The jokes of the newsletter of the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics have opened a social debate about whether a doctor can make fun of his patients' ailments or make sexist jokes by publishing them in an official newsletter of a medium-sized society and are having wide media repercussions and in official associations and organizations. The reactions to the SEGO jokes, How could it be otherwise, they have not been waiting.
I am amazed that gynecologists with human sensitivity and gynecological women have not complained about this sample of a mentality that society rejects. I am convinced that many feel ashamed and humiliated by this show of a way of thinking and acting that they do not share.
Many gynecologists, men and women, respect their patients, their rights, their pain, their intelligence and their sexual processes, and they will think that this gives an image of the collective that should never, ever, have had a place in an official means of communication of the society that represents them all.
The reactions to the complaint made by the Association The Birth is Ours have not been made wait.
Here we can read the opinion of a gynecologist with respect and she, of course, considers that the publication is totally disrespectful, denigrating and in very bad taste. This is what Dr. Miriam Al Adib Mendiri says:
I cannot agree, ever, with the publication of these cartoons, nor with the unfortunate image they offer of the exercise of this profession and, above all, of women. As a woman, and as a gynecologist, I am very disappointed.
I hope it is time to take the reins and know how to make the SEGO an association focused on respecting the patient they serve.
The humor is very good. Humor and laughter, in the human being, is a way to defend ourselves against horror. But respect and empathy are much more important. Especially when we are the ones who must take care of those we publicly mock, denigrating and humiliating them. I would never trust my sex life, or my fears, or the birth of my son to whom makes these jokes, or the doctor who signs them, or any of those who have allowed their publication. I would not expose my body to his hands, his looks or his macho and misogynistic humor.
The Country, 20 Minutes, ABC, DNA, Quo, Information, and many other media are already making society see what gynecologists make fun of.
The Patient Advocate Association has considered, quite rightly, that the cartoons laugh, badly, at the patients and, in statements within 20 minutes, have said by mouth of its president, Carmen Flores, this:
I would advise those of SEGO to study why they are the most denounced professionals, instead of wasting time in stupidity like this, done in bad faith and with evil. These vignettes involve violating the ethical code of what are called doctors, they laugh at women. The joke about uterine prolapse is shameful, they laugh at patients who have the misfortune of suffering from this pathology.
The Women's Institute, in statements by its president, Teresa Blat, 20 minutes, has made it clear that the stupor and rejection of women is not something unmotivated and have requested its withdrawal by official channels:
These vignettes undermine the dignity of women, treats them with contempt when they go to consultation, in a situation of special vulnerability, visiting the medical specialists they trust.
The Ministry of Health has already received many complaints from individuals and associations of patients and women and I am sure that your intervention will be firm. This is inadmissible.
The damage that these jokes have done to the image of the SEGO is enormous. We know how unpermeable some gynecologists are to the advances that indicate that their protocols and procedures are not adequate, that they should stop intervening by habit and should treat women at birth with another sensitivity and greater knowledge of emotional aspects and hormonal of this sexual and reproductive process. They transmit disgust and contempt towards their patients. They can't have done worse.
But with these jokes, with public complaints, with the echo in the media, with what remains to happen, I believe that gynecologists, as a collective represented in the SEGO, should assume their responsibility and propose to give another image, that of doctors who respect their patients.
The SEGO is still silent, perhaps waiting for the storm to subside, but I think they are wrong and must face, lose apology and take action.
Moreover, as a patient, I would like to be asked for forgiveness and to assume their responsibilities. Yes, I wish the president of the SEGO resigned giving, with this, shows that he understands the seriousness of the mistake that is offending his patients publicly and the image that has been given of a whole profession, of his mentality, of his respect for the rights, pain and feelings of women.
In Babies and more | Gynecologist humor? SEGO humor to debate
