can a GYN doc refuse to give the sex of the baby because of personal differences with the patient?

Question

a family member of mine went to get her ultra sound today. they couldn't have anyone watch their 10 month old, so they had to bring him with them. the only people in the room were mom, baby, and dad.. baby is teething, and he must have gotten on the doctors nerves.... then the doc got angry because at 17 weeks she had not had the baby tested for any birth defects. he told her all he would ever tell her is that the baby had 2 arms and 2 legs. he refused to give her the sex of the baby. and he told her that he would never tell her the sex of the baby. she's on medicade, and is limited on the doctors she can see.... even so, this is WRONG! from what i understand it is the patients RIGHT, not privilage, to know the sex of the child. they need to know this to be able to buy the proper clothes for baby.... what should she do????

Answer 1

I believe you because I am going through things with my OB right now and the things that she has said to me. If they wanted to know the sex of the child they should have been told. My OB acted rude with us when we took our 5 year old in to an appointment. I am 37 weeks, and I should have had an ultrasound last week but she refused to do it now, and I am very high risk with diabetes. She got mad at me because I called her on not wanting to see me in her office for weekly visits just L&D. I did let my primary care dr. know about the situation, just so it could be put in my record at his office. It is not too late to switch dr's at this point.

Answer 2

Wow, I hope no doctor would seriously be this petty! I'm on medicaid and am lucky enough to have awonderful doctor...but in most cases the obgyn him(or her)self does not perform the ultrasound...there is a specially trained technician for this.



The ONLY reasons I would see for a doctor not to give away the sex is if the mother wanted to abort if it wasn't the sex she was trying for or if he honestly couldn't tell...17 weeks is too early to determine in some cases (especially with girls! if it was a boy, your relative probably wouldn't have had to be told what the sex was...my son's penis is THAT obvious at 17 weeks).



She should have a serious talk with the doctor (or ultrasound tech) about the reason for not telling the sex...some doctors may not offer this as part of their services, for the aforementioned reasons...and also that he may not be speciallty trained as an ultrasound tech...if he didn't also check the heartbeat, take measurements, etc, he doesn't sound like he's highly qualified...or he may just be waiting for a later ultrasound you usually get 2 with a low0risk pregnancy on medicaid).



If it turns out he just didn't want to give the info, find another doctor, and fast! I know choices are limited, but there MUST be another doctor in a 30-minute radius. If he really couldn't tell or it just isn't something he does, she can always get a 3d ultrasound at a special clinic...it's only about $99 in some places, and it's well worth it, even on a budget.

Answer 3

You have every right to refuse any type of care. You could refuse to do ultrasounds if you really wanted to. However if the doctor does try to drop you as a client, the reason would be for his own self image and wanting to avoid any chance of having a bad mark on his record (if something were to go wrong). Surgeons do that all the time to avoid bad numbers and not taking high risk chances (I dont see you as high risk, just an example). I am not sure if you could take any legal action, but you might consider looking around, regardless, for another OB just in case. If all else fails they wont turn you away the hospitol, it would just be a matter of what doctor is on call (which can be stressful esp if you have special requests like no meds, no cuts, no internal monitors, etc). Do NOT let him or the fear or losing him as a doctor convince you into the test. Any method of enducing labor weather trying to or testing, is not good for you or baby. Stand by your ideas, they are much safer. If you do go through with the test ofcourse, as you mentioned, he will seem "under stress" and I can almost guarentee he will want to do a c-section that was complelte unnecessary in the first place.

Answer 4

There is a good chance that the doctor could not tell the

sex of the baby from ultrasound. It is not always visible during an ultrasound. Medicaid will not pay for another ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby. Most insurance will not. No one has a right to know the sex of baby - it is a nice benefit of ultrasound but not the purpose for it. I have 3 children & never knew the sex of any of them before their birth. Why did she not have the baby tested? Some things can be fixed in womb if caught early. Sounds like she was having a bad day not so much the doctor. He is busy & I am sure the policy of no children was made clear. Maybe Dad should have kept 10 month old in waiting room. Sorry, but life is not fair sometimes.

Answer 5

That's ridiculous! Your family member should complain to someone about this doctor, whether it be to some sort of Doctor's Association or to a clinic that he may be affiliated with, or maybe even the local council (don't know if that will help much though). Either way, she should report him. The doctor should not refuse providing any information regarding the health of her unborn baby just because he was having a bad day or because the child was annoying him! Parents have a right to bring whoever they like to an ultrasound and doctors need to be considerate of that. She definitely should not take this incident lightly, especially if she has to continue to see the same doctor throughout the term of her pregnancy. Also, given the fact that she hadn't had any tests for any defects and she was already at 17 weeks, how was she to know when to book these appointments if her doctor wasn't letting her know in advance of the tests she needed to take? That's what the doctor is there for - to provide support and advice to expectant mothers. Good luck!

Answer 6

Wow that doctor sounds rude, but medicade doctors are commonly rude. From what I understand, doctors or nurses can never be 100% sure of the sex. some choose not to say becuase they dont want to cause problems if they are wrong. But he sounds like he just has a stick up his a$$ and wants to piss people off. I would suggest going to anothe doctor, if possible.

