Reply:
November 23rd, 2011 at 6:20 am jaed(Quote)
One also shudders to think what she says to young women who are not virgins but who aren’t as pretty at that age. “You can’t possibly have been sexually active – yer too ugly!”?
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