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teachingmom Forum All-Star
Virginia Bluebells
Joined: Feb 16 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Aug 31 2006 at 5:58pm | IP Logged
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There's a great article on the front page of the Washington Post today about my Catholic, pro-life, OB-Gyn doctor. Here is a link.
I'm using the link to an msnbc article because there is a poll in the middle of the article. Please take a moment and vote in the poll, if you would. It asks if you support medical practices that combine faith and moral beliefs with the practice of medicine. Right now those who support such practices are losing in the poll. Thanks!
__________________ ~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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Jen L. Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 18 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Aug 31 2006 at 6:32pm | IP Logged
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I just came here to post the same thing!
FYI: The poll is not easy to see -- it's just a one liner that links to a poll. It's near the bottom of the first page.
__________________ Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
"...the best state in which to glorify God is our actual state; the best grace is that of the moment..." St. Peter Eymard
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rose gardens Forum Pro
Joined: Feb 23 2006 Location: Minnesota
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Posted: Aug 31 2006 at 8:10pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for posting that. One woman in the article opposed to this idea said "It caught me completely off guard...I felt like he was judging me and putting pressure on me. . . . I am the patient. I am the client. It should have been about me -- what I needed. Not what he needed or believed."Which struck me as funny because clients who don't want to use artificial birth control are routinely judged and pressured by the medical staff at most other clinics. With my last pregnancy I finally took to writing in my hospital birthing plans my request that the staff be "tolerant" of my religious views and refrain from addressing the subject of contraception with me. Even with my note, the routine paperwork included the usual "how not to make this happen again" , but at least I didn't have the on-call doctor and nurses "warning" me I could become pregnant.
The idea in the article that clients of NFP only practices maybe not knowing about the availability of artificial contraception is laughable. I can't even watch late-night tv without being subject to prancing women bragging about their artificially created infertility!
I hope NFP only practices do extremely well and continue to grow.
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Philothea Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 15 2006 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Aug 31 2006 at 9:09pm | IP Logged
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I have to admit I am bitterly envious of those of you who have managed to get into Tepeyac. They aren't accepting new patients and I feel like I have no options now. Kaiser Permanente is evil and I'm so, so very tired of fighting these battles with them over life issues. Why I don't use the pill, why I want my pap smear BEFORE pregnancy as opposed to after I get pregnant, why I won't do the AFP test, why we don't do vaccines sourced from aborted babies ... the list goes on and on and I am so tired of being told I'm ignorant or irresponsible because of my pro-life views. I burst into tears reading that article because it is so painful to know that there IS an option just down the street from me where I wouldn't be made to feel this way, but I can't get in because it's full.
Rant over. I'm just in a lot of emotional pain over this issue as we are trying to conceive and I honestly don't know what to do about medical care. I don't think I can put up with nine months of Kaiser-style browbeating.
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ladybugs Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 07 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Aug 31 2006 at 9:15pm | IP Logged
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Philothea wrote:
I have to admit I am bitterly envious of those of you who have managed to get into Tepeyac. They aren't accepting new patients and I feel like I have no options now. Kaiser Permanente is evil and I'm so, so very tired of fighting these battles with them over life issues. Why I don't use the pill, why I want my pap smear BEFORE pregnancy as opposed to after I get pregnant, why I won't do the AFP test, why we don't do vaccines sourced from aborted babies ... the list goes on and on and I am so tired of being told I'm ignorant or irresponsible because of my pro-life views. I burst into tears reading that article because it is so painful to know that there IS an option just down the street from me where I wouldn't be made to feel this way, but I can't get in because it's full.
Rant over. I'm just in a lot of emotional pain over this issue as we are trying to conceive and I honestly don't know what to do about medical care. I don't think I can put up with nine months of Kaiser-style browbeating. |
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Philothea,
I am so sorry about this! Unfortunately, I totally understand your feelings as I had similar experiences.
In retrospect, I think the harassment is just a call to pray for those doing the harassing - and yes, that's what it is. This is difficult especially if your support network is small, already.
I don't really have anything to offer - I just wanted you to know you're not alone.
You'll be in our prayers!
