Moscow

I disagree, having the male nurse in the room looks like manipulative leverage. It invalidates true consent. It is not ethical. I work with abuse victims they really hate being angled and leveraged into giving a consent they would prefer to deny. A large number of people have been sexually abused, millions of victims, it is not a small constituency. You are mistaken in relation to scale. "I don't have a problem with asking permission, but it had better be equal treatment for both male and female students." It is about appropriate treatment for patients. If you add a differing rights issue to the primary consideration you are betraying the important thing for something which is secondary - and it is secondary. Patients do not exist to serve students. The nursing profession has to find ethical solutions to these problems.

THe male nurse should not be within ear-shot. He should certainly be outside the room. Having a male nurse imposed on a person can cause real and lasting harm. The mechanism for permission has to be genuine. Asking for permission with the male nurse in view or listening range is potentially coercive. Most male nurses know that female patients frequently have problems etc. It is not a personal thing as such. It is just the way life is. The 'male thing' is a big problem in modern nursing. It is not a problem caused by arbitrary prejudice but by real medical phenomena etc. A male nurse who is not prepared to sccept that very many females should not have oposite gender nursing associated with them is not really going to do too good in the empathy stakes.

Speaking generally. I was not there. It is about empathy and good nursing practice. Somebody often has to repair the damage caused by having male nurses doing controversial things and it tends to resonate. Many female patients complain afterwards (to female nurses) about having male staff imposed upon them. Most nurses know that female patients do not like male nurses. Expectant mothers certainly top the list. The adverse criteria are so pervasive a general prohibtion is probably the best solution. Any male nurse who can't appreciate that there are likely to be many problems should possibly think of doing something else. Expectant mothers should in ideal circumstances express the wish (without being asked by the hospital) and if they do not express that wish it should be viewed as a no. Most expectant mothers it can be assumed do not feel comfortable with male nurses. Male nursing often has adverse consequences and it is only natural that this generates the type of feelings you refer to. I am not supposing that in your case that was the reason, however it often is. Again this is not a secret - male nurses can hear their female colleagues whispering about same sex birthing etc. Many of those quietened conversations are about real medical problems and issues caused by stress factors that could have been avoided. Many female nurses fel under pressure not to report adverse events and issues because they do not want to hammer some poor fellow who made the mistake ofr being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Any male nurse who *expects* expectant mothers to welcome him in all and any circumstances should not be in the profession. If he is that unfeeling he should be in the Marines, fighting in Iraq or driving a big dozer truck demolishing buildings etc. If a male nurse has zero empathy for females patients he should not be near them.

That is the way to go. The patient should be asked a day in advance and then asked again just before etc. A bad experience can't be fixed. Nobody can go back and remove bad stuff from a patient's memory. Many women will have abuse histories, religious issues and orthodox preferences. Generally speaking male nurses carry a higher risk of issues related to increased stress and emotional discomfort etc. Half of the USA do not really think male nursing is for them as a factor of inclination and prejudice, many females have *real* reasons not to want a male nurse within their sphere of experience.

'"I have a male nursing student with me today, is it okay if he comes in?" Not exactly a welcoming experience. Also, there were no male nurses on the entire floor of the hospital. No male staff restroom or locker room. @ If she was asked that in front of you it is appalling. The male nurse should *never* be in view or ear-shot when the patient is asked.

Women generally do not like the idea of male nurses. Some of them are not too happy about male doctors. The hospital should ask first. The male nurse should not do the asking. He should not even be in the room when she is asked. If she delays for more than a second it should be marked as a 'no'. Most females do not like the idea or practice of male nurses when they are giving birth. It is usually something 'presented' to them when they are least able to resist it. It is an appalling care strategy. It is a dreadful time to spring social engineering and political corectness into the equation. Male nurses should certainly not be allowed near Moslem females etc. and expectant patients with prior sexual abuse histories etc.

Eventually they give in? You have hit the nail on the head. The patient is the person with the rights.

If a person will drink and drive they are a risk. Not something to be encouraged with pilots and demolition engineers. Put five years into the equation between issue and contemporary circumstances and it is less of a risk. The police and drug dealers frequently use the same control techniques. I see no obvious reason to encourage them. If a police officer has to arm- twist the wife, girlfriend or kids he is no good and shouldn't be in uniform. If a cop can't do one significant drugs bust per week he is obviously too stupid to be worth his salary.

