Comments for sursumcorda.salemsattic.com/post/losing-faith-in-the-medical-profession

Comment #3989

2023-07-31T11:58:39Z

However one might interpret the methodology and data from the multitude of new and ongoing studies concerning COVID and the vaccines—or any subject at all for that matter—one thing is absolutely and indisputably clear: Democracy is not the only thing that dies in darkness; science (and thus medicine) are equally victims. Progress is made through openness, sharing, debate, and respecting dissent, all of which is in very short supply these days.

Comment #3988

2023-07-30T20:30:27Z

It's very wholesome to assume the "assigned felae/male" thing is about rare birth defects. Unfortunately, that's not what they mean. It's a political positioning statement.

The Cleveland Clinic is still reeling from getting slapped down by the CDC last year. They thought they would publish their booster numbers, how many injections people had and how their immune systems responded. 50,000 employees. The records clearly showed certain trends that don't fit the proscribed narrative. It's possible the AMA gods are making them do penance.

Comment #3987

2023-07-27T21:04:35Z

I would call a "disorder of sexual development" (from the article) a birth defect, yes. Sometimes things go wrong. I'd agree that "assign" is the correct word in the case where (again from the article) doctors choose to "correct" the external genitalia by surgery and therefore must choose to mimic male or female. But in such cases one is "fixing" a birth defect, as one might fix a malformed heart.

Is that a good idea, in the case where (if possible) all the parts are in good working order? I don't know. Quite possibly not, even if some of the parts don't work properly, since the human body is a complex system, and we don't know what else the disorder has affected and how. There is a localized genetic disorder—in the Dominican Republic, I believe, but don't hold me to that—in which some children appear to be normal girls until puberty, but then develop as males. It is a disorder, but one to which their society has apparently adapted, without resorting to surgery or other drastic interventions.

I know that some babies are born with more than five fingers, and the extra digits are usually removed at an early age. Is that a good thing? Perhaps, if the digits are non-functional, and the removal would help the hand develop more normally. But if they work—well, extra digits might be handy. (Sorry, not sorry.)

I'll grant that there are a few, a very few, disorders in which one might make a mistake at birth about the baby's sex. But that's no reason to confuse the world by going away from the binary male/female model that has worked since humans began—and for other mammals long before that. I have a friend whose leg was amputated below the knee due to cancer, a factor important to know for her medical care. But wouldn't you think it crazy if articles written about foot problems kept adding, "unless you're an amputee"?

Comment #3986

2023-07-27T18:51:06Z

I think "assign" is the correct term because the decision made at birth has long term impacts.

What is considered a birth defect? A child missing part of their heart. I'd say yes. A child whose external anatomy appears like a girl, but whose chromosomes or hormones say a boy...I'm not convinced. I'd say it is a variation and one that is not especially common, but perhaps not as rare as one might think.

I think gender is much more complex than I learned in my biology class in high school.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/sex-redefined-the-idea-of-2-sexes-is-overly-simplistic1/

Comment #3985

2023-07-27T17:31:07Z

I agree that the phrase would be more accurate if the "A" were for "Announced," but I think those who use the term would disagree that "announce" is what they mean. If there are people who choose to believe that human beings no longer come in two and only two distinct sexual forms, male and female (again barring the very rare birth defect), that's their business. But it's my business to choose from whom I take medical advice, and buying into the "sex assigned at birth" ideology puts a doctor on the bottom of my "trust" list. I mean, if you can't tell the difference between a boy and a girl, why should I trust you to know the difference between a vein and an artery?

Comment #3984

2023-07-27T16:20:38Z

I believe that if you simply substitute "announce" for "assign" in these modern phrases, you will get the intended meaning.

Comment #3983

2023-07-27T11:29:02Z

I'm the one who may be missing your point. Except in the case of very rare birth defects, no one assigns "male" or "female"—at birth or any other time. A normal baby's sex is determined very early on in gestation. Which I know you know, which is why I say I'm missing your point. If the doctor had delivered your son and declared, "I'm assigning this one female," you would have been justified in asking, "Are you drunk?"

It's true that I know of an older sibling whose job it was to announce the sex of the new baby right after it was born. He got it right, but afterwards we learned that he had made the decision based on the length of the baby's hair. Still, I don't imagine there are many birth attendants over the age of three who would make that mistake.

Comment #3982

2023-07-27T02:12:42Z

I may be missing your point. I assume a baby may be assigned female at birth because that is what their anatomy would indicate, even though hormones or chromosomes may indicate something else and may not be apparent at birth. If their anatomy leads them to be AFAB, then they would be more prone to have a UTI.

I agree the pee and poop business is weird.