Appropriate questions.

Is it an appropriate question for a Doctors office to ask your sexual preference?
If you're a patient, yes.If you're an employee/applicant, absolutely not.

Quote from Turd FergusonIf you're a patient, yes.If you're an employee/applicant, absolutely not.

Quote from ToradolIs it an appropriate question for a Doctors office to ask your sexual preference?

Quote from nola1202I think it would be better to ask if the patient engages in any high risk sexual behaviors, and give examples if needed. I always appreciate a clinician asking if I have any concerns or questions about sexual functioning/health. To be honest I've never been asked about my sexual preference, I'm not sure how I would react. My concern is that this is a permanant and now mostly electronic record.For people who do not want their sexual preference on record, I would consider telling the questioner that this is not a question you feel comfortable answering.

Quote from nola1202I think it would be better to ask if the patient engages in any high risk sexual behaviors, and give examples if needed. I always appreciate a clinician asking if I have any concerns or questions about sexual functioning/health. To be honest I've never been asked about my sexual preference, I'm not sure how I would react. My concern is that this is a permanant and now mostly electronic record.For people who do not want their sexual preference on record, I would consider telling the questioner that this is not a question you feel comfortable answering.

I wonder if this is connected to the new JC standards for "patient & family centered care". They specifically require collection of information about ethnicity, preferred language, gender preference, etc. If the doc is part of a large hospital-based medical group, this may very well be the case.

I also just wanted to add that I worked for several years in a women's health office that was well known among the lesbian community as accepting and supportive. While some people may have lied or felt uncomfortable with the question, I suspect most were honest. I know some were relieved to have preference neutral language on the intake forms and to have their orientation treated as a matter of course, not as something strange or weird.Questions in the physician's office are going to sometimes be private and occasionally of an uncomfortable nature, but that doesn't mean they are invalid or improper.

I work at a physician's office and we have started using electronic health records. From what our physicians tell us we have to fill out "smart forms" to report to the government. They have some very personal questions including your sexual oreintation, how often you have relations, and what contraception is used, if any. It goes a little too far for government reporting in my opinion.

Quote from lillymomI work at a physician's office and we have started using electronic health records. From what our physicians tell us we have to fill out "smart forms" to report to the government. They have some very personal questions including your sexual oreintation, how often you have relations, and what contraception is used, if any. It goes a little too far for government reporting in my opinion.