Thursday, June 10, 2010

Let the Gynecologists Hear from You

I've been receiving comments from women who are outraged about the continuing epidemic of avoidable hysterectomies, and it's time the doctors took the heat directly.

The place to voice your feelings is the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, ACOG for short. This is, essentially, the governing body for the doctors, and when they change their standards of practice to say that no healthy ovaries should be removed; that there are organ-conserving alternatives to the vast majority of hysterectomies; then the epidemic will stop.

That's because once the standard is changed, the doctors and hospitals become vulnerable to lawsuits they win now because they always fall back on the defense that, hey, this is the accepted way to deal with women's problems.

So, let them hear from you.

You can call them at 202-638-5577. Either voice your feelings to the person who answers the phone, or ask for the press office and see if you can get through.

You can also send email to: communications@acog.org

3 comments:

TQ said...

I think one should look at previous editions of patient information concerning hysterectomy. I saw one edition where "a woman's refusal" was justification for not proceeding with a hysterectomy. That was removed. When you look at what kind of information has evolved with for the patient information concerning hysterectomy, one may question whether GYNs and ACOG have a conflict of interest when it comes to women's health.

TQ said...

Correction, my previous post concerned the 'Standard of Care' guidelines on when a hysterectomy is warranted for fibroids - the ACOG Patient Information on Hysterctomy has been and is still worthless, in reference to what a woman really needs to know.

Anonymous said...

Frances you MUST read these blogs. They reveal the other biggest scam in women's health besides the hysterectomy- pap smears and pelvic exams.
http://patientprivacy.blogspot.com/2009/05/womens-privacy-modesty-concerns.html
http://blogcritics.org/culture/article/unnecessary-pap-smears/
Jane