Male doctors are disappearing from gynecology

[sparkythelawyer]

I typically preferred women obgyns, but I had one I absolutely had no use for after our appointment. She also handled my sister's labor like a complete moron and my sister nearly had a stroke.

My current one is a female, but when I was pregnant I had the Wheel-O-Big-Practice approach, and had several men. They were fine. Shrug.

My husband is in nursing school and will have to do his obgyn rotation next term. I'll be intrigued to see how that goes!

[StrawberryBlondie]

This was a really interesting read. My OBGYN is female and I love her, but when I was pregnant I tried to see most of the doctors in the practice because it wasn't a guarantee that my OB would be able to be there.

They only have one male in the practice and I loved him. He was probably my favorite after my own OB. I wouldn't blink an eyelash if I had to see him for any reason.

One of my friends from childhood's mom specializes in family medicine, but growing up she was one of the only (if not the only) female doctor in the practice so she ended up doing way more gynecology than anything else because so many women wanted to see another woman.

[heyjude]

Male OBs who don’t understand why women would want a woman OBGYN have no business being a doctor who specializes in women’s reproductive health needs. There.

[cattledogkisses]

Mar 8, 2018 13:06:02 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Mar 8, 2018 12:51:35 GMT -5 rjamz said:

I do wonder, just from these anecdotes from everyone here, if this “situation” has whittled down the field to men who go into OBGYN into the ones who really care about women’s health and are really good at it?

This is interesting.

Nothing in this article indicated that these men are being discriminated against by residency or fellowship programs. Patients are simply expressing a preference. But it strikes me that men who really genuinely want to pursue OBGYN can do so and still have rewarding careers - I've still never heard of an OBGYN who went bankrupt because he had no job due to being male.

Nobody is telling these men they can't go into OBGYN, so I guess they'll just have to work a little harder to get all their clinical hours? Gee, I wonder who else has been told they'll have to work a little harder since...oh, FOR-FUCKING-EVER?

Right?  Men can fight their own battles here.  You know, like women have always had to do.

[karinothing]

I generally preferred males, except when for pregnancy/birth I used midwives so all female. I like that experience a lot (the sisterhood of it all). But I had a male OB when I experienced my miscarriage and he was the kindest man ever. I will forever be grateful.

[05heel]

Mar 8, 2018 12:57:18 GMT -5 eclaires said:

Mar 8, 2018 12:02:19 GMT -5 05heel said:

I remember way back in the day on the old ML, there was a lady who posted that she was hesitant to see a new OB/Gyn because he was a black male. That didn't go over well. If I recall though, I actually gave her the benefit of the doubt, until she decided to defend herself by telling a longwinded ass story about some old Uncle Rhemus-type character that worked for her family who was like a father to her and would sing her songs in the moonlight as they sipped sweet tea under the magnolia trees. I'm not even exaggerating. Ok, maybe I am a little, but it was one of the best "I'm not racist" defenses I've heard to this day.

Does anyone else remember this? I know a few of you were posting on ML at that time.

Okay I don't remember it specific to this instance or ML because I didn't go there much, but I vaguely remember a story like this as a defense of some bullshit. It was really long winded and definitely referenced an uncle-type family friend who she was super close to. And I feel like there was a porch involved. Or sitting on a porch.

maybe it’s the same one. I distinctly remember a reference to fireflies and a tractor.

[wambam]

sparkythelawyer - my old practice does the spin the wheel approach. It never affected me since I’ve never been pregnant but I’ve always wondered why they did it that way.

[somersault72]

Mar 8, 2018 10:01:53 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I discriminate like a MOFO when I pick my Doctors. They better be Black and have studied at an HBCU. None of this bothers me.

One of the OB/GYNs is a black female. Several patients have said she has been a life changer for them. I don't remember where she went to college, but she's still very active in AKA like many of her patients.

[rjamz]

Mar 8, 2018 13:06:02 GMT -5 @angryharpy said:

Mar 8, 2018 12:51:35 GMT -5 rjamz said:

I do wonder, just from these anecdotes from everyone here, if this “situation” has whittled down the field to men who go into OBGYN into the ones who really care about women’s health and are really good at it?

This is interesting.

Nothing in this article indicated that these men are being discriminated against by residency or fellowship programs. Patients are simply expressing a preference. But it strikes me that men who really genuinely want to pursue OBGYN can do so and still have rewarding careers - I've still never heard of an OBGYN who went bankrupt because he had no job due to being male.

