It should be self-evident that a doctor does not examine a competent patient without their permission – their consent. This fact can be lost when one considers that a doctor takes certain liberties with his patients, both male and female, in the course of an office visit. An office visit might involve the doctor’s visual inspection of every inch of skin, touching the breasts or genitals, and even inserting a speculum or his (gloved) fingers into the vagina or rectum (or both).
It should be clear that, although a doctor may have implicit permission to do each or all of these things, permission must be granted and, should a patient choose to refuse any part of the examination, the doctor that proceeds to do that part of the examination has committed assault.
Permission granted by patients to doctors is not carte blanche. There is an understanding that the physician is acting in the best interests of the patient. When this is no longer true, and the physician is doing something for reasons other than the patient’s interest, that is de facto assault.
Assault can be any unwanted touching. It can be any unjustified measure. A podiatrist that asks a female patient to undress completely, or an eye doctor that, in the course of an examination generally limited to the eyes, puts his hands under a woman’s blouse or skirt has exceeded the permission generally granted for an examination. Here are some actual examples from our court system:
1. “Prosecutors said Brown performed unnecessary breast and pelvic exams on 11 patients, including a 15-year-old girl.”
2. “Dr. Alan Dubelman was front and center on Inside Edition in 1994 during his appearance at the Adams County courthouse. He faced multiple counts of sexual assault, accused by female patients who said he molested them during routine visits and even pelvic exams.”
3. “Doctor convicted of sexual assault
Judge finds he groped patient under guise of medical exam”
4. “One woman described nine incidents of being groped by Udani at his Redondo Beach office and at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance and Torrance Memorial Medical Center.
Another 22-year-old woman testified during the weeklong trial that Udani rubbed and caressed her breasts during her only visit to his office for an ulcer on Dec. 8, 2004.”
Even for justified measures, consent is required, and that consent must not be obtained by deception, fraud or coercion.
If the State orders a physician to rape a patient, that is still rape. The claim that “I was just following orders” has never been an acceptable defense, but it is true that the entity abusing their authority by ordering a rape should also be held accountable for this crime.
You may say, “The State would NEVER order a rape,” but you would be wrong.
Rape is any genital penetration without consent, by an instrument, finger or penis. Several states have mandated transvaginal ultrasound examinations of pregnant women before they undergo an abortion. This procedure involves the insertion of a “wand”, the ultrasound probe, deep into the vagina of the patient. Some legislation has stated that “consent is not required” either written in the law or by voting against amendments to allow for consent. Medically, these examinations are unnecessary.
The defense that a woman who is pregnant has already been “penetrated” and should therefore have no say about a second penetration mandated by the state at the hands of a physician is ludicrous. It is the same as saying that a pregnant woman cannot be raped.
Physicians do not have the right to perform unwanted and unnecessary examinations of their patients. Even external examinations of the breast, genitals, abdomen, back or extremities must be done with the tacit approval of the patient, and that may be withdrawn at any point during an examination.
The intentions of laws mandating transvaginal or even transabdominal ultrasounds are irrelevant. They constitute unwanted touching or penetration if they are done without consent, they are medically unnecessary, and they force physicians to violate the law, their conscience and their sacred oath.
State ordered rape is an egregious abuse of legislative authority, and if and when there is an accounting, every legislator and governor that has ordered or facilitated this crime will be tried for crimes against humanity.
For the physicians participating in this crime, they should find the strength to oppose it. Weakness in this circumstance is criminal negligence. Doing something they know is wrong because they are complying with an illegal order does not excuse them, and it won’t protect them from charges of assault or rape.
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