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medpundit |
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Thursday, December 12, 2002Emergency contraceptive kits, which are high-dose estrogen, are much riskier than asthma inhalers. If public safety and health were the real issue, they wouldn't be available over the counter. But the real issue isn't health and safety, it's politics. I received this: I am very surprised to learn that emergency contraceptive kits are high dose estogen, since the ECP [emergency contraception- ed. note]with the best record is levonorgestrel 0.75 mg X 2 (recently, ONE dose of levonorgestrel 1.5 is just as effective - Lancet 2002;360:1803-1810). I suspect you have never ordered emergency contraception or you would know better. If you have never ordered ECP, you MUST be a Roman Catholic who believes his Priest ahead of ACOG [American College of Obestetrics and Gyenocology - ed. note]. Yes, you are right, it IS politics. You and the other Right to Life people, who believe its OK to shoot an "abortion doctor" because of all the babies you will save. One death permits so many others to have life. Yes, a political shooting -- nothing personal, Doc. Whoa. I’m very surprised that someone whose on-line resume identifies him as an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and as a public health official, doesn’t realize that levonorgestrel (a progesterone) isn’t the only emergency contraceptive kit available in the United States. Maybe he never had to prescribe one. We also have Preven which consists of four tablets of 50 micrograms of ethinyl estradiol combined with 0.25 of levonorgestrel. The ethinyl estradiol is estrogen, and those doses are high. The dosage of progesterone in the progestin-only emergency contraception kits is also high. And they, too have a higher incidence of side effects than regular oral contraceptives, although they are better tolerated than the estrogen-containing emergency contraception. Now, to the truly objectionable part of the email. I have to say, this is about the most odious and bigotted barb that anyone has ever hurled at me. Perhaps I’m fortunate. I grew up white and Protestant in a white and Protestant town. I also happen to be a Roman Catholic - a Roman Catholic convert. And since I write this under a pseudonym, I’ll also honestly admit that I have prescribed emergency contraception - after a rape. I did it when two other doctors, not Catholic, refused to prescribe it because they had strong feelings about life beginning at conception. I did not do it lightly, and in fact, felt troubled enough by it to confess it to my priest. He didn’t think I had sinned. You see, Mr. MD, MPH, MBA, in real life people don’t fall into the narrow, stereotypes that exist in your imagination. How anyone could interpret my post about emergency contraception, or anything else I’ve ever written on this blog, as an endorsement of murder is beyond belief. I’m tempted to make a generalization about those in public health, but that would be stereotyping. Instead, I will just say that I have no confidence in this particular writer’s ability to evaluate without prejudice the merits of over the counter contraception, or anything else that doesn't agree with his particular ideology. posted by Sydney on 12/12/2002 07:40:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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