Nobody is telling these men they can't go into OBGYN, so I guess they'll just have to work a little harder to get all their clinical hours? Gee, I wonder who else has been told they'll have to work a little harder since...oh, FOR-FUCKING-EVER?

Oh I’m not boo hooing for them! You’ll never see me cry for a man who has to work a bit harder to get what he wants. But I think it’s possible that it’s known in the medical community that it’s going to be harder for a male intern/resident or a male L&D nurse to get their hours, so only those who really want it will do it and those with a passing interest will...pass onto a different field.

Like someone said above, if we didn’t have a culture where women routinely fear assault by men, this wouldn’t even be an issue. You shouldn’t fear your doctor. So you’ll still have high handed arrogant man OBGYNs who get through (I experienced one and went to town about him with my actual OB who was head of the group and who I was later told gave him a massive dressing down), but maybe, hopefully, the men who make the decision to work harder are the ones who care about women and empathize with what it’s like to be a woman in this world and will take care not to be such...men...about things in the way they treat us and our vaginas (and surrounding lady areas)

[sparkythelawyer]

Mar 8, 2018 13:13:22 GMT -5 wambam said:

sparkythelawyer - my old practice does the spin the wheel approach. It never affected me since I’ve never been pregnant but I’ve always wondered why they did it that way.

So that when you roll in to the hospital in labor you have most likeky met the person delivering your baby.

[atexan]

I will not apologize for having strong feelings about who is involved when I am naked and spread eagle with a spotlight shining where the sun does not usually shine.

[osulori]

Mar 8, 2018 13:17:24 GMT -5 sparkythelawyer said:

Mar 8, 2018 13:13:22 GMT -5 wambam said:

sparkythelawyer - my old practice does the spin the wheel approach. It never affected me since I’ve never been pregnant but I’ve always wondered why they did it that way.

So that when you roll in to the hospital in labor you have most likeky met the person delivering your baby.

Ditto this.  My OBGYN practice has the same policy.  I still saw my OB for probably 75% of my prenatal visits but saw all the other docs at least once-the one that ultimately delivered AJ was the only one besides my OB that I had seen more than once.

[somersault72]

I work for an OB/GYN practice and we've added several new female doctors since we've gotten a new male doctor. We currently have 4 males and 8 females that go between 2 hospitals and 6 offices. So I don't find this news surprising. I also can't be sad about any instance where a man might have to work harder to get something he wants, versus just having it handed to him.

[heyjude]

Mar 8, 2018 13:43:20 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Mar 8, 2018 10:10:58 GMT -5 osulori said:

My (male) cousin is a nurse and had a similar issue.  When I had AJ, the OB resident had a male med student with her and asked if it was okay if he was in the room as much as possible.  That poor guy let out an audible sigh of relief when I was all "Sure!  As long as he doesn't get to cut or stitch anything, we're cool." (that was a med student thing in general, not due to his gender)  Apparently a few OB patients had refused to have a male student in the room.

When H was in medical school, he would have entire days when not a single OB patient would let him in the room and he’d just go home early (he did not mind though.)

That said, I’ve also been around 20-something male medical students acting like, well, 20-something guys. I think most realized they were supposed to keep certain thoughts to themselves but every so often you’d get a dirtbag bragging about doing a pelvic exam on a “hot” 16 year old. #Notallmalemedstudents and all that, but as a patient, you just don’t know who is walking in that exam room.

OMFG.

See. And they wonder why women don’t want to see men. JFC.

[starlily]

Mar 8, 2018 9:25:14 GMT -5 mrs.jacinthe said:

I have been to both, and while the initial visit with the male GYN was more awkward, he was definitely more gentle when rooting around than any female doctor I've had before or since. I think that NOT having the same parts made him more careful. Women are more likely to be like "well, it was fine for me, so I'm sure it's fine for her."

This has also been my experience.

My primary OBs with both pregnancies were both male, although I did see some of their female colleagues as well. My PCP, who does my annual exam, is female.

Almost all the health professionals I see on a regular basis are POC.

I don't see anything wrong with anyone having a preference. For me, bedside manner reigns supreme. The only doctor I've ever requested not to see again was an old, white, male MFM who was very brusque.

[downtoearth]

Mar 8, 2018 13:43:20 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Mar 8, 2018 10:10:58 GMT -5 osulori said:

My (male) cousin is a nurse and had a similar issue.  When I had AJ, the OB resident had a male med student with her and asked if it was okay if he was in the room as much as possible.  That poor guy let out an audible sigh of relief when I was all "Sure!  As long as he doesn't get to cut or stitch anything, we're cool." (that was a med student thing in general, not due to his gender)  Apparently a few OB patients had refused to have a male student in the room.

