My body already doesn’t feel like it belongs to me at the best of times. Whether it be emotional or physical changes due to medications or simply due to a physical condition, I almost never feel in control. This is never more true than during medical appointments. I have encountered just one doctor throughout my life who asked for permission before each and every single thing she did. Even the small things: touching my shirt, touching my arm, taking a blood pressure. That made me feel like I was a human being who had autonomy over my body and all its parts. It made me feel like I had a part to play in my health rather than being someone’s science experiment. Those are the little things, which most people just take for granted at a typical appointment. Of course the nurse can take my blood pressure, otherwise why am I here? That’s not the point. The point is she is taking MY blood pressure. MINE. Therefore, I should be the person who decides when this happens.
During some appointments I don’t even feel human anymore. I am being moved around, poked and squeezed without ever having really understood why, let alone given my permission.
I believe this should be the standard throughout medicine even for young children. A lot of my medical trauma originates from being held down at doctor’s appointments as a child, not given a choice in what was happening to me at all, and not understanding why it was happening. Of course children cannot give their own full consent for major surgery or treatments because they are unable to understand the full consequences or their situation like the adults and medical professionals around them can. However, within these things there is still room for discussion and asking permission. Furthermore, in non-life threatening instances and/or casual check-ups there is definitely flexibility to have those conversations with parent, child and doctor/nurse.
Especially when there is anything that involves touching a child (or anyone’s) body it is crucial that they understand at their level 1. Why this is happening 2. What is going to happen exactly 3. That they say yes this can happen now. If they say no this cannot happen and are in a calm frame of mind, maybe it doesn’t need to happen right then. Maybe it can happen in a few minutes after a deep breath or a little further conversation.
It often surprises me that in 2022 healthcare professionals still don’t see the need to ask. They say to me (as an adult) “this is what we’re doing” “lie down” “put your arm here” etc. The other day, my arm was grabbed and forced over my head without even asking me to move it first or asking my permission to do so. This upset me greatly. If I had been calmly asked to move my arm I would have moved it, of course. If they had asked permission to position it for me, I would have let them. The way they chose to do it has a bad outcome for me mentally (and physically because it’s uncomfortable).
Consent, permission, discussion, patient inclusion, all these things and everything associated with them are crucial for a kind and compassionate healthcare experience. It can make it not only smoother for the patient but also for the provider as well. Fewer screaming children or tearful adults, such as myself, and better outcomes in the long run. The doctor’s office does not need to be a place children, teens and adults alike fear because they are going to get restrained and hurt by scary people with scary devices. There is another way. Adults don’t have to feel that fear either, whether it be with them from childhood or newly-acquired from a recent procedure. This way, people are more likely to attend their cancer screenings and other vital appointments and to engage positively with the healthcare field throughout their life.
So, if you are going to touch someone else’s body or do anything else to it and that person is conscious, ask them for permission. Explain what is happening and why and allow them to have the control of saying yes or no.
Letters From the Fog 