Bipartisan bill requiring consent for certain pelvic exams gains support
MADISON – A bipartisan group of lawmakers is trying, once again, to pass a bill that would require hospitals to obtain explicit written consent before allowing medical students to perform a pelvic exam on a patient who is unconscious or under anesthesia.
The proposal was first introduced in 2020 and has gained bipartisan support with each effort to advance it. Members of the Senate health committee heard testimony from supporters on Wednesday.
The bill would apply only to pelvic exams conducted solely for educational purposes and would not bar a health care provider from performing the exam in the case that it is medically necessary. The legislation would also require hospitals to have written policies and procedures requiring informed consent.
Sen. André Jacque, R-De Pere, noted that similar legislation has now been passed in more than 20 states — up from 10 when it was first introduced. He is joined by co-authors Sen. Lena Taylor, D-Milwaukee, and Reps. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, and Rep. Deb Andraca, D-Whitefish Bay.
The proposal is "long overdue," Brandtjen told the committee Wednesday, calling the current standard "unconscionable."
"Hats off to Republicans and Democrats for being on this bill and working together, because at the end of the day, we really do all care about women feeling safe, and knowing that when they go to practitioners, that they'll be treated accordingly," Brandtjen said.
During a pelvic exam, a health care provider inserts gloved fingers into a patient's vagina to examine the vulva and internal reproductive organs, seeking to identify infections or tumors. A speculum is used to spread the patient's vaginal walls, in order to examine the vagina and cervix.
Medical students can practice the procedure with conscious volunteers or mannequins, but it can be easier to examine the internal organs of an anesthetized patient whose muscles are relaxed.
Although it is a standard medical procedure, a pelvic exam places a patient in a vulnerable position and can be retraumatizing for victims of sexual assault.
The issue first came to lawmakers' attention when Sarah Wright of Madison brought concerns to her then-state Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison. Wright had experienced extreme vulvar sensitivity following the removal of an ovarian cyst and ultimately concluded that she had either been given a pelvic exam or a uterine manipulator had been used during the laproscopic procedure — both things she was not aware would be involved.
"I was not informed my vagina would be involved at all," Wright said as she testified on the bill for the third time on Wednesday.
"To me, the key question here is, if a doctor or medical student or whoever would not do something to a conscious person without asking them, then clearly they should not be doing that to an unconscious person without letting them know that that's going to happen," she said.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends that "pelvic examinations on an anesthetized woman that offer her no personal benefit and are performed solely for teaching purposes should be performed only with her specific informed consent obtained before her surgery."
The legislation is supported by groups including the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault and the Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Social Workers — along with the often diametrically opposed groups Wisconsin Family Action and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin.
In some cases, medical professionals have pushed back on efforts to implement such policies as law, arguing it should be left to medical societies to establish their own standards. And some health care providers have already adopted policies that follow the spirit of the legislation, including the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health in 2019.
There are no groups currently registered to lobby against the bill, and no one testified against it during Wednesday's committee hearing.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bill requiring consent for certain pelvic exams gains support
