Dr. Carole Allen, representing MMS, spoke this morning at a press conference organized by U.S. Sen. Ed Markey condemning a Title X rule change. Below is her statement:
On behalf of the Massachusetts Medical Society, I would like to thank Senator Markey for his leadership on this issue and for inviting our organization and the perspective of physicians and our patients to this important conversation.
In my 37 years of practicing medicine, what has always been most sacred to me are the relationships I built with my patients. Without question, the most important tenet of those relationships is trust.
With every patient visit, every consultation and interaction, physicians build that trust in large part by being able to have comprehensive and honest discussions with patients, and in the case of children, their parents, about their health care.
Providing a patient with all relevant information and options, within the context of a confidential, trusting relationship, is an obligation for physicians, one that we don’t take lightly.
To strip from a physician the ability to provide ALL needed information to a patient is unconscionable.
The rule represents an attempt to separate Planned Parenthood from Title X funding. Some of the most vulnerable individuals in our state and our nation – millions of women and adolescents - depend on that funding to receive health care appropriate to their
needs. To erode pathways by which patients seek care is unfair and dangerous.
The 25,000 physicians and medical students who comprise the Massachusetts Medical Society will not support any actions that cause patient harm and jeopardize the trust between a patient and a physician. Constructing roadblocks to access to care is harmful.
For this reason, the Massachusetts Medical Society opposes the Title X Rule and wishes it rescinded.
