The World According to Nick
My take on Software, Technology, Politics, and anything else I feel like talking about.
Friday, November 18, 2005

You Can't Test What You Don't Have 

A few years ago I was working for a company that made a product used in Labor & Delivery areas of hospitals. Every now and then I would have to go to hospitals to do troubleshooting when they wanted to make the customer feel good. Somehow it always calmed people when an "Engineer" got sent. One of the hospitals I visited quite frequently just to check up on because they had the first installation of a new product. They used to laugh there and tell me that I could use one of the beds to sleep if I wanted to stay the night as I was sometimes there pretty late. My usual response was to thank them, but say no because I was afraid I'd wake up with someone trying to give me a pelvic exam.

Of course I was joking... but apparently someone in Britain really wants that to happen:

A family doctor has been summoned to a formal hearing over his refusal to put a 34-year-old male patient on the list for screening for cervical cancer.

Of course all of you are probably saying to yourselves the same thing the doctor did... a man doesn't have a cervix. You're absolutely right, but the problem is the patient disagrees.

The man, who has fathered a child, believes he is a hermaphrodite although his doctors have examined him and can find no evidence for this. However, they did agree to his request to be re-registered with a female name.
...
The wife of one of the GPs, told The Telegraph she had every sympathy for people who believe they had the body of the wrong gender but the decision to investigate the refusal was political correctness taken to extremes.

She said her husband, who has been a GP for 30 years and who trains young doctors would be "pleased to hear from anyone, medical or otherwise, who could teach him the correct way to carry out a cervical smear on a 34-year-old male".

She added: "The refusal of one of the doctors to put Mr X on the recall list for cervical screening has resulted in a complaint and, as a result the doctor, practice manager and other practitioners have spent many hours, at the expense of the care of other patients, answering written inquiries.

H/T to Tongue Tied for this one. Sadly, I would have thought the British had a bit more sense than this.

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About Me



Name: Nick
Home: Wauwatosa, WI, United States

I'm a Software Consultant in the Milwaukee area. Among various geeky pursuits, I'm also an amateur triathlete, and enjoy rock climbing. I also like to think I'm a political pundit.


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