# Do nurses or doctors ever have to masturbate disabled or paralyzed people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2012, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572 "2012-09-13T03:45:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/62 "2012-09-15T13:53:45Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > Well, you can always stick an electrified dildo up a man’s ass. That will definitely clean out the pipes. > > However, for people who still have sensation down there, and would not enjoy that, I would imagine that a handjob would probably be a little more compassionate. > > They really shouldn’t need much visual stimulation, should they? I mean, if they can’t service themselves, they’re probably pretty damned horny, by the time they can get someone to take care of them. Fair enough, but likewise with my prostate check, should I be able to request a younger than 30, blonde, female doctor, with larger knockers, who will stroke me while she checks my prostate? Even from a medical angle, it would be beneficial. Instead of yearly, I would go daily. Hell I’d even stop by on lunch. I would have the healthiest prostate in the freaking world. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/63 "2012-09-15T13:58:32Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Fair enough, but likewise with my prostate check, should I be able to request a younger than 30, blonde, female doctor, with larger knockers, who will stroke me while she checks my prostate? I think you should get whoever would be willing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/64 "2012-09-15T14:10:49Z")
The ponderings here have been amusing 🙂 But truly, I am still wondering about the medical necessity of this and its treatment. Surely patients can’t just be expected to go without sexual release for the rest of their existence. Are they really just expected to call a hooker or a “sex surrogate” (still not sure what that is)? ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/65 "2012-09-15T14:13:50Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > The ponderings here have been amusing 🙂 > > But truly, I am still wondering about the medical necessity of this and its treatment. Surely patients can’t just be expected to go without sexual release for the rest of their existence. Are they really just expected to call a hooker or a “sex surrogate” (still not sure what that is)? I’d say once or twice weekly would be sufficient for most men, maybe a little more often for younger men, and less so for older men, ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/66 "2012-09-15T14:21:04Z")
I don’t believe it is currently considered medically necessary for a man to ejaculate, no. That may change in time, but it not currently mainstream thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/67 "2012-09-15T14:48:03Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > What is “it’s equivalent”? Is “lust” the equivalent of money? 😕 Is “pity”? No, lust or pity are both safe motivators. Money’s equivalent is often considered to be what you would typically, in society, expect to pay money to obtain. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/68 "2012-09-15T14:56:11Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > Fair enough, but likewise with my prostate check, should I be able to request a younger than 30, blonde, female doctor, with larger knockers, who will stroke me while she checks my prostate? Isn’t this one of the sections in Obamacare? I kid, I kid. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/69 "2012-09-15T15:04:58Z")
> [@](#): > > Surely patients can’t just be expected to go without sexual release for the rest of their existence. Are they really just expected to call a hooker or a “sex surrogate” (still not sure what that is)? > Last edited by Reply; Today at 08:11 AM. Nerds, priests and assholes don’t get any, and no one feels it’s necessary to step in, y’know, to protect their ‘health!’. If they want it, they may have to pay for it. ‘Lots of fish in the sea!’, doesn’t really apply to everyone. Never has. If the disabled person can go to the Doc with this as a ‘medical’ complaint, why can’t a priest? That ugly guy? That slimy asshole? Pretty soon the Doc is going to be getting busy, it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/70 "2012-09-15T15:26:35Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Nerds, priests and assholes don’t get any, and no one feels it’s necessary to step in, y’know, to protect their ‘health!’. If they want it, they may have to pay for it. > > ‘Lots of fish in the sea!’, doesn’t really apply to everyone. Never has. > > If the disabled person can go to the Doc with this as a ‘medical’ complaint, why can’t a priest? That ugly guy? That slimy asshole? Pretty soon the Doc is going to be getting busy, it seems. That’s not exactly a fair comparison. In the case of the priest - he chose to become celibate. If he gets horny enough, he can choose to stop being a priest, or to stop following priestly strictures. I gather the second choice is the going option at the moment. For the ugly dude likewise, we have this thing called plastic surgery. It aint cheap, no, but it’s available, and legal. If they can make people with no noses or jaws into reasonable-looking people again, then Mr. Ugly can choose to spend his money to upgrade his appearance and therefore have chances of procuring sex which are similar to those of normal people. Paralyzed or profoundly disabled people don’t qualify for either of those categories - Unlike the priest, they didn’t choose to become and cannot choose to alter their state. Neither do we have fixes available for them, like we do for Mr Ugly, to mitigate their condition such that they can then take care of themselves (so to speak). It is an interesting question, and I think it should be considered. Sadly, the whole topic falls into that puritanical streak that still insists that sex is bad or dirty or unnecessary - and therefore squashes potential research and consideration before it even happens. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/71 "2012-09-15T16:29:31Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I don’t believe it is currently considered medically necessary for a man to ejaculate, no. That may change in time, but it not currently mainstream thinking. Actually, there have been studies relating lack of ejaculation to prostate cancer and other prostate problems. At some point, I’m going to start pitting you for this. You really ought to know better. > **[The Basics of Prostate Cancer](https://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/understanding-prostate-cancer-basics)** > > The experts at WebMD explain prostate cancer, including causes. