Epistemic Injustice in Healthcare: Reevaluating Routine Pregnancy Testing

Routine pregnancy testing is commonly practiced in acute clinical care settings in the interest of objectively establishing pregnancy status ahead of treatment. Recommendations to routinely test for pregnancy were established shortly after the advent of effective low-cost pregnancy tests and have remained largely unchallenged since. This article investigates patient experiences with routine pregnancy testing, using thematic analysis of survey results to explore themes including trust, redirected healthcare priorities, silencing, and implications for patient privacy through the lens of epistemic injustice. This research highlights ethical shortcomings in current routine pregnancy testing practices and makes several recommendations to remedy these problems.