{"id":1238,"date":"2009-06-08T16:18:50","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T20:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2013-12-21T21:11:29","modified_gmt":"2013-12-22T01:11:29","slug":"would-we-consent-if-we-knew","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/would-we-consent-if-we-knew\/","title":{"rendered":"Would We Consent If We Knew?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>I provided this testimony on June 4th at the RI State House.<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>Honorable Chairman and Esteemed Members of the H.E.W. Committee, <\/p>\n<p>Thank you for this opportunity. My name is Chris Arsenault, and although I am a board member of CareNet, Rhode Island, a pregnancy resource center equipped with ultrasound, I&#8217;m here as a private citizen to present testimony in support of both H-5334, (aka \u201cA Women\u2019s Right to Know Bill\u201d), and H-5555, (aka \u201cThe Fetal Ultrasound Bill\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m a firm believer that just as this particular review process desires to see the full scope and consequences of the proposed legislation, and takes the necessary steps to reveal that information, so too does every person desire to understand the full extent of medical consequences for life-impacting surgeries.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m offering the <strong>patient\u2019s<\/strong> view on <em>knowing<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>As a man, I can\u2019t get pregnant, but I had hernia surgery a few years ago that sheds light on this legislation. Though the surgeon discussed with me and said he performed two different repair methods, I selected one based on my best understanding at that time. Through a mix-up the surgeon used the other method. Yes, my hernia was repaired, but the result was a longer, more painful recovery.\u00a0 Later, my own research showed the invasive procedure I initially chose was considerably more dangerous than the plug method performed on me. My post-op conversation with the surgeon clarified things, but revealed critical information I wish I knew at the initial consultation.<\/p>\n<p>Each patient&#8217;s understanding of consequences for medical decisions requires timely, accurate and high quality information provided in easy to understand ways. This simplicity and clarity is crucial for patients making critical life impacting decisions. Such information should be free from any medical provider conflict of interest.\u00a0 We need to know &#8211; would we consent if we knew other information?<\/p>\n<p>This question raises two important considerations: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Both availability of information pertinent to our decision, and our understanding of it as patients, changes as we learn.<\/li>\n<li>We obtain second opinions on critical medical conditions to verify diagnosis, affirm course of treatment and to avoid any potential provider conflict of interest.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>During consultations medical professionals don\u2019t always convey critical information for decision making in ways patients immediately grasp, because half the problem is on the patient\u2019s end.\u00a0 What are they paying attention to? What do they consider important vs what is being offered\/suggested?\u00a0 Learning usually leads to more, often better, questions. <\/p>\n<p>As for second opinions, I later learned the method I initially chose would take almost 6-8 times longer than the 10-12 minutes needed for the plug method.\u00a0 Overall, it was a more complex, expensive procedure.\u00a0 And, though qualified, the surgeon\u2019s discomfort doing that procedure, (and the risk of medical liability and death), was much greater.\u00a0 As it was, he performed 3 other hernia plug surgeries scheduled immediately after mine. It appears there was a conflict of interest between what I desired and what was most valuable for the surgeon.<\/p>\n<p>Abortion is much more consequential than a hernia repair. The fetus is the woman&#8217;s offspring &#8211; her child. While most everyone knows this, the average person may not know the gestational development of the child enough to fully understand medical risks, or comprehend the emotional <em>health<\/em> impacts associated with permanently denying the mothering of that child.<\/p>\n<p>With abortion, there is an inherent conflict of interest between the life of the child and the motivations and purposes of the abortion provider with regard to the mother.\u00a0 My discussions with many post-abortive women (and men) indicate few considered this in the midst of their decision making.<\/p>\n<p>Through CareNet\u2019s reports and personal testimonies I\u2019ve learned of the enormous positive impacts of Limited Obstetrical Ultrasound. One angry abortion demanding young man, while\u00a0viewing the ultrasound, found he already was a father. He broke down and cried.\u00a0 I\u2019ve met mothers whose first glimpse of their child\u2019s humanity came through ultrasound imaging. I\u2019ve seen the smiling faces of children who, had it not been for that ultrasound, and their mother\u2019s <em>knowing,<\/em> would have been shredded into pieces.<\/p>\n<p>The government\u2019s responsibility is to protect the interests of patients where the consequences are greatest, and must fairly balance patients interests with those who provide medical care.\u00a0 Our purpose in legislation is not to amend the past, but to safeguard and secure the future, not only for those who walk into clinics, but also for those yet to be born.<\/p>\n<p>I urge each member of the H.E.W. Committee to visit CareNet to learn more about how it provides critical, timely and complete information on a personal basis to those facing the irreversible consequences of life-impacting decisions. <\/p>\n<p>Would we consent if we had more information?<\/p>\n<p>Would we consent <i>if we really knew?<\/i><\/p>\n<p>The wisest advice is : <strong><em>First &#8211; do no harm.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The fetus is the woman&#8217;s offspring &#8211; her child. While most everyone knows this, the average person may not know the gestational development of the child enough to fully understand medical risks, or comprehend the emotional <em>health<\/em> impacts associated with permanently denying the mothering of that child. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/would-we-consent-if-we-knew\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[9,264,266,265],"class_list":["post-1238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-human-rights","tag-abortion","tag-patients","tag-right-to-know","tag-ultrasound"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1238"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1249,"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1238\/revisions\/1249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thrufire.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}