Gynecologists can treat men, the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology says.
The switch from the professional group comes after the board insisted in September its members treat only women, with few exceptions.
Restrictions remain in the updated criteria released by the group on November 26, but the group now permits gynecologists to treat male patients for sexually transmitted infections.
Men can also be screened for anal cancer, the board said.
Other exceptions to the prohibition of care of male patients include evaluation of fertility, administration of immunizations, and newborn circumcision.
Dr. Kenneth Noller, the board’s director of evaluation, told the New York Times that the board reevaluated its decision and realized that gynecologists have for many years treated sexually transmitted infections in both men and women.
Dr. Elizabeth Stier, a gynecologist at Boston Medical Center who because of the previous rules dropped male patients, said she was happy.
“Having canceled all the men out of my clinic, I now have to un-cancel them,” she said. “They’ll be very happy.”
Dr. Mark H. Einstein, a gynecologic oncologist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, added that “Cool heads have prevailed.
“This is the best decision for our patients,” he said.
The group still emphasizes that gynecologists are physicians who “possess special knowledge, skills and professional capability in the medical and surgical care of the female reproductive system and associated disorders, such that it distinguishes them from other physicians and enables them to serve as consultants to non-obstetrician-gynecologist physicians and as primary physicians for women.”
Other than the 10 exceptions now listed, “the care of male patients is prohibited,” the group said.
