New guidelines recommend pap tests every three to five years, but many doctors are continuing to ignore recommendations and to pressure women into yearly testing. This is not surprising given doctors have a business to run. Bottom line, however, is the lack of informed consent being offered to women.
Informed consent is defined as follows:
Consent, particularly informed consent, is the cornerstone of patients’ rights. Consent is based on the inviolability of one’s person. It means that doctors do not have the right to touch or treat a patient without that patient’s approval because the patient is the one who must live with the consequences and deal with any discomfort caused by treatment. A doctor can be held liable for committing a Battery if the doctor touches the patient without first obtaining the patient’s consent. Federal Patients’ Bill of Rights legal definition of Federal Patients’ Bill of Rights. Federal Patients’ Bill of Rights synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary..
In theory every woman should be offered informed consent prior to doctors gaining access to the most intimate area of her body, but in reality this is simply not the case. Women are not being given information regarding the facts and potential harms of cervical cancer screening, nor are they being given the right to choose to screen or not – in fact, women often face a penalty of having prescriptions or other healthcare withheld if they refuse screening. http://forwomenseyesonly.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/what-some-male-doctors-do-when-women-say-no/
Men, however, are respectfully given information and then offered a choice in deciding whether or not they want to screen for prostate cancer – even though prostate cancer is roughly 19 times more prevalent than cervical cancer. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2012001/article/11616/tbl/tbla-eng.htm
Do your research, protect your healthy mind and body. jwh.2010.2349 (application/pdf Object). Above all, remember that women have the same right to informed consent as men. http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2009/11/informed-consent-missing-pap-smears-cervical-cancer-screening.html