Men and Paediatrics? Is this considered Ethical?

**ummmmm..** · 10-03-2006, 08:24 PM

i'm sorry but is this a joke?? or half a joke???? any joking at all in this topic?????

you are asking if it is ETHICAL to have men working in paediatrics? it what way could it possibly not be 'ethical'??? I just cannot even believe someone is asking this question and getting calm measured responses!! this is not even a logical question to be asking!! are you suggesting that there is something about men which children should not have experience of? something bad about all people who happen to be male which would have an adverse affect on children or would put them in danger or an undesirable situation simply because the doctor is a MAN???

by the way, i'm not male, but really just so shocked that someone actually......ok i need to calm down, sorry. its just so ill-thought out!!!!

out of the entire population of humans on the planet, there are many and varied shades of bad and good behaviour. the worst and the best behaviour is indiscriminate between those the male and female type of human. it is humans who will commit crimes or do bad things, men and women...
...so are you saying that there is a characteristic which ALL men have which means that overall, it is not ethical to have them in the presence of children, while there is a characteristic which all women possess which means they are suitable for spending time with children??

how can you find the statement made by the people at the first dudes uni, (was it essex? ive forgotten) that it is "unethical for a young man to be considering a job with children" to be even an acceptable question??? dont even let it be said people!!!! i know loads of great, good, nice, men and boys where did this view come from that all men are inherently bad in some way?? (or is there some other reason why it is being suggested it is unethical for men to work with children?) anyway, of course there will be some bad people in the world but they will be men, and women, and certainly they wouldn't be doing the wrong thing just because they are men or just because they are women, but because they are humans!

i apologise for the very long and rather poorly expressed post, im sure if i let myself calm down a bit after reading it i could have come up with a far more concise and clear response. also its just a response its not like, an attack on anyone......i think it might have come across like that...but its not i just feel very strongly...anyway

isnt anyone else out there shocked?? am i the only one

if there is anyone who is shocked then surely we should express it or things will never change, attitudes will never change if they are not challenged! so say something!! lol

cheers

**ManFromTheJam** · 11-03-2006, 12:50 AM

In responce to "ummmmm..", I think you may have slightly misunderstood the point of this post and I am sorry if it has confused you a little

.

In no way have I, or anybody here for that matter, posted opinions that men should not work with children or - for that matter - that women are better than men in the field. TO THE CONTRARY.

The proposed thread was asking if any young men considering paediatrics as a career have had any negative feedback from friends, family or institutions. It is considered by a VERY SMALL minority of people to be questionable. Why it is questionable I do not know, because to me it isn't.

This is in the same vain as Male Nurses, a few people consider it "oddball" for a young man to want to work with Children. There is nothing odd about it and this opinion, as you say, needs to be challenged

.

I simply wanted to enquire whether other men have been asked the same questions. I for one have had some very odd remarks about paediatrics and I am certain I am not alone.

Hope that clears that up!

**kormy** · 11-03-2006, 01:37 AM

To be honest Im really surprised that you even get negative responses. Call me naiive its just that its a thought that ive never even considered when it cums to paeds. My dad has been working in paeds since like forever and whenever i meet friends from his department more than half are men and i dont think any issue has been raised in him treating children because of his gender. If you genuinely have an interest in working with children (personally i would rather stick rusty nails in my eyes!) then definitely go for it! I would be really surprised if you ever came across a patients parents who didnt want you to treat their child because you were male.

**ummmmm..** · 11-03-2006, 02:56 AM

Arghh!! I wrote a reply and then clicked somethingorother and the window went back two pages and I lost it.

So anyway, I wasn't aiming it directly at anyone though I did use the words "..so are you saying...??" lol, which kind of does direct it at people..oops, just in the rush of saying things didnt think properly and didnt express things properly.

I know the purpose was to find out others opinions/experiences, but you asked the question "Men and Paediatrics? Is it considered Ethical?" and you also asked peoples opinions!!! so i just responded to the above question (with shock that that view was held by anyone at all and) and also gave my opinion on it (also shock lol), so when i said is this a joke? i meant is it a joke that there is even a question to be asked, i meant are you serious that someone actually thinks it is unethical

I just also thought that if that question needed to be asked (the question in the title of the post), then there must have been some small part of you that believed what those people you know said, that: "unethical for a young man to be considering a job with children" and that it would be: "unwise to even consider this seriously". And if you completely didn't think that was utter nonsense lol, then you must be kind of half-swayed into thinking they were right.......in which case i took it upon myself to rant on for half a page to the opposite view lol which i have managed to do again......ok this will be my last post!

sorry!

hope no one ever has an issue made of their gender ever in their medical careers (nor in any other part of their lives!)