Also, I thought that checking for defects was only done if the parents requested and the doctor agreed as well, because it does increase chance of miscarriage.

Answer 7

I had medicaid and my doc was truely nice. I loved him from the moment we met. I also didnt have the amnio to test for birth defets. I refused it. He was real nice about it. he said I was young an din good shape so everything should be normal. Your not supposed to take children in the ultrasound room but since there was no baby sitter and dad was watching him the doc shouldnt have gotton mad. 17 weeks is pretty early to tell sex. Maybey he couldnt see it but in no circumstance should he have said what he said. i would switch docs and now before she gets any farther cause most docs wont take you if your far along.

Answer 8

WHAT kind of doctor is this??!! OMG I have never heard of such a thing. She needs to change doctors NOW. This is not the kind of guy I would want on my team. And once she has a new doctor, she needs to report the first one.



For the record, testing for birth defects is optional. It's only really recommended for women considered a high risk for them. You didn't mention her age, but if she's still in her 20s or early 30s she doesn't have to worry about it as much. If this doctor was really concerned he should have recommended she have tests done, not antagonize her by not telling her any information about her pregnancy. What a jack@ss.

Answer 9

1.) At 17 weeks doctors don't ask for tests for birth defects unless the mother is over 40, has a history of a severe birth defects in the family, or has drug or alcohol history.



2.) It can take up to the 20th week to determine the sex of the baby.



3.) Legitimate doctors would NEVER say that business about " two arms and two legs". Medicaid or not.



Are you sure your family member isn't stretching the truth? If she is being honest...this doctor should be reported. The AMA website has a link for complaints. Just do a websearch for AMA (American Medical Association).

Answer 10

As a patient you have the right to all your medical information, you also have the right to have your questions answered honestly. I would start by reporting him to the state medical board and then I would contact my state medicaid office, tell them what happened, and try to get a new doc. What state does she live in? I live in Kentucky and I know here you have to see a doc in either the county you live in or a surrounding county. You can also try the medicaid website http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ or call 1-800-Medicare, they will help here find a new doc. Hope this helps.

Answer 11

You are absolutely right that the doc has absolutely no right to withold any info from the patient. I know that with the medicade she does not have the luxury of going from doc to doc, but that was totally unprofessional, if i was her i would find a new doc immediately, because my fear is that the doc would hold even more vital info from me in that situation. Maybe she can find a midwife if she cannot find a doc. Good luck to her.

Answer 12

Are you sure that's the whole story?



EDIT: Hey, calm down. I'm just saying you weren't in the room and there are ALWAYS 2 sides to every story. There is no way possible that your family member related the incident to you in its entirety. I'm not saying the doc didn't do something wrong or rude, just questioning whether or not that's exactly what happened. And before you get your panties in a bunch, maybe you should do the same thing.

Answer 13

she should def report him to his boss or the head of his company, or you can have her search for a new doc that will except her being on medicade, i would be pissed as a mutherfucker if that stupid *** prick told me thta i wasnt allowed to know my babys sex! i would have my hubby beat his ***, j/k but you should def have her check with his [the docs] supervisor/boss/company leader and see what his problem was and if there is any reason why she couldnt find out her babys sex and if that doesnt work, then she should call around and see if she can find a new doc, best of luck to you guys and i hope the pregnancy goes well! God Bless!

Answer 14

The sex of the baby really isn't that important, but being able to feel comfortable with your doctor is... Medicaid or not, you need to be able to trust your doctor... your life is literally in their hands. My opinion, FIRE that doc and get a better one.

I think you can file a grievance with the state medical board (something to do with ethics maybe), but know no details on that... you can always call and ask though.

Answer 15

While it is her right, it is not required. If the doctor was able to tell during the ultrasound, she should tell. But if she couldn't tell then there is nothing your friend can do. It is not a requirement that they let them know and it usually costs extra to find out for sure.

Answer 16

oh boy can u say LAWSUIT!!! no really this doc is a straight up bonafide asshole- excuse my french and she can sureky find at least one more doc to switch to and she should.

on the other hand do encourage her to stay on top of tests, it is a matter of choice however but just for her own piece of mind and godforbid preperation of her mind if all is not well.

Answer 17

can you say lawsuit. I am not one to usually say that but a doctor can never be imparcial because of insurance reasons. Since I am on medicaid also, I would suggest that she call her caseworker immediately. They can suggest further actions and possibly transfer her to an unbiased doctor.

Answer 18

How far along is she?



No, he can't refuse to tell her. He can have his license revoked for that.



Report him to the AMA (american medical association.)

Answer 19

She can most certainly get a new doctor and i would make his higher ups aware of how he treated her.

Answer 20

get a lawyer and take it to court. that is completely unethical and he has absolutely no power what so ever to withhold this info. demand to speak with the clinic manager and/or his superiors.

Answer 21

she can get a new doctor.

in fact i hope she does and i hope she has him written up for it.