Pediatricians and conversations about LGBT and sexual issues

[Used2beSherryG]

Read what I responded to. She wants to tell teens that masturbation can seriously impact their development and spread STDs. Both of those are false. Telling a patient, minor or adult, medical lies to manipulate them into following your religious beliefs is unethical and illegal.

And yes, the medical community has long agreed that masturbation in normal and healthy mentally and physically. If you disagree on moral grounds, that’s on you to impart on your child. See the chicken example.

The medical community “agreed” is not the same thing as scientifically proven, is it?? The medical community has agreed to application of leeches to cure various illnesses in the past. This was not scientifically proven or correct as it turned out. Leaving morality aside, what is the scientific basis for saying that this is healthy??? There is absolutely no scientifically proven study to support this. Common is not normal.

 

[casslean]

The medical community “agreed” is not the same thing as scientifically proven, is it?? The medical community has agreed to application of leeches to cure various illnesses in the past. This was not scientifically proven or correct as it turned out. Leaving morality aside, what is the scientific basis for saying that this is healthy??? There is absolutely no scientifically proven study to support this. Common is not normal.

From a legal perspective, the standard for providing information is not “scientifically proven” (whatever that means - there have been medical, double-blind studies that show no objective physical or psychological harm from masturbation). The standard is “what a reasonable medical professional would understand to be true and accurate at that time”. Providing information outside this standard would be considered negligent from a legal perspective and incompetent from the professional ethics perspective.

And actually, leeches are still used today, because the community has accepted that the use is acceptable and desirable in certain circumstances - particularly in restoring blood flow to damaged tissues. Maggots are also used, though they were at one time dismissed as an archaic practice.

You are confusing medical harm and moral harm, and expecting doctors to be the guardians of moral harm. That is not their job. In fact, if they were to be trawling for evidence of moral wrong with their patients, they would likely cause more medical harm, as patients would be inclined to conceal certain behaviour. This is why their responsibility is to treat the medical and refer the moral to another professional.

 

[1990Domer]

Fine, but make sure that your child marries a virgin only, or he/she could get it from his/her spouse. (It isn’t just women and cervical cancer; HPV can cause anal, penile, and mouth throat cancers, according to the CDC.) Also, that child is going to want to avoid being raped, lest the rapist pass on an infection.

Is there any kid–any at all–who says, “Excellent! I’ve been vaccinated against HPV, now I can go out and have mad amounts of sex”? They’ve still got to worry about STDs and pregnancies, and if they’re too feckless to consider those things then the presence or absence of an HPV shot is unlikely to make a behavioral difference.

There have already been 2 incidents in our middle school about kids having sex without thinking of the repercussions. I wouldn’t put it past a couple of kids I know who always seemed a bit too focused on sex.

 

[PhiloMed]

Yes…I agree. It is not up to the pediatrician to discuss this. I agree with the concept of the other reasons you mentioned , but I would not state this to the teens especially if other immunizations have never been talked about…

So with that in mind, if I felt that they needed to have an immunization, they know to trust me that I am doing things in thier best interest.

Maybe I’m an anomaly, but my pediatrician and my mother always discussed what the vaccines were for from the time I was about 10/11 and up. I would likely do the same with my own kids.

As a child, though, it was still her decision for me to get it. There was pretty frank and open discussion of what they were for. I imagine if an HPV vaccine was available then she would have had me get that too just as she did with the Hep B series. She did 't hesitate to explain to me how one gets Hep B. I was in 8th grade when I got the vax.