British doctors must now comply with a new absurd rule – asking men if they are pregnant – following a mandate by the U.K. National Health Service (NHS).
Under the new NHS rule, physicians are required to ask men the question before they undergo X-ray procedures, computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. Guidance titled “Inclusive Pregnancy Status Guidelines for Ionizing Radiation” was released by the British Society of Radiographers in line with the NHS edict.
According to the NHS, the questioning comes in the form of an information sheet patients have to fill out. Patients between 12 and 55 years old – including biological men and gender-confused individuals such as transgender, non-binary and intersex patients – must indicate their “sex assigned at birth” and “fertility status,” RT added.
Moreover, doctors have been instructed “not to assume the gender identity of patients when performing all such procedures.” A separate report by the Evening Standard meanwhile recounted that “some hospitals have gone further, asking patients to complete forms stating their … preferred name and pronouns.
“It was not clear from the report how many U.K. medical institutions have adopted the new guidelines, but a number of hospitals in London and other cities were reported to have started using the new inquiry forms,” RT continued.
New NHS policy met with OUTRAGE
Several X-ray specialists who spoke to the Telegraph on condition of anonymity said patients have deemed some of the questions “invasive.” Several doctors also reported men reacting angrily to the new guidance, storming out of appointments over the insinuation that their gender wasn’t obvious.
One instance involved a patient on an urgent cancer pathway abandoning an appointment in anger. In another instance, a patient requiring daily scans for a week began to doubt his identity after repeated questioning. Worse, some parents of underage patients have been “furious” over these intrusive and confusing questions to their children.
But some doctors and human rights campaigners have spoken out against the guidelines, calling them “humiliating” to patients. They have already appealed to the NHS to drop the guidance and “return to common sense.”
“Given that it is impossible for anyone of the male sex to become pregnant, there is no need to ask male people if they might be pregnant,” said Dr. Louise Irvine of the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender. “The proposed radiography guidelines muddy the water by including so-called intersex conditions.”
Fiona McAnena, head of campaigns at the human rights charity Sex Matters, slammed the NHS policy as among the worst examples of prioritizing ideology ahead of biological fact. “Putting healthcare staff and male patients through this humiliating farce … is both inappropriate and a shocking waste of time,” she said.
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