**The Guitarist** · 08-05-2006, 04:18 PM

You should definitely go for paediatrics if that's what you feel you'd be best at. There is no way that they can stop you, and indeed it's a lot less dodgy than gynaecology (sp?). Why doesn't anyone raise objections to male gynaeos (again sp?).

**sweetie-pie** · 08-05-2006, 05:18 PM

They do pose objection to male gynaecologists - thats why it is now and has been for quite a few years now, necessary to have female chaperones in intimate examinations - and as the RCOG reported in its careers paper in Feb, the number of male medical students refused permission to carry out (supervised and chaperoned) intimate examinations compared to females who are hardly ever refused.
Ethically there is nothing wrong with either gynaecologists, or paediatricians being male, female, whatever, just in some patients minds it should be a female thing - somehow starngely seen as more caring with children, which is obviously daft.

**jay-mob** · 09-05-2006, 03:06 PM

Well its not different in geriatrics, I was on a shift as a aux nurse, and the patient wanted to have a female aux shaperone, and the doctors did not even asked me to do anything afterwards which had anything to do with taking of clothes of patients, however it depends just this friday I had a shift and the doctor was a aux nurse, and he even helped me out with some stuff so that was even funny.

**Gray** · 10-05-2006, 01:51 PM

I can understand the worries you're having about being male and wanting to go into Paeds. I am a first year medstudent and the placement (despite being sent home early and not really seeing much) that I felt most 'at home' during was my Paeds one. I really think its the speciality for me.

My worries are that I'm a gay male, and I think that might make people react differently. I know its not really going to come up in typical conversation with a patient, but I'm just slightly worried about the reactions of people.

I'd especially love to work with babies and toddlers, but I'd hate to think a few reactionary extremists out there would accuse me of 'influencing' their children or anything ridiculous like that. I don't think its going to put me off going for the speciality (if this is how I still feel in 4 years time and providing I pass), but it is a source of worry.

**the_last_1_left_again** · 10-05-2006, 02:51 PM

Originally Posted by ummmmm..

i'm sorry but is this a joke?? or half a joke???? any joking at all in this topic?????

you are asking if it is ETHICAL to have men working in paediatrics? it what way could it possibly not be 'ethical'??? I just cannot even believe someone is asking this question and getting calm measured responses!! this is not even a logical question to be asking!! are you suggesting that there is something about men which children should not have experience of? something bad about all people who happen to be male which would have an adverse affect on children or would put them in danger or an undesirable situation simply because the doctor is a MAN???

by the way, i'm not male, but really just so shocked that someone actually......ok i need to calm down, sorry. its just so ill-thought out!!!!

out of the entire population of humans on the planet, there are many and varied shades of bad and good behaviour. the worst and the best behaviour is indiscriminate between those the male and female type of human. it is humans who will commit crimes or do bad things, men and women...
...so are you saying that there is a characteristic which ALL men have which means that overall, it is not ethical to have them in the presence of children, while there is a characteristic which all women possess which means they are suitable for spending time with children??

how can you find the statement made by the people at the first dudes uni, (was it essex? ive forgotten) that it is "unethical for a young man to be considering a job with children" to be even an acceptable question??? dont even let it be said people!!!! i know loads of great, good, nice, men and boys where did this view come from that all men are inherently bad in some way?? (or is there some other reason why it is being suggested it is unethical for men to work with children?) anyway, of course there will be some bad people in the world but they will be men, and women, and certainly they wouldn't be doing the wrong thing just because they are men or just because they are women, but because they are humans!

i apologise for the very long and rather poorly expressed post, im sure if i let myself calm down a bit after reading it i could have come up with a far more concise and clear response. also its just a response its not like, an attack on anyone......i think it might have come across like that...but its not i just feel very strongly...anyway

isnt anyone else out there shocked?? am i the only one

if there is anyone who is shocked then surely we should express it or things will never change, attitudes will never change if they are not challenged! so say something!! lol

cheers

100% compltly agree wid wot u wrote.......
why are ethics/morals involved in "a young man" (or perhaps an "old" man) wanting to work wid kids...... so wots next? is it ethical for a father/grand-father 2 b left alone with his kids/grand-kids!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! yep, they should b constantly monitored by the social-services n b imprisoned for life if a child cries in their care.... u jst never know hai

such a cynical society we live in!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lets embed back som faith in human nature

**Ajelladitsa** · 11-05-2006, 09:14 AM

This advice sounds totally ridiculous to me, I am a mother and most (some 80%) of the paediatrician I've met were men..and nobody, least of all me, seemed to have a problem with it. I Suggest you just ignore it..

but btw, if you are interested in both paediatrics and neurology, why not become a paediatric neurologist? nowadays lots of kids have problems with seizures or development issues, and I'm sure the speciality is going to be in demand.

it's always sweet to hear of a man who likes children!