Bad medicine: digital rectal examination

I have a lot of time for the argument Des Spence makes. We too often
do things in general practice without really understanding why we do it
and whether it is any good to do it.
The rapid responses so far provide some important reasons why DRE can be
helpful, though in a number of cases discussed the findings would have
been picked up by the obligatory further scans that are obligatory these
days.
In my work with NICe and Constipation in Children the message LOUD and
clear from patient groups was that repetitive DREs to check for impaction
were traumatic and invasive. The guidance reflects that.
However I would like to raise another reason why examining patients is
important...and that is because patients expect it of us. As GPs we are
stuck in the culture we work in. Patients value a doctor that listens and
examines and whilst a DRE is considered by my patients to be important I
will need to do it, in the same way that listening to their heart is
important when they have chest pain.