Disturbing Physician Behavior Exposed in Anonymous Essay

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

Your patients and colleagues may be talking about an anonymous essay that tells of "disgusting and scandalous" behavior on the part of physicians. The essay appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

In one anecdote, an obstetrician performs a song-and-dance routine while his hand is still inside an anesthetized patient's vagina. In another, a surgeon makes inappropriate comments while cleansing an anesthetized patient's labia and thighs. In both scenarios, colleagues felt pressured to laugh along with the perpetrators.

In an accompanying piece, Annals' editors write, "We hope that medical educators and others will use this essay as a jumping-off point for discussions that explore the reasons why physicians sometimes behave badly and brainstorm strategies for handling these ugly situations in real time. By shining a light on this dark side of the profession, we emphasize to physicians young and old that this behavior is unacceptable — we should not only refrain from personally acting in such a manner but also call out our colleagues who do."