__________________ Love and God Bless,
Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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teachingmom Forum All-Star
Virginia Bluebells
Joined: Feb 16 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Aug 31 2006 at 11:19pm | IP Logged
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Philothea wrote:
I have to admit I am bitterly envious of those of you who have managed to get into Tepeyac. They aren't accepting new patients and I feel like I have no options now. |
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I'm so sorry it's not easier to become a new patient now. I recently received an email update stating that they are starting a call back list for new patients in anticipation of a future hire. I'll pm you the details. The last time I saw Dr. Bruchalski, he was lamenting how hard it can be to find a new completely pro-life physician, particularly one who is on board with the pro-bono part of the work. (I can't remember now whether the article touched on this much, but they do a significant amount of pro-bono work with the poor.) It's sad that they have a difficult time finding like-minded physicians so that they can expand the business . . . because the business is definitely out there.
__________________ ~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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ALmom Forum All-Star
Joined: May 18 2005
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Posted: Sept 01 2006 at 12:29am | IP Logged
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Philothea:
We don't even have an option anywhere nearby - but the reason I am responding is to let you know what has happened here with the one pro-life pediatrician. His practice remains virtually closed as he gets tons of new babies from his existing patients. However, when one mom asked me about a pro-life pediatrician and I told her about ours, she seemed so discouraged as she was told by the staff that his practice was closed. I suggested that she write him a personal note explaining her desire for a pro-life pediatrician and see what happened. The worst that could happen would be a polite no. He opened the practice for her from her personal note. Might be worth a try!
Janet
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Elizabeth Founder
Real Learning
Joined: Jan 20 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Sept 01 2006 at 6:27am | IP Logged
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I'm no longer with Dr. Bruchalski's practice but I am with a practice in Loudoun that is completely supportive of large families, of NFP, of natural remedies, of unmedicated birht (if that's what you want), of breastfeeding for a long time. One of the midwives comes from a big Catholic family and has nine siblings herself. If you can't get in at Tepeyac and want to research another possiblity, PM me.
__________________ Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Martha Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 25 2005 Location: N/A
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Posted: Sept 01 2006 at 8:04am | IP Logged
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[QUOTE=rose gardens] One woman in the article opposed to this idea said "It caught me completely off guard...I felt like he was judging me and putting pressure on me. . . . I am the patient. I am the client. It should have been about me -- what I needed. Not what he needed or believed."QUOTE]
I also found this interesting from my catholic ob/gyn's perspective. She says it IS about the patient. It is irresponsible for any ob/gyn to prescribe a drug or do a permanent surgical procedure just because the patient wants it. It's just not smart medicine or healthy and even w/o her faith beliefs she wouldn't feel comfortable doing such for that reason alone. Many of her patients feel the same way. In fact, in ANY other area of medicine a dr. would normally feel very strongly that a patient has no right to demand receiving a treatment/drug that the dr does not determine is medically sound or needed for their medical condition.
I agree there's no such thing as a patient that doesn't know about bc options (well they probably don't know about NFP). For the vast majority, it's the only reason they ever go to the dr to begin with!
__________________ Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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MarieC Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 19 2005 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Sept 01 2006 at 1:43pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the link to the article.
ALmom wrote:
I suggested that she write him a personal note explaining her desire for a pro-life pediatrician and see what happened. The worst that could happen would be a polite no. He opened the practice for her from her personal note. Might be worth a try!
Janet |
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I second this...the ped practice we use has one doc who's on the OMS list; however, when I tried to get into his practice I was told he only accepted newborn patients. I waited until I had a newborn, took the whole gang with me to his first well-check and got the doctor to agree to take them all on. He said that officially he doesn't take on patients other than nb's but that if "a good Catholic/Christian family" would like to see him he makes an exception.
Good luck to you & your family!
__________________ Marie
mom to 6
dds-98, 00, 02 and 09 & dss-03 and 06
Out in the Orchard
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CathinCoffeland Forum Pro
Joined: May 19 2006 Location: N/A
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Posted: Sept 02 2006 at 6:06pm | IP Logged
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I take a big fat magic marker and while im waiting i write on my file...We are Catholic Do not Discuss Contraception/Abortion...we are fine Thank You!
We have dealt with this a lot. Once when reminding the midwife that we deal with infertiltiy but know NFP if we needed it she said "so do you use condoms during your fertile times?"
I told we have abstained if absolutely necessary and she was speechless.
We get an especcially hard time because the kids are on state health insurance. I was even asked if i was going to "get fixed"
I wish there were more prolife doctors out there. But even the ob that volunteers out our crisis prgnancy center has put in iud's and aborted the children concieved on them.
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