London is blighted by gangsters from eastern Europe etc. I gather most arrests of Arabs are for trivia. Before the Arabs, it was the Irish who were rounded up in racist witch hunts. The usual trend is many hundreds of arrests and a near zero conviction rate. How many convictions out of the last 600 'terrorist' arrests, a round dozen or so? Tony Blair and David Blunkett do media stunts.

Routine policing in over 20 cities and towns has been abandoned (normal services suspended) at weekends to deal with the city centre chaos. The cost to the NHS is staggering and performance levels are badly affected. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3537257.stm The chances of being injured in British towns at weekends is quite high. Many towns centres are virtual no-go areas. Child protection and other key areas have been seriously reduced because of policing costs. The UK has similar problems to the mafia run resorts in eastern Europe. The UK can make New Orleans look laid back. Britain can be one of the wildest places to visit.

What happens if the Iraqi tyrant asks for a screening of photography featuring brave US soldiers raping female detainees at Abu Ghraib? The Pentagon had a meeting with the AEI and gave them a set of torture videos. There are two strands of thought on the re-election issue, the corporate neocons at AEI and those 'thinking' conservative who wanted the 'female aspects' revealed as far away from the poll as possible. The AEI strategy is a hostage to fate. The US media boycotted the AEI screening. The only film they want to see leaked by the Pentagon is of children and women being raped and tortured by US soldiers. The AEI have a crude strategy.

What happens if the Iraqi tyrant asks for a screening of photography featuring brave US soldiers raping female detainees at Abu Ghraib? The Pentagon had a meeting with the AEI and gave them a set of torture videos. There are two strands of thought on the re-election issue, the corporate neocons at AEI and those 'thinking' conservative who wanted the 'female aspects' revealed as far away from the poll as possible. The AEI strategy is a hostage to fate. The US media boycotted the AEI screening. The only film they want to see leaked by the Pentagon is of children and women being raped and tortured by US soldiers. The AEI have a crude strategy.

"The mission of the U.S. forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr. That's our mission," said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez of U.S. Central Command on Monday. Sadr City is a virtual no-go area for US forces, they enter and leave after the most complex of precautions with video look-ahead etc. The US is reliant upon the good grace and permission of somebody they had previously told the media was wanted 'dead or alive'. Muqtada al-Sadr never believed the US had the capacity to deliver on their empty threats and he was seemingly quite correct.

"The mission of the U.S. forces is to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr. That's our mission," said Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez of U.S. Central Command on Monday. Sadr City is a virtual no-go area for US forces, they enter and leave after the most complex of precautions with video look-ahead etc. The US is reliant upon the good grace and permission of somebody they had previously told the media was wanted 'dead or alive'. Muqtada al-Sadr never believed the US had the capacity to deliver on their empty threats and he was seemingly quite correct.

Very few of the torturers from Abu Ghraib will face justice. The Shia are a majority, the Sunni are a minority. The Iraqi Shia have defended the Baathists against the Iranian or 'Persian' Shia with determination. The (majority) Shia in the Iraqi army have done so despite intense propaganda by the Iranians, calling on them to do otherwise. Grand Ayatollah Sistani is the most important political figure in Iraq. I am not really speaking for the 'Iraqi' people because I am not entirely sure how I would define 'Iraqi' people. I tend to think in classical terms or of Christian Patriarchates. I do not believe that many 'Iraqi' people are particularly fond of the US war, US standards of 'law and order', or of 'human rights' as defined by Paul Bremmer. If you like your intelligence hot off the press I can't help you, you need to speak to Seymour Hersh etc. I can tell you this however, the first directive requiring female detainees to be treated with a modicum of decency was issued in April of this year. Until that point they had to endure the co-ed scenes of sexual degradation etc. There were no exceptions for gender, age, medical condition, pregnancy etc. Ahmad Chalabi must have had a grin from one side of his face to the other. If Dick Cheney and the neocons had hoped for an oil painting to commemorate the foundation of the new Iraq, then it didn't happen. the US Viceroy scooted away in disgrace. There was no real transfer of power because there was no real power or real authority to transfer.