She’s Exposing An Unsettling Medical Practice: It’s Legal For Women To Have Pelvic Exams Without Their Consent And While Under Anesthesia In Some States
In a viral video, TikToker Cloe (@223in2023) is exposing a deeply unsettling medical practice that far too many women have experienced: undergoing pelvic exams while under anesthesia. And most of the time, they never even gave their consent.
It is legal in 29 states for medical students in the room to give a pelvic exam to a female patient under anesthesia without her consent. The practice is done for the purpose of medical training.
According to the Journal of Surgical Education, pelvic examinations under anesthesia (EUAs) are often used to educate students about female pelvic anatomy.
However, Cloe makes it clear that women’s bodies are not teaching tools without permission.
Ever since learning about EUAs, she has been terrified to get surgery, and she will only receive surgery if a trusted family member is in the room with her.
It’s something that many women are unaware of, so she wanted to bring this fact to their attention and help people make informed decisions regarding their healthcare.
As of 2019, seven states, including California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Utah, Oregon, and Virginia, have laws mandating certain standards for pelvic EUAs, per the academic journal Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Her video, which received 5.1 million views, struck a nerve online, with thousands of women flooding the comments and sharing their own stories.
Sadly, many women have been violated while receiving medical care.
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“I had abdominal surgery and was given a pelvic exam under anesthesia. They never asked for consent or made any indication that it was part of the procedure. I posted anonymously on a local moms’ Facebook page to warn others, and the amount of nurses defending it was insane,” commented one user.
“I worked as an OR nurse in 1990. This was routine. I was appalled and went to the legal team of our hospital. They said it was considered battery. They stopped it. I was blacklisted and bullied while I worked there,” revealed another.
“I’m in California and try to get around it here, too. Opted out of a student pelvic exam during a surgery, I was explicit that I did not want to participate. I had anxiety, so they gave me meds before the OR and tried to get me to sign consent as I was barely lucid. It was incredibly unethical,” wrote someone else.
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