>I also think I would feel pressured if someone asked
>me to let a male nurse help me with my birth or breastfeeding,
>and this pressure might make me feel somewhat resentful
>toward the hospital.  I think I would feel like, "If I say
>yes then I will be highly uncomfortable and will feel violated.
>If I say no then I will be labeled as 'one of those patients.'"

One of the things I teach in my childbirth classes is that
people have the right to say "no" without compromising their
care, and that it is part of hcps professionalism to respect
that with a smile. That includes asking for someone else to
provide care, for whatever reason. I have done it as a patient,
advocated it as a doula and educator. Since I am not a hcp, I
don't know how it feels from that end, but whenever I have
done it, the nurses etc. have been very professional about it
and, as far as I can tell, did not take it personally, as was
appropriate.

Providing care for patients in hospitals or doctors' offices
is very intense emotionally and sometimes there is a bad fit
between practitioner and patient. It doesn't mean that there
is a "bad" practitioner or ad "bad" patient, just a "bad" fit.
  Naomi Bar-Yam

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