Our Mission
From parents to survivors to medical professionals to mental health advocates, the Unsilenced Community includes individuals from many diverse walks of life.
We’re not here to vilify VCUG conductors or condemn healthcare providers. Our mission is the exact opposite: to unify medical organizations and families in hopes of providing better, trauma-informed care to pediatric patients.
Who We Are
Unsilenced is committed to closing the knowledge gap and establishing an equal power balance between pediatric providers and VUR families by highlighting the need for alternative diagnostic measures, standardized protocol for VCUG and legally enforceable standards for obtaining informed consent from pediatric patients and parents.
"I was fully aware, even with the heavy sedation...It was the most painful thing I'd ever experienced. One of the people in the crowded room threatened to tie me to the table. Multiple adults couldn't hold me down. I was told, 'You are the worst patient I've ever had. We do dozens of these every day, and no one is ever this badly behaved.'"
-Abby, 24, Florida
A Word to Providers & Medical Professionals
Our organization acknowledges that the VCUG might be medically necessary in certain circumstances. We also can’t stress enough the importance of respecting and trusting experts within the medical community, especially given the increasingly prevalent misinformation in modern-day America. Today, it's more important than ever to seek and promote the truth to avoid reaping lasting harm.
The healthcare community has been an invaluable ally to those who seek the truth. The selfless sacrifices and contributions of medical professionals, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, cannot be overstated. At Unsilenced, we have no intention of isolating more people from scientific validity and medical expertise, things that can be hard to come by in 2023. We have no intention of vilifying the pediatric industry, nor do we wish to point fingers or blame medical professionals. We simply hope to start a long-overdue dialogue regarding the lack of informed consent and standardized protocol for the VCUG test.
Our team has identified alarming issues that demand our immediate attention—not just from healthcare providers, but parents and families as well. Join us on this common ground to improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. Because kids deserve better.
Even in 2024, the VCUG test is still promoted as the “gold standard” for diagnosing VUR in children, despite the fact that it has persisted—unchanged, falsely promoted, and over-performed—for decades. The fact is that alternative measures DO exist, but they are rarely offered, and clinics that do are far less likely to actively promote them or even tell parents that they exist.
This is unacceptable. We can do better, so we need to do better. That’s the least we can do for children today after all the lifelong harm that has been inflicted—not just as a result of this procedure, but the result of healthcare professionals abusing their power, silencing families, and invalidating those impacted by VCUG trauma.
In 2023, there are no excuses for not committing to establish better, trauma-informed pediatric care for children. Although alternative treatments exist, including renal ultrasound and ceVUS, the majority of clinics don’t offer these services at all. Worse, few doctors review alternative options with parents after their child is referred for VCUG.
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This is especially concerning given that VCUGs are over-performed today, as multiple studies have verified its lack of medical necessity for certain patients. The literature consistently demonstrates this, particularly for infants under certain age thresholds, children with mild or infrequent UTIs, and patients suspected of having low-grade VUR, which often resolves spontaneously.
It's time to give families the respect they have always deserved by putting parents back in the driver’s seat, empowering caregivers to make the most informed decisions for their child’s health and well-being, and restoring the parental right to give informed consent.
Unsilenced
Our Mission
01
Establish standardized protocol for VCUG performance, including consistent criteria for referrals, medical necessity, frequency, and follow-up.
02
Officially retire VCUG as the alleged "gold standard" by consistently establishing safer, equally effective alternatives in pediatric urology, such as ceVUS.
03
Hold healthcare providers accountable for disclosing ALL reasonable information to meet their ethical obligations under the informed consent doctrine.
04
Inform pediatric patients and their guardians of alternative measures of care when medically appropriate to limit unnecessary trauma, such as VUR corrective valve surgery and other alternative treatments.
05
Prevent unethical providers from advocating AGAINST alternative measures of care that are perfectly appropriate and medically beneficial in many circumstances.