When H was in medical school, he would have entire days when not a single OB patient would let him in the room and he’d just go home early (he did not mind though.)

That said, I’ve also been around 20-something male medical students acting like, well, 20-something guys. I think most realized they were supposed to keep certain thoughts to themselves but every so often you’d get a dirtbag bragging about doing a pelvic exam on a “hot” 16 year old. #Notallmalemedstudents and all that, but as a patient, you just don’t know who is walking in that exam room.

I have all sorts of questions about this. I mean, if your DH didn't get in the room, he just got a pass on that practical/rotation without having to do as much work or learn/see as much as the women med students? Do they not have to do something else (chart reviews and video procedure reviews, discussions with women residents who were in the room - I don't know medical terms or teaching) and have stay in the hospital for the whole time as other students? Am I just confused?

As to the pelvic exam...that is directly why your DH wasn't allowed in rooms during OB rotation! How does that 20-something say that about a patient and not get written up or kicked out?! There are A LOT of doctors who have to do pelvic exams (in the ER, in urgent care, in urology, etc.) so I am totally disgusted that you could say that, even as a 20-something, and not be reprimanded for being completely unprofessional, not to mention creepy as F*&#. Can you imagine how they think of women patients even when not doing pelvic exams?

[heyjude]

Can you imagine a female medical student joking sexually about a male minor’s genitalia that she just examined?

And it’s not even a matter of keeping thoughts to yourself. They shouldn’t be thinking these thoughts at all!

I’m so disgusted by that comment from that clearly stellar male doctor in the making.

[heyjude]

And the fact that it was about a minor female! OMG.

Rethinking pediatrics and OBGYNS now.

[chchchia]

Thinking about it, since I've become a civilian and have had a choice, all of my obgyn's and gyn's have been male and my pcp's have been female. I tried a couple female gyn's and they were not gentle and seemed very unsympathetic to a lot of things. I don't think I care, I just want a dr. who cares and does a good job regardless of gender.

[lissaholly]

This article is ass- backwards. Instead of worrying that men are being pushed out of some medical fields, we should be looking at why some medical fields are still dominated by men. If you are female and in the medical field you are mostly likely going into pediatrics or OB/GYN. When 2/3 of the fields are dominated by men, let’s look at how we can even that out and spread it out, instead of worrying about protecting the majority’s stake.

[thejackpot]

Mar 8, 2018 10:01:53 GMT -5 iammalcolmx said:

I discriminate like a MOFO when I pick my Doctors. They better be Black and have studied at an HBCU. None of this bothers me.

I think I am so fortunate to be in an area where I have access to doctors of color. For so many of my friends this is not the case. My ob/gyn is not Black but she is a Jewish woman who I have been going to long before I got so selective.

[twotrue]

A couple weeks back in my economics class we had to read an study (from 2007) that addressed the increase in female OBGYNs. The paper was looking at the issue from supply/demand theories. The authors concluded that the market works in the long-run (but not the short run) and when more female OBGYNs were being demanded (because of long waits to see them) more women were accepted into the field. An interesting note in the study was that by 2002 the wage gap had disappeared between male and female OBs. However, the authors suspected it was due to feminizations of the field. By 2001 70% of ob residents were female and by 2002 (I think?) OBs had seen a decline in income 3x greater than any other medical speciality.

[downtoearth]

Mar 8, 2018 14:18:18 GMT -5 twotrue said:

A couple weeks back in my economics class we had to read an study (from 2007) that addressed the increase in female OBGYNs. The paper was looking at the issue from supply/demand theories. The authors concluded that the market works in the long-run (but not the short run) and when more female OBGYNs were being demanded (because of long waits to see them) more women were accepted into the field. An interesting note in the study was that by 2002 the wage gap had disappeared between male and female OBs. However, the authors suspected it was due to feminizations of the field. By 2001 70% of ob residents were female and by 2002 (I think?) OBs had seen a decline in income 3x greater than any other medical speciality.

Of course. 

[WOT?*]

All my ObGyn have been male when I was pregnant. One was rumored to have a vet degree (as in livestock) rather than a medical (people) one because the military was in need of doctors. Military doesn't give you the option of who delivers. I do know that we did the "see them all" approach with my first two, and #1 ended up getting delivered by the ER physician because the Ob went home to eat dinner thinking I'd be delivering hours later than I did.

