It's an annual rite most women would prefer to skip: a trip to the doctor
for a checkup that includes shedding every stitch of clothing, donning a
paper gown, placing feet in metal stirrups and enduring a pelvic exam.
For a healthy adult woman, the exam typically doesn't hurt. However it can
be uncomfortable, cold, embarrassing, time-consuming and, perhaps,
unnecessary.
Some doctors are beginning to question the need for every woman to have the
exam every year. One of them is Dr. Carolyn L. Westhoff, a professor of
obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University. Last month, she and
several colleagues wrote in the Journal of Women's Health that the routine
pelvic exam is "obsolete" for women who have no symptoms that might suggest
a problem. They argued that the time could be better spent on other, more
pressing, health matters.
from the Los Angeles Times (Registration Required)