I'm going to have to disagree pretty strongly with most of you on this one. I saw the NY times article and read many of the comments. I'm a med student, and what you may not realize is that there are many, many patients who lie to their doctors, especially when it comes to sensitive issues like sex and pregnancy. You may be telling the truth, but for every 100 patients who swear that they're not sexually active and couldn't be pregnant, there are going to be a few who lie or who are just wrong. Would I risk causing potential harm to unborn fetuses just to avoid offending some women who don't want to take a pregnancy test? Hell no. Many doctors probably see 100 patients in a week, and prescribe many drugs that are teratogenic. It's considered the "standard of care" to have a DOCUMENTED negative pregnancy test in the chart before prescribing these drugs. I'm sure there are women out there who SWORE they couldn't be pregnant but then ended up having a positive pregnancy test who are glad there doctors are taking these precautions. This is not even counting the fact that doctors are legally liable for following the standard of care and can be sued if they don't.
I will concede that many doctors could probably do a better job of explaining to their patients why these precautions are necessary and beneficial to the patient, and this I bet is where a lot of this frustration comes from. But being angry because you're doctor wants you to take regular pregnancy tests because you want to treat your acne with Accutane, a drug known to cause some of the most awful birth defects known to man? Either get over it or treat your zits some other way.
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