Moments before his surgery, an elderly man in Savona refused to be operated on when he discovered the anaesthetist on shift was a woman.

The 70-year-old was to undergo surgery at the San Paolo hospital in Liguria last week to repair an inguinal hernia. Medical staff had performed the required pre-surgery x-rays, blood tests and electrocardiograms, but as he was being prepped in the operating room the patient suddenly refused to let surgery to his groin area proceed unless the anaesthesia was administered by a man.   

“Buongiorno. I am the anaesthetist you don’t want. Would you like to tell me what the problem is?” the doctor told him. The patient said not to take it personally but he had heard "talk" about the hospital's female medical staff and did not want to be treated by one.

His wife also joined the argument, insisting  “no woman would lay a hand on him.”   Frustrated, angry and with five other surgeries lined up for the afternoon, the anaesthetist and lead surgeon called their superiors before returning with a solution.

“This is not a private clinic and you can’t choose your doctor from a catalogue,” she told the patient.

“We have this team on shift today, so if you are fine with that then let’s go into the operating room and do what we need to do, otherwise, the head of surgery suggests you sign to be dismissed and be treated in a private structure where you can demand whatever you like. Good day. ”

The man signed the paperwork and left the hospital. Head of Anaesthesiology Brunello Brunetto defended his medical team, saying “regardless of their gender, all the anaesthetists have my trust and are all fully capable of fulfilling their role.”  

Savona Mayor Ilaria Caprioglio expressed full solidarity with the anaesthetist and all the hospital's female staff, calling the episode "absurd, incomprehensible and unacceptable."

Reached by phone, Regional Health Councilor Sonia Viale said her office has decided to bill the patient for the pre-surgery procedures he underwent before then refusing treatment. In Italy, the cost of health care and hospital procedures is almost entirely covered by the state. 

“It is a politically sensitive topic in a hospital structure because patients could raise various reasons – even religious – to refuse treatment by a woman, so I must be very strict about any case to come forward in a health system that I can proudly say is one of the most advanced in the world when it comes to offering quality care for free to everyone.”

This time, however, the bill is on its way.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/07/20/man-refuses-operated-discoveringanaesthetist-woman/

Hmmmmm

the person below me