That being said, my PCP and Ob are both females who are a bit younger than I am (shoot, most doctors are younger than I am nowadays so that's not too much of a stretch). The girls are at the age where they should start seeing an OB and I'm debating about using mine or finding another or sticking with convictions and starting with Planned Parenthood as an introduction.

[jeaniebueller]

Mar 8, 2018 14:18:18 GMT -5 twotrue said:

A couple weeks back in my economics class we had to read an study (from 2007) that addressed the increase in female OBGYNs. The paper was looking at the issue from supply/demand theories. The authors concluded that the market works in the long-run (but not the short run) and when more female OBGYNs were being demanded (because of long waits to see them) more women were accepted into the field. An interesting note in the study was that by 2002 the wage gap had disappeared between male and female OBs. However, the authors suspected it was due to feminizations of the field. By 2001 70% of ob residents were female and by 2002 (I think?) OBs had seen a decline in income 3x greater than any other medical speciality.

I wonder how much this has to do with increasing malpractice insurance premiums and accepting medicaid payments? I'm not necessarily disputing what the study is suggesting, but wonder if outside factors are also at play.

[WOT?*]

Mar 8, 2018 10:01:04 GMT -5 irishbride2 said:

Mar 8, 2018 9:59:08 GMT -5 Susie said:

My brother is a male nurse and had to do a rotation through L&D in his training.  He said it was really difficult to meet his minimum requirement of assisting with one vaginal delivery and one c-section.  He always looked for moms who were not first timers for the best chances of being allowed to stay in the room.

This is so true. I know for me, I was much more reserved the first time around. By kid 2, I was like "the more the merrier! Bring in whoever you want!" 

When I had my ablation I had some complications my doctor hadn't seen or dealt with before and at a couple subsequent appointments I basically became a case study. "Do you mind if I bring in a couple...?" At that point, and after four kids, I was totally blasé about who saw what. Fifteen minutes later in trooped five more doctors, four of them male, to peer at my undercarriage, watch the monitor, assess my uterus, and discuss amongst themselves, as she continued with the pelvic ultrasound. Fun times.

[cattledogkisses]

Mar 8, 2018 13:49:34 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Mar 8, 2018 13:43:20 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

When H was in medical school, he would have entire days when not a single OB patient would let him in the room and he’d just go home early (he did not mind though.)

That said, I’ve also been around 20-something male medical students acting like, well, 20-something guys. I think most realized they were supposed to keep certain thoughts to themselves but every so often you’d get a dirtbag bragging about doing a pelvic exam on a “hot” 16 year old. #Notallmalemedstudents and all that, but as a patient, you just don’t know who is walking in that exam room.

OMFG.

See. And they wonder why women don’t want to see men. JFC.

Yeah, this has reinforced my desire to never have a male doctor.  JFC indeed.

[msmerymac]

Mar 8, 2018 12:51:35 GMT -5 rjamz said:

I do wonder, just from these anecdotes from everyone here, if this “situation” has whittled down the field to men who go into OBGYN into the ones who really care about women’s health and are really good at it?

Interesting that it now appears so few men are actually interested in it, though. :/ I guess the argument for gender parity in this specialty is that having men, in general, interested in women's reproductive health (in a good way, not the way Mike Pence is interested) is better for society. 

[fryjack2]

Wtf to residents making inappropriate comments about underage girls!!!

Please tell me whoever was present when they were made reported those individuals goldengirlz ? Because I'm side eyeing everyone involved- the Disgusting people who said them and the people who did not act if they heard them being said.

Holy shit.

[WOT?*]

Mar 8, 2018 14:21:46 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

All my ObGyn have been male when I was pregnant. One was rumored to have a vet degree (as in livestock) rather than a medical (people) one. Military doesn't give you the option of who delivers. I do know that we did the "see them all" approach with my first two, and #1 ended up getting delivered by the ER physician because the Ob went home to eat dinner thinking I'd be delivering hours later than I did.

That being said, my PCP and Ob are both females who are a bit younger than I am (shoot, most doctors are younger than I am nowadays so that's not too much of a stretch). The girls are at the age where they should start seeing an OB and I'm debating about using mine or finding another or sticking with convictions and starting with Planned Parenthood as an introduction.

fryjack2 - Do we have July 2 stories? My red haired/blue-eyed #1 child was a July 2 baby.