UK Doctors Told to Ask Men if [sic] They Are Pregnant
16th August 2024
The new guidelines were issued following an incident where a pregnant woman who presented as a man underwent a CT scan, the Telegraph reports. Radiology procedures such as X-rays and CT scans can be harmful to unborn babies.
The guidelines instruct radiology operators to ask all patients between the ages of 12 and 55 if they are pregnant before proceeding with the scans. They also include admonitions to staff to be sensitive to transgender, non-binary, and intersex patients. Patients are also required to fill out new forms asking about their gender at birth and their preferred pronouns.
However, radiographers have described incidents in which the new protocols made some men so angry they stormed out of appointments without getting their scans done. Women, too, have had strong reactions, with some crying because of the “invasive” fertility questions on the forms that ask them to explain why they could not be pregnant, forcing some to recall miscarriages or other incidents that have left them infertile. Previously, it was enough for women simply to state that they were not pregnant.