Why do doctors need to know marital stat
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| Mon, 06-04-2007 - 4:40pm |
Just wondered this, I was already wondering it upon visiting both a dermatologist and an eye doctor within the last 6 months. I can understand if a gynecologist needs to know, if the woman is pregnant or discovered to have a STD. But why, with all doctors, when you go for the first visit and have to fill out the new patient forms, is there always a section for you to disclose your marital status?
I was already wondering this, but thought I would ask other peoples' opinions after reading a review of Bella De Paulo's book "Singled Out" I either read it in the reviews of this book in Amazon dot com today, or it was in the Internet in something I read about singles discrimination, but someone said "yes, doctors want to know why you are single so they can tell you that if you were married, your problem would go away, or that if you have the problem and are single, it is because you are single and have the time to imagine more medical problems." (I am paraphrasing, but I hope the gist gets through) I would hope that this person's opinion of why doctors ask marital status isn't the case, but you never know.
Personally, what I have thought to do with such a question on such a new patient form, one time I just put "N/A" down, the doctor didn't say anything. Then there was the time at a temp agency where I was filling out the I-9 form, (in my state, employers can't legally ask marital status) however, there was a space on the I-9 form for me to put my "maiden name" So I filled it in and put my last name, and figured I would let them wonder if I was married but chose to keep my original last name.
So what is anyone else's take on why doctor's (and others) ask this, to me, irrelevant question on their forms for one to fill out?

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It may not be the same answer across the board and for every doctor's office and hospital and so forth, but I can tell you why *my* hospital (the hospital I used to work for) did it (because I got this question from time to time from patients).
The main reason WE asked it was for insurance and billing purposes. Mostly if someone tried to skip out on their bill, or tried to pull an insurance fraud (of course, that's not to say someone would give a correct name)... reasons like that. Not to mention the insurance companies are pains in the you-know-what and will kick your bill back and refuse to pay it if they can find any reason to hold against you. So we need to have every little tidbit of information on you that may affect your financial status so we can get your bill processed.
Other reasons we asked for marital status was to assess your family support system. If you were coming in to the ER, or in to the GI or the Cath lab, we wanted to know who to contact should something out of the ordinary happen.
Now that I'm a nursing student, we also like to know this if we happen to see you all banged up or really sick. We want to have an idea of what your home life is like. Some married people are in bad situations. Some single people get depressed. And the more information we have on you the better assessment we can make in case you show up to us in really bad shape.
I'd guess it's for insurance and next-of-kin reasons (not that you're likely to die at the eye doctor). :) If you are under your spouse's insurance or vice versa, it can affect their billing claim.
I often fill out online surveys, and it always annoys me when they ask marital status as well. Whether or not I'm married doesn't affect my opinion about issues and products.
AJ, enjoying life with C.
Whether or not I'm married doesn't affect my opinion about issues and products.
But it does affect their marketing.
Then if doctors need to know in the event of knowing who they can contact, why do the new patient forms usually say:
Married
Single
Widowed
Divorced
??
If you are any of the choices of single, widowed, divorced, in all 3 cases you will not have a spouse for them to contact in the event of something going wrong. Why do they need to know the "status" (reason?) of why you are uncoupled? I.E. wanting to know by asking for either widowed or divorced status on the forms, if you ever WERE married as opposed to putting "single" thus indicating that you never have been married??
Just wondering.........
>>There's a definite difference in the marketing of products to single people as opposed to married people. <<
True. Have you ever noticed how most things are marketed to coupled-up people and/or parents? My current pet peeve is Lowe's and Home Depot -- all their ads show married couples redecorating their homes. Would it kill them to show a single woman doing it alone? Because we are buying homes alone in record numbers these days.
Oh, and apparently Rice Krispies are only for women with little girls. :)
Maybe these are just the ones hitting my buttons and I'm not noticing the others.
AJ, enjoying life with C.
One reason is for forms of address.
Do you want to be called Mrs. Waveyoga or Ms. Waveyoga?
I can see what you mean, I personally might want to be called Ms. (maiden name) even if I were married I might want to keep my name, but I see why a different person would want to be addressed "Mrs. (married name)"
I got to thinking about this upon reading the first 4 chapters of that book "singled out" by Bella De Paulo. I don't want to go to some extreme of being hyper vigilant against what she calls "singlism" where I would jump on every single thing anyone says and think or say "that is single discrimination," and perceiving everything as a slight against singles, (it did seem like that was how the book came across, at least to me)
But at the same time I do wonder why so often, people try to immediately assess a person's coupled status, and I don't mean just single men at Starbuck's who wish they could ask a woman there, for a date. I guess I just wonder "can't I be assessed on some other thing about me, instead of my coupled or uncoupled status?"
I don't want to be blind IF there is a thing as "singlism" but I don't want to go around being perceiving "singlism (her word) that might not be there.
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