Hastings Cent Rep. 2022 Mar;52(2):7-9. doi: 10.1002/hast.1349.
Testimony from hundreds of medical students and numerous physicians and scholars suggests that unconsented intimate exams (UIEs) are unlikely to be rare, isolated incidents. However, much is unknown about the frequency of these exams and the circumstances in which they take place. The Community Bioethics Forum, founded and chaired by one of the authors of this commentary, is a consultative group of diverse community members who provide insights on law and policy to policy-makers and medical associations. Connecticut legislators asked the CBF to provide their views on proposed "explicit consent" legislation, and during those discussions, concerning narratives emerged about members' (and their loved ones') personal experiences with UIEs. To gain greater clarity on the demographic patterns and frequency of UIEs, we conducted the first national survey on UIEs. Data from this survey suggest that UIEs may occur under a broader range of circumstances than addressed by most law and policy. The survey resulted in nearly the exact same rate of affirmative responses between males and females in answer to whether they had received a UIE within the past five years. The survey results also showed evidence of racial disparity. Additional research is needed to understand the nature of UIEs.
数百名医学生和众多医生学者的证词表明，未经同意的亲密检查（UIE）不太可能是罕见的、孤立的事件。然而，人们对这些检查的频率以及发生这些检查的情况知之甚少。社区生物伦理学论坛由本评论的作者之一创立并担任主席，是一个由不同社区成员组成的咨询小组，为政策制定者和医学协会提供有关法律和政策的见解。康涅狄格州立法者要求 CBF 就拟议的“明确同意”立法提供意见，在这些讨论中，出现了有关成员（及其亲人）个人经历的令人担忧的叙述。为了更清楚地了解 UIE 的人口统计模式和频率，我们进行了第一次全国 UIE 调查。这项调查的数据表明，UIE 可能发生在比大多数法律和政策所涵盖的更广泛的情况下。该调查在过去五年内是否接受过 UIE 这一问题上，男性和女性的肯定回答率几乎相同。调查结果还显示出种族差异的证据。需要进一步研究以了解 UIE 的性质。
