Teenagers
New patient to our office arrives for a first visit to establish care.
LPN: What are we doing for your child today?
Mother: Examination.
LPN: (leaves the patient/mother in my office)
Doctor (me): Hello. It is very nice to meet you. How can I help you today?
Mother: I want to speak to you alone. (pulls me into another exam room)
Teenage Daughter: Mom! (starts crying in my office)
Mother: I want you to check if she’s still a virgin.
Doctor: (groan) This is the first time I am meeting both you and your daughter. I genuinely appreciate your concern for her. However, I cannot force any examination on a patient without their consent/request. In addition, she has rights as a patient that I am legally bound to. Please trust that as your daughter’s physician I will provide the appropriate care.
Can you tell? I’ve had to say this on many occasions…so now it’s well-rehearsed.
I’ve heard about this… especially with Islamic families. Very interesting…
Wow. Bless your heart.
I love this blog. Everytime I come I find something fascinating and new to what I know or how I think.
Thank heavens you can be a rational person in such an irrational situation. That daughter is probably glad that you were there. I would have a hard time not laughing at the crazy things people must say to you. I laugh at people when they say crazy things to me!!
So I was wondering … is that how the visit ended? Do the mother and daughter leave immediately after the frank doc/mom conversation? At that point does Mom just settle for a regular checkup?
Just curious …
Awh so sad that the daughter started crying. I want to establish trust with my daughters… hopefully they’ll be able to tell me anything.
Oh the memories of similar patient encounters in the South Bronx… our visits would invariably end with the mom in the waiting room and the girl (youngest being 12-13) asking me about forms of birth control. It was tough, to say the least. I applaud anyone working in peds — you seriously are on the front lines!
Oh my goodness. Seriously?! That is horrendous!!! A well-rehearsed response sounds like the way to go…in the absence of that, I’m sure I would not be anywhere near so polite to the mom! (Poor teenage girl).