Ban on Male Nurses Tending Pregnant Women Upheld

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Bernardino hospital’s refusal to allow male nurses to attend pregnant women during labor and delivery has been upheld by a state civil rights agency.

In a 3-1 ruling, the state Fair Employment and Housing Commission said an exemption from state job-discrimination laws was justified by the nurses’ duties. Those include caring for partially nude patients and performing vaginal examinations and other invasive procedures.

“Assigning a male nurse to invade a female patient’s privacy and perform intimate, invasive procedures when she is already enduring painful, exhausting labor is not conducive to establishing trust or relaxation for the female patient and instead could be expected to add to a patient’s stress and anguish,” the commission said in the ruling, which was released last week.