KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On Monday, the federal government announced new recommendations requiring hospitals to seek consent before performing tests on patients, especially those under anesthesia.
The KSHB 41 I-Team has reported extensively on this practice for a year and a half, and our reporting led to the passing of a law in Missouri banning nonconsensual pelvic exams.
related No Consent Part 2: What are local councilors doing about non-consensual pelvic exams?
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), requires that hospitals have a process in place to obtain informed consent from patients if they want to have students practice pelvic exams on someone. He said that there is. beginning.
Supporters say it should have been introduced from the beginning, but are still calling the move a victory.
In a previous report, we learned that physicians-in-training perform these tests (most often pelvic) on anesthetized patients as an educational tool.
Some students said this wasn't for them, but they didn't know how to speak up.
Many patients will have no idea that it has happened to them because it is not part of their medical care and is simply for the educational benefit of the student.
We spoke to Ashley Weitz, who was subjected to a non-consensual pelvic exam in 2007 and felt extremely violated.
But that experience led to advocacy work, testifying before several state legislatures, including Kansas and Missouri, and helping pass laws requiring consent.
We checked in with Weitz on Monday, and he said he was relieved the federal government was providing an accountability framework.
“It was incredibly validating. It was such a relief,” Weitz said. “I think it would be most effective to build this into the CMS rules, and it's not up for debate. Patient autonomy is not up for debate.”
DHSS acknowledges reports like the I-Team's coverage of today's actions.
A spokesperson said hospitals across the country received letters detailing the recommendations on Monday.
If hospitals don't have consent policies and processes in place, they could lose Medicare funding.
In the guidelines, CMS investigators identify a hospital's patient informed consent policies and processes and informed consent forms to ensure that patients or their representatives are making informed decisions about their care. It states that you must make sure that it contains the elements and information that will enable you to do so. . ”
If hospitals don't comply, they could lose Medicare funding.
“It's a really good thing to continue to allow patients and providers to have these conversations,” Weitz said. “It's really positive.”
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