Suppport the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act
This is a guest column.
State needs to change law on assisting rape victims
I'm the parent of young women, the grandfather of a young girl, and a gynecologic physician who deals with women's health, well-being and protection.I'm outraged at the chain of events that happened just recently, not far from the Lehigh Valley. Unfortunately, it reflects on what is occurring in many hospitals around our less than progressive state.
A woman went to the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, Pa., after being raped. Along with her care, she was denied emergency contraception - a safe, FDA-approved form of contraception made from the exact same hormones in simple, regularly prescribed oral contraceptives. This perfectly legal prescription would prevent her from being impregnated by her felonious and violent attacker. The treating and denying physician rationalized his position irrationally by noting, " I personally don't have this thing worked out. I'm not sure how my faith can line up with my practice at times of what I'm asked to do."
The physician cited his Mennonite religious training by way of further explaining what he did. The patient then was required to search for further help elsewhere, and acquired the prescription from her gynecologist. However, the local pharmacy, like the emergency department physician, couldn't handle it; it said it was out of the drug. So, the victim, after suffering the assault in itself, the emergency department and pharmacy denials, was then required to drive another 45 minutes to Reading to get medication that should have been facilitated promptly after her presentation at the hospital.
The former medical director of that hospital saw nothing strange about this, noting that people drive to Reading to buy jeans, bringing this situation from the ridiculous to the sublime. This is not about buying jeans, it's about violent crime and being denied treatment! Our state's women and children deserve much better attention and opportunity. Our health-care providers - physicians and hospitals alike - need to put our well-deserved faith and beliefs where they belong. If we can't handle the range of human problems presented for health care, we might consider other employment options. It is, indeed, our obligation to actively facilitate appropriate health care, either on the spot, or elsewhere, according to our duty as providers.
The time for effect of conservative bigotry and hypocrisy on health care is over. It's time that we, as health-care providers, see that our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers are treated fairly. If we can't even trust our own state's physicians and hospitals to practice medicine without the imposition of personal beliefs, it may be time they be legally required to do so.
It is high time for a law that requires emergency department doctors, if not to provide, to at least inform these crime victims about emergency measures for contraception, provided upon request.
Fortunately, there is a bill currently in the Pennsylvania General Assembly addressing this situation. It is called the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act. It's time for our legislators to pass this bill.
This is a sad state for Pennsylvania, where more than 50 percent of hospitals do not provide emergency contraception to sexual assault victims, and many don't even tell them it exists. Shame on us! It is high time for a law that requires emergency department doctors, if not to provide, to at least inform these crime victims about emergency measures for contraception, provided upon request. It's time for our legislators to pass this bill. It's time for fathers like me to make sure they do. And it's especially time for us, as providers, to actually put our human compassion and faith to work instead of casting ''the first stone.'' Let us do what we're trained and able to do.
Joseph C. Merola, M.D., is chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and medical director, Women's & Children's Services at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill.
State needs to change law on assisting rape victims
I'm the parent of young women, the grandfather of a young girl, and a gynecologic physician who deals with women's health, well-being and protection.I'm outraged at the chain of events that happened just recently, not far from the Lehigh Valley. Unfortunately, it reflects on what is occurring in many hospitals around our less than progressive state.
A woman went to the emergency room at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, Pa., after being raped. Along with her care, she was denied emergency contraception - a safe, FDA-approved form of contraception made from the exact same hormones in simple, regularly prescribed oral contraceptives. This perfectly legal prescription would prevent her from being impregnated by her felonious and violent attacker. The treating and denying physician rationalized his position irrationally by noting, " I personally don't have this thing worked out. I'm not sure how my faith can line up with my practice at times of what I'm asked to do."
The physician cited his Mennonite religious training by way of further explaining what he did. The patient then was required to search for further help elsewhere, and acquired the prescription from her gynecologist. However, the local pharmacy, like the emergency department physician, couldn't handle it; it said it was out of the drug. So, the victim, after suffering the assault in itself, the emergency department and pharmacy denials, was then required to drive another 45 minutes to Reading to get medication that should have been facilitated promptly after her presentation at the hospital.
The former medical director of that hospital saw nothing strange about this, noting that people drive to Reading to buy jeans, bringing this situation from the ridiculous to the sublime. This is not about buying jeans, it's about violent crime and being denied treatment! Our state's women and children deserve much better attention and opportunity. Our health-care providers - physicians and hospitals alike - need to put our well-deserved faith and beliefs where they belong. If we can't handle the range of human problems presented for health care, we might consider other employment options. It is, indeed, our obligation to actively facilitate appropriate health care, either on the spot, or elsewhere, according to our duty as providers.
The time for effect of conservative bigotry and hypocrisy on health care is over. It's time that we, as health-care providers, see that our daughters, sisters, wives and mothers are treated fairly. If we can't even trust our own state's physicians and hospitals to practice medicine without the imposition of personal beliefs, it may be time they be legally required to do so.
It is high time for a law that requires emergency department doctors, if not to provide, to at least inform these crime victims about emergency measures for contraception, provided upon request.
Fortunately, there is a bill currently in the Pennsylvania General Assembly addressing this situation. It is called the Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act. It's time for our legislators to pass this bill.
This is a sad state for Pennsylvania, where more than 50 percent of hospitals do not provide emergency contraception to sexual assault victims, and many don't even tell them it exists. Shame on us! It is high time for a law that requires emergency department doctors, if not to provide, to at least inform these crime victims about emergency measures for contraception, provided upon request. It's time for our legislators to pass this bill. It's time for fathers like me to make sure they do. And it's especially time for us, as providers, to actually put our human compassion and faith to work instead of casting ''the first stone.'' Let us do what we're trained and able to do.
Joseph C. Merola, M.D., is chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and medical director, Women's & Children's Services at St. Luke's Hospital in Fountain Hill.
posted by PA progressive @ Friday, August 11, 2006
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