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/72 "2012-09-15T16:40:52Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Isn’t this one of the sections in Obamacare? _Looks up gender composition of Congress_ It would have passed in _minutes_. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/73 "2012-09-15T16:49:45Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > _Looks up gender composition of Congress_ > > It would have passed in _minutes_. Come now, don’t spew forth such frothy nonsense! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/74 "2012-09-15T21:25:21Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > Surgery carries risks of infections and complications. > > But that’s probably falling on deaf ears. It is the medical paradigm, though. Fixing problems largely takes priority over making them not develop in the first place. In this case, prevention is viewed as distasteful so surgery is preferable and generally yields more revenue. Consider also the hospital setting in which these activities would be performed: a great many hospitals have names that start with “Saint”, or the like. Catholic doctrine defines masturbation as a hell-worthy sin, so the administration surely could not condone it. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/75 "2012-09-15T21:33:58Z")
There have been more recent studies linking frequent masturbation \*to \*prostate cancer. The matter is not remotely settled, and there’s no consensus as to the mechanism of any action - protective or risk raising - and whether masturbation is causative or correlative. More research should be done - and is being done - before we reach any firm conclusions either way. > **[The Basics of Prostate Cancer](https://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/understanding-prostate-cancer-basics)** > > The experts at WebMD explain prostate cancer, including causes. > [@](#): > > “Frequent masturbation during men’s 20s and 30s increased their risk of prostate cancer,” Dimitropoulou tells WebMD. “But men in their 50s who masturbated frequently had decreased risk.” > > Of course, masturbation frequency is relative. > > For men in their 20s, “frequent masturbation” was two to seven times per week. Compared to same-age men who reported masturbating less than once per month, 20-something frequent masturbators had a 79% higher risk of prostate cancer by age 60. > > For men in their 50s, “frequent masturbation” was one or more times per week. Compared to same-age men who reported never masturbating, 50-something frequent masturbators had a 70% lower risk of prostate cancer. > > What’s going on? The study wasn’t designed to answer that question. But Dimitropoulou and colleagues have some theories. > > They suggest that young men genetically predisposed to have hormone-sensitive prostate cancer will be at higher risk if their bodies naturally produce high levels of male hormones – the same hormones that give them an intense sex drive. > > So it’s not masturbation itself that’s increasing prostate cancer risk in young men. More masturbation may just mean more sex drive – and more androgens bathing prostate tissues. > > That’s not the case for older men. Dimitropoulou suggests that in older men, masturbation itself may actually be helpful, ridding the prostate gland of fluids that may contain cancer-causing substances. > > “In mature age, it may be more important that toxins get flushed out of the system,” she says. “And because the masturbation frequency was not as high in the men’s 50s as it was in their 20s, even low levels of masturbation in the 50s has a protective effect.” > > These are just theories, Dimitropoulou warns. More research is needed to determine the exact role of sex hormones and sexual activity in prostate-cancer risk at different stages of life. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/76 "2012-09-15T22:23:26Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > There have been more recent studies linking frequent masturbation \*to \*prostate cancer. The matter is not remotely settled, and there’s no consensus as to the mechanism of any action - protective or risk raising - and whether masturbation is causative or correlative. More research should be done - and is being done - before we reach any firm conclusions either way. > > [Prostate Cancer - Basics & Causes](http://www.webmd.com/prostate-cancer/news/20090127/masturbation-and-prostate-cancer-risk) Fine, then. Restrict it to men in their 50s and beyond. Whatever. The point is that there’s a noticeable lack of compassion in the post I originally responded to. If thy prostate offend thee, cut it out? Whatever. And I still don’t remember talking to you. Why do you think I am? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/77 "2012-09-15T22:31:14Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > And I still don’t remember talking to you. Why do you think I am? You’re posting on a public message board. If you don’t want other people to reply, you can use the Private Message feature in your User CP to speak to one poster at a time. ---
**Author:** ![al27052](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/41988e/32.png) [@al27052](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/al27052)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/78 "2012-09-15T22:50:19Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > You’re posting on a public message board. If you don’t want other people to reply, you can use the Private Message feature in your User CP to speak to one poster at a time. Whatever. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/79 "2012-09-15T23:34:27Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > $20? Wow. Inflation is _rough_, baby! Same price for a specialist? Do we have to a get a 2nd opinion? ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/80 "2012-09-16T18:04:59Z")
> [@al27052](#): > > Whatever. I hope that was your agreeing to start making your (apparently) private conversations, you know, private. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572/81 "2012-09-18T00:58:32Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Isn’t this one of the sections in Obamacare? > > I kid, I kid. Jke told to me while I was recently in the hospital (by a nurse): Top doctor, leading members of the hospital board on a tour, walks in a room on a patient masturbating in his bed. \*Shocked hospital matron: \*“Surely you don’t allow such behavior in our hospital, doctor!” _Doctor:_ “Oh, this patient has Johnbson’s disease – he has to do that to prevent a backup in his testicles, which would cause severe problems.” Further on the tour, they walk into a room with a nurse giving a patient a blowjob. _Shocked hospital matron:_ “Well, this can’t surely can’t be allowed!” _Doctor:_ “Oh, this patient also has Johnson’s disease. But he has medical insurance.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-nurses-or-doctors-ever-have-to-masturbate-disabled-or-paralyzed-people/634572.md?page=5)