Supporting Patients in Their Decisions

Recorded:
Jan 2024
Speaker
Dr. Beverly Gray
Duration
00:01:33
AUDIO CLIP
TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Beverly Gray: I’ve cared for a patient before who we spent multiple hours with, trying to help her get to the point where she felt as she could [decide] one way or the other, and eventually she decided to go through with the abortion. She said, “You know what, I’m here, I’m early. This is the right thing for me to do.” And even though she was doubting, we were like, “Okay, you are an adult. You can make decisions for yourself.” I mean people make decisions they regret all the time. I can’t exert control over everyone’s decision even if I can say, “You know what? A week from now, you’re probably going to be regretting this. But, you know what? You’re an adult, you can do this.” But with this, it’s different, and I think patients get to the point where they’re like, “Okay, I feel certain enough that I’m ready to move forward.” We take care of them. This one patient came back for her follow-up, and she was just like, “I really regret that I did it. And I’m going to try to get pregnant again.” And she got pregnant again. I don’t know. We’re human. We make human decisions, for better or for worse. We just have to help people feel as certain as they can feel. And, if there are red flags, this person is really at risk for regret and they’re early and they’re not up against the deadline, I think spending time with them, trying to help them, you know weight the pros and cons is our responsibility, and we definitely do that. I think that part is not discussed.

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