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Recently, in response to complaints from women's groups about a lack of professionalism among doctors, the New York County Medical Society held a meeting with representatives of such groups and published a list of suggestions resulting from this, under the aegis of Shepard Aronson, Chair of the Committee on Public Relations. What has this to do with the book, The Woman Patient? you may ask. Everything! I cannot help but feel that had the doctors complained about read this book, and paid scrupulous attention to the guiding principles in it, there would have been no complaints.
This book offers an understanding of the woman patient in her developmental, physiologic, psychologic and pathologic vicissitudes. It takes note of women's sensitivities, seeing them in proper perspective, and not as an unnecessary annoyance. There is some variation in the quality of the contributions from the different authors, but the overall quality is high. All suggest the need to go beyond routine medical care, especially in the reproductive area, pointing to the necessity to make an effort to inform the patient and avoid inflicting hurt either through insensitivity or contempt. Unfortunately, there seems to be a great deal of the latter among gynecologists and obstetricians, so it is good to realize that the time when this can be indulged in has, for the most part, passed. The struggle of women — call them feminists, liberationists or what you will — has resulted in a raised consciousness and a sense of “entitlement” to considerate and respectful treatment.
As Nadelson and Notman indicate in the introduction, women bring to their contact with the doctors who treat them the same coping styles they use in their everyday lives, even accentuated because of anxiety and fear. Thus, if a woman does happen to be flirtatious or seductive, she brings this (societally supported) tendency with her. But the doctor should understand this, and have adequate interpersonal equipment to deal with it appropri