Evelyn Yang speaks about being assaulted by OBGYN (TW/@)

[Deleted]

Content warning for sexual assault.

I just read this story this morning but didn’t watch the CNN interview. Her OBGYN assaulted her while she was pregnant. It turns out he was a serial assaulter who eventually pleaded guilty to 2 counts and surrendered his medical license to avoid jail time.

www.cnn.com/2020/01/16/politics/evelyn-yang-interview-assault/index.html

[tracita]

This story makes me sick and ragey. It sounds like the doctor got off so easy too. What a sick POS.

[meltoine]

I watched the interview. She talks about how she felt more comfortable coming forward after being out on the campaign trail and seeing how positively people reacted to her sharing about their family dynamic WRT their autistic son. She said the power of sharing such subjects to bring people closer together and help them identify with one another inspired her to speak out. I think that's really great.

Doug Emhoff's tweet in response was very touching as well. I'd love to see him, Evelyn, and Chasten do something together. I like all three of them a lot.

[erbear]

I read this story yesterday and it made me cry.

@ @@
Being at the OB in stirrups is one of the most vulnerable positions I've ever been in my life. For someone to take advantage of women, especially when you are trusting that person as a doctor, is so vile.

[SusanBAnthony]

Jan 17, 2020 20:00:18 GMT -5 erbear said:

I read this story yesterday and it made me cry.

@ @@
Being at the OB in stirrups is one of the most vulnerable positions I've ever been in my life. For someone to take advantage of women, especially when you are trusting that person as a doctor, is so vile.

My FP doc (who does gun care and delivers babies) no longer uses stirrups. I'm curious if they are going out of favor or if she is an outlier.

[Saudade]

Jan 18, 2020 12:04:09 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Jan 17, 2020 20:00:18 GMT -5 erbear said:

I read this story yesterday and it made me cry.

@ @@
Being at the OB in stirrups is one of the most vulnerable positions I've ever been in my life. For someone to take advantage of women, especially when you are trusting that person as a doctor, is so vile.

My FP doc (who does gun care and delivers babies) no longer uses stirrups. I'm curious if they are going out of favor or if she is an outlier.

There is a push to no longer use stirrups but many providers are fighting against it. 

As a patient, you have the right to refuse to use the stirrups. 

Stephanie from The Feminist Midwife has a great blog post on not using the stirrups as a provider and how to change your practice. 

www.feministmidwife.com/2016/11/02/empowering-gynecologic-exams-speculum-care-without-stirrups/#.XiM9BC3MxE4

[wanderingback]

Jan 18, 2020 12:04:09 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

Jan 17, 2020 20:00:18 GMT -5 erbear said:

I read this story yesterday and it made me cry.

@ @@
Being at the OB in stirrups is one of the most vulnerable positions I've ever been in my life. For someone to take advantage of women, especially when you are trusting that person as a doctor, is so vile.

My FP doc (who does gun care and delivers babies) no longer uses stirrups. I'm curious if they are going out of favor or if she is an outlier.

I try to practice trauma informed care with all patients. So asking permission for everything, asking if they want to insert vaginal probe or speculum if it's needed for example. I ask people if they want to self-swab for a lot of things including for pap smears. Unfortunately sometimes foot holders are needed, especially during abortion care. Some tables do have the ones where your legs hang over, instead of your feet being in the foot holders. But for visualization for safety it's best to typically have your pelvis pointed downwards (so a little off the table) and your legs in that position. So I don't think getting rid of foot holders is going to completely go away (also for colposcopy good visualization is super important). Can certainly use the frog leg position for a lot of things though, so that's good that your doctor is doing that. I no longer do deliveries, but I'll have to ask my coworkers who do them for patients with epidurals if they have considered not using foot holders like your doctor.  

This story is so sad but unfortunately not unheard of.
I was at a conference and we were reviewing prelim results of a qualitative study. Black women in particular were discussing how they didn't think that men should provide obgyn care. Of course men aren't the only ones who can traumatize patients, but the history and trauma of the specialty in particular is definitely horrific. Even doctors who don't necessarily mean harm can certainly cause it when patients are in such a vulnerable place. 

[wanderingback]

Jan 18, 2020 12:15:14 GMT -5 Saudade said:

Jan 18, 2020 12:04:09 GMT -5 SusanBAnthony said:

My FP doc (who does gun care and delivers babies) no longer uses stirrups. I'm curious if they are going out of favor or if she is an outlier.

There is a push to no longer use stirrups but many providers are fighting against it. 

As a patient, you have the right to refuse to use the stirrups. 

Stephanie from The Feminist Midwife has a great blog post on not using the stirrups as a provider and how to change your practice. 

www.feministmidwife.com/2016/11/02/empowering-gynecologic-exams-speculum-care-without-stirrups/#.XiM9BC3MxE4

Yes we share this post with our residents and med students. 
It's not always practical to use this position or the frog leg position for every single thing, but it's nice to have this info and be able to talk to your patients about options.
Thanks for sharing!