Sex for Psychiatric Patients
12 Oct 2005
How times have changed! I’ve often complained that toe-tapping music has gone, now replaced by loud singers who shout or gyrate. We used to have more sense. But when it came to sex how much sense did we have? Not much, compared to what is now happening. At the Centre Hospitalier Robert-Gillard, the largest psychiatric hospital in eastern Quebec, a new policy allows psychiatric patients to have sex. This reminded me of Thorupgaarden nursing home in Copenhagen and their "ladies-of-the-night".
Nicole-Gagnon, the ombudswoman and instigator of this change at the hospital says, "sex has always been frowned upon in this hospital, like in others, but all that’s done is to force people to find other outlets. Like washrooms, stairwells or parking lots, that take away all the dignity."
She adds, "By facilitating patients’ sexual relations, we want to make sex a positive rather than a negative experience."
The new rules will allow 60 patients access to private rooms equipped with beds, television and, on demand pornographic videos and magazines.
But this does not mean sex with anyone. Patients must supply proof that the relationship is both long-term and stable. Patients will also be provided with advice on birth control and safe sex. But this policy will not include patients with sex-related psychiatric problems or those who the staff suspect are being prodded into having sexual relations.
In the event the new policy is successful over a six month period the other 700 patients will be given the same privilege. And I assume that they are having nightly prayers for a successful outcome.
I’ve practiced medicine in Quebec, love the ambience of that province, and my initial reaction was, "Wouldn’t you know it? The French are so practical about sex. They’ve beaten us again, so good for them."
But I was wrong. I didn’t know that the Riverview Hospital in Coquittlam B.C. has allowed patients to enjoy sexual relations in private rooms since 1998. And this policy has been both popular and problem-free.
This news reminded me of the Thorupgaarden nursing home in Copenhagen, Denmark. Every Saturday night pornographic movies are shown on the home’s internal channel. If residents remain depressed after this therapy they are allowed to have a "lady-of-the-night" visit them. And I assume this policy also applies to a "male-of-the-night."
The policy has been endorsed by the Danish government. It released a report stating that sexuality is an important part of life for seniors and disabled people. And that they should be allowed to satisfy their sexual needs. A Danish Senior Lobby Group adds that pornography is healthier, cheaper and easier than medicine.
The majority of my readers sent kudos for the Thorupgaarden column in which I stated that I had signed up for a room. Of course a few suggested the column was moral garbage and that I should read Psalm 23.They thanked God I wasn’t their doctor.
For years hospitals have been prudish in many ways. For instance, I recall nurses who were shocked when I wrote an order for a scotch-and-soda or whatever alcoholic drink a post-operative patients desired. But why was this so shocking? If patients were used to having a pre-dinner scotch at home surely they would enjoy it even more in the sterile atmosphere of a hospital.
So I will go to the Great Beyond believing that the effects of a wee tipple is better and safer in the home and hospital than the majority of tranquilizers that doctors prescribe.
I will also meet my Maker thinking that sex in a chronic care hospital also makes more sense than to whack patients with Prozac or the nightly sleeping pill.
One of the great needs of people is the desire for touch and intimacy. Today the younger generation tend to think old-folks just hold hands. One recent university survey showed that 80 percent of students thought their parents didn’t have sex.
So my congratulations to Riverview Hospital in B.C. and Centre Hospitalier Robert-Giffard Hospital in Quebec for a more realistic attitude. But I imagine hell will freeze over before this attitude spreads to other chronic care facilities.
