"I came to the clinic two weeks ago and they said I was having a girl."
"Okay..."
"But then my herbalist said it was definitely a boy."
"I see..."
"So can you do another test and see what it really is?"
"It's a girl."
"But you didn't even do a test--"
"I can refer you to the OB clinic for another ultrasound, but if they said it was a girl, I think you can be pretty sure it's a girl."
"But my herbalist--"
"Is not a doctor."
"I call her doctor--"
"She's not a medical doctor. And I will admit that we are not perfect, and there are a lot of things we don't know. But the OB clinic is pretty good at telling a baby's gender. You can trust them."
"I don't know who to believe."
"Think of it this way. You can believe whoever you want, and in the end, you'll have a baby."
"But I need to know what color clothes to buy."
"Pink."
"But what if it's a boy?"
"Boys can wear pink."
"You're wearing white."
"So are the female doctors. We have to."
"Ugh, I should just get another ultrasound."
"Maybe you should."
* * *
I appreciate the comments on the previous post, from the perspective of patients. I feel like this post is sort of related. I don't mind patients who want to believe their herbalists about the gender of their fetus, as long as they don't yell at me and call me a liar and eat tuna fish in my exam rooms.
Monday, April 11, 2011
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Didn't they give her pix of the ultrasound? When you have a printed photo, and there's an arrow with the words "labia" it's not too hard to figure out the baby's gender.
ReplyDeleteI read an old story once (before ultrasound) of a doctor who was well-known for his accuracy in predicting the baby's gender. When he retired, he was asked what his secret was, and replied that he arbitrarily told people something, then wrote the opposite thing down on his prediction calendar. When babies were born, if he'd been right, patients were happy. If he'd been wrong, they asked him about it and he'd show them what he'd written down - so obviously they'd just misheard. 100% record that way :)
I'm a veterinarian, and I not only deal with herbalists and various other naturopathic quacks, but animal communicators and psychics. This, even though I frequently know exactly what my patients are thinking: my owner is a moron.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I thought I saw a penis on the u/s when I was pregnant. Those u/s pictures aren't always clear.
ReplyDeleteWhich leaves an opening for herablists I guess!
M
By what means did the Herbalist determine the gender? I mean the ultrasound is pretty definitive, what did the Herbalist show her that made her second guess? I wonder if you had asked about the alternative methodology and broken it down, then natural logic may have kicked it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck getting your insurance to pay for an ultrasound just to figure out the sex.
ReplyDelete