I'm a new zealander and I watched fox news for the first time. I was disgusted by how biased and uninformed their reporting was. Here's the scenario, it painted all nurses in a bad light.
14yr old girl rings up an abortion clinic and says she wants an abortion. She lets slip that her partner is 30yrs old. The girl says 'Will you tell my parents'. The nurse on the phone only has a few seconds to help this girl. She says 'no, we won't tell your parents if you don't want us to'. The 14yr old girl is then seen on fox news admitting it wasn't real and she happily joined in the news crew in bashing nurses who deal with sexual health.
It doesn't take a genuis to figure out public reaction. Shock, horror, outrage and disgust at this nurse and all abortion clinics.
Here's what really happens. I now work in a boarding school (male nurse) and deal with sexual health issues all the time.
A girl, (say 15yrs old) is worried she may be pregnant. The first thing she asks me is 'Will you tell my parents?' If I say I will tell her parents, she may not tell me what is wrong. In fact I've had one student who assumed we would tell her parents, and she climbed out of a forth floor window in the middle of the night and scaled down each floor using the balconies on each level. She was accompanied by three friends. If any of those friend had fallen, they would have been killed. They took themselves to a local hospital where it turns out she wasn't pregnant.
What's the point - People, students, kids, adults need to feel they have someone to turn to, someone safe, somewhere safe. They need to know that what they tell us is confidential. Your first concern is the immediate safety and health of the child.
What do I do when someone comes to me for help? I did have a patient who was 15yrs old and pregnant. I told her I wouldn't tell her parents. I did tell her I would talk to my colleagues and the school doctor.This encouraged her to tell me the whole story. After evaluating her situation, including family, boyfriend etc, and discussing with my even more experienced colleagues I encouraged her to tell her parents. She did this and the parents were so supportive. The girl was so relieved as well as surprised. Children are often surprised by how supportive parents can be when in true crisis. The parents came and dealt with the issue.
Back to Fox News Scenario - Fox news jumped on the anti-abortion band-wagon and highlighted how medical people keep parents ignorant.They inflamed the public. This issue isn't about abortion. This issue isn't about the parents (at first). It's about the immediate safety of the child. Hopefully family can and will become involved, although unfortunately not all kids have good parents they can turn to. And by providing a safe environment for the child she can be encouraged to deal with the fact her boyfriend is 30yrs old. Hopefully the guy can be thrown in jail for the rest of his natural life. (I'm a parent as well, I'm not a emotionally immune healtcare giver). Fox news didn't show what really goes on. They didn't show the thoughts behind the medical people dealing with these ethical issues.They showed a nurse in a bad light, trying to make a political point. We all know news is never unbiased.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Politics, News and Nursing
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2 comments:
So you don't think the immediate safety extends to GETTING THE CHILD AWAY FROM A PEDOPHILE?!?!?!?!??!
Here is a child that admits to having a sexual relationship with an adult. Doesn't that child need to be protected from that? Or are you of the ilk that thinks sex by ANYBODY is ok?
Why is it that people of your ilk are so quick to kill unborn children, ie; abortion..yet you are sssoooo slow in having adults arrested for impregnating children?
You need to get off your high horse about Fox News and start to recalibrate your "whats really important" part of your brain.
Steve
To Anonymous, you have missed my point entirely, either because of a lack of intelligence, or lack of experience in an area I've had a lot of dealings with.
Let me explain-
1. My article actually has nothing for or against abortion. What I do point out is getting the child to talk to someone, who will hopefully be able to get the family involved and the family can decide what is best. My job is not to influence them either way.
2. As for leaving the child with a pedophile, if I scare the child away, then they will got back to their abuser. If I say, "Yes, we'll tell your parents" then the phone line goes dead, and the child most likely continues to be abused.
3. Immediate safety, means getting the girl somewhere safe now. It means getting her to trust you enough to come to you for help. The pedophile will be dealt with.
4. You say "I'm so quick to kill unborn children", not once in my article do I mention having an abortion. I do talk about the one sided 'briefing' given by fox news to make a point about abortion.
The goal is to have the child feel they have someone safe they can approach. This article is not pro or anti abortion. This article does highlight some pretty pathetic behaviour from an organsation that is supposed to deliver unbiased news. (I've since learned Fox News has a very conservative/republican agenda.)
Let's put you in my position, and a 14yr old girl rings you up and says she's pregnant to a 31yr old man. She asks "Will you tell my parents" and then you hesitate, or avoid the question, and she hangs up. You and your self righeous values have done stuff all for this child.
Please feel free to comment some more, but please think a bit about what the issues are, not what you think they are. I haven't discussed my opinions on abortion, and this article isn't meant to.
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