Male Practice: How Doctors Manipulate Women (Malpractice Malepractice) Robert S. Mendelsohn MD

244 Pages·2022·10.897 MB·English

by  Robert S. Mendelsohn MD

NEW SECTION
eeF a’s xe
s1tsa t aBoTrty sSe tnee s
inSe n)
Sane 50 Drugs to
Think Twice
About
Before
Re pbs :
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2022 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/malepracticehowd0000mend
MAL =
PRACTICE

MAL =
PRACTICE
How Doctors Manipulate Women
Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.
Contemporary Books, Inc.
Chicago
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Mendelsohn, Robert S.
Male practice.
Bibliography: p.
1. Gynecology—United States. | 2. Obstetrics—United
States. 3. Sexism in Medicine—United States.
4. Iatrogenic diseases—United States. 5. Women’s
health services—United States. I. Title. [DNLM:
1. Obstetrics. 2. Gynecology. 3. Medicine. 4. Women.
WP 100 M537m]
RG67.U6M46 618 80-68601
ISBN 0-8092-5974-5
ISBN 0-8092-5721-1(pbk.)
Copyright © 1982, 1981 by Robert Mendelsohn, M.D.
All rights reserved
Published by Contemporary Books, Inc.
180 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60601
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 80-68601
International Standard Book Number: 0-8092-5974-5
0-8092-5721-1
Published simultaneously in Canada by
Beaverbooks, Ltd.
150 Lesmill Road
Don Mills, Ontario M3B 2T5
Canada
Contents
Acknowledgments vil
Introduction 1x
.. rust: Me, Dear, 1
“It’s a Good Thing You Came to See Me When You
Dids 10
“What Medical School Did You Go To?” 20
“There, There, Dear, Don’t Worry Your Pretty Little
Head.” 27
“I’m Going to Order a Few Simple Tests.” 40
“Let’s Just Take a Couple of Pictures.” 49
Olake These and “Youl l Feel. Better, a7
eSyes“eI ’ m Afraid We'll Have to Operate.”’ 79
“What Do You Need a Uterus for, Anyway?” 97
“It’s You Your Husband Loves, Not Your Breasts.”’ 107
. “It’s Safer Than Pregnancy.”’ 119
“Now Look, Mother, You’ve Got to Watch Your
Weight.” 130
“Don’t Tell Me You Want to Be a Martyr!’ 1)
“Do You Want Your Baby to Die?”’ 140
‘You'll Be Okay; Just Leave Everything to Me.” 150
““Now Let’s Make You Nice and Clean for the
Baby.” 157
. “This Device Will Help Protect Your Child.” 159
. “I Want to Make You As Comfortable As
Possible.” 166
. “It’s Time to Speed Things Up a Bit.”’ 172
. “I’m Going to Sew You Up Like a Virgin.” 177
. “Your Pelvis Is Too Small.” 180
toktsarBoy!™ 185
. “I Know What’s Best for Your Child.” 188
. “You'll Just Have to Learn to Live with It.”’ 194
. Fifty Drugs Every Woman Should Think Twice About
Before Taking 197
Additional Reading 211
Index 213
Acknowledgments
I’m grateful to the thousands of women I’ve encountered on
radio or television and in my private practice whose provoca-
tive questions and revealing accounts of medical mayhem moti-
vated me to write this book. Their sure instinct for truth and
their critical appraisal of my views qualify them as the best
faculty a lifelong student like me has ever had.
That role was shared by the media interviewers—print,
audio, and video—and their associates, whose thoughtful prob-
ing has sharpened my positions and refined my verbal and
written expressions. Even when I have been quoted out of
context or freely paraphrased they have often managed to make
my point more clearly than I did myself.
I’m also indebted to the many doctors, nurses, and dentists
who have written me confessing that they have been ‘“‘closet
medical heretics,” but now plan to assume a more activist role.
Thanks to them, my writings, which began as a catharsis, have
now evolved into a crusade. My gratitude for that support
Vil
Vill MALE PRACTICE
within my profession also extends to the medical students and
their organizations across the country who have provided an
appreciative forum for my heretical opinions.
Nor can I overlook the physicians in high places who have
appeared with me on local and national media and public
platforms. They have included the executive vice president of
the American Medical Association, the president of the Ameri-
can College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, faculty members
from Harvard and other prestigious medical schools, and the
presidents or members of many local medical societies. Their
determined defense of the indefensible has reinforced my deter-
mination to continue exposing medical practices that I abhor.
I’m also grateful to:
Phil Drotning, who gave wholeheartedly of his spirit as well
as his outstanding professional writing skill to this book;
My daughters, Ruth and Sally, their husbands, Marty and
David, and my grandchildren, Channa and Jonah (born Yom
Kippur, 1980), whose examples in matters of health and other-
wise I strive to follow;
Above all, my wife, who continues to provide the wisdom,
stability, security, protection, and love that affords me the
opportunity for thinking and the luxury of writing.
Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.