Sex Provided by Dutch Health Care System, Sometimes

(The Netherlands) Under the Dutch health care system, the government mandates that everybody pay and everybody be covered. Actual management and implementation are functions provided on the local level and some municipalities have been providing soothing sexual relief for shut-ins.

Now the Dutch healthcare union, Nu'91, is alerting home health care providers and nurses that they don't have to provide sexual relief. They can say no.

The campaign instigated by the union named Nu’91 comes as a reaction to a recent incident between a 42-year old man and his new 24-year-old home caretaker. A muscle disorder has left the man unable to move anything but his mouth and eyes. The man asked his new caretaker, a student, to relief him of his natural urges, saying that his other seven caretakers did the same for him. The young women saw two of her colleagues do so indeed. When she refused, her patient called her unfit for healthcare.

The union was most shocked by the reaction of a care dependents interest group, Per Saldo. When the incident became public last weekend, Aline Saers, the group’s managing director, expressed sympathy for the man. “They are free to ask,” she said. “You are free to refuse.”

Therefore, home care providers are officially not obligated to relieve sexual urges of patients if they don't want to.

It's comforting to know that this slippery detail of Dutch mandated health care has been resolved.

Tip: slwlion