So maybe one solution is figuring out how to make medical research public. Why shouldn’t patients have access to medical textbooks and journals? Surely it would be easier to deal with a patient citing an article from the green journal than from wherever Dr. Google led them.

One problem is that a lack of transparency is not good for building trust. It is notable that when I email OB/GYN residency program directors asking if they cover clitoral neurovascular anatomy in residency, they do not respond. If they do respond, they respond with lengthy equivocation. What’s up with that? Is that supposed to promote trust?

What about when the director of ABOG, possibly the most authoritative body in OB/GYN, emails assuring me that clitoral neuroanatomy is in OB/GYN textbooks when it isn’t. He’s counting on me trusting his world. But I can just use my dad’s or friends’ medical library access to check that, no, it is not there. So what kind of trust is warranted really when the director of ABOG misinforms the public about the content of OB/GYN literature?