Inappropriate Gyno

[EECR6]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? TX

I had an endometrial biopsy done and after the procedure the doctor touched me inappropriately. I did not say anything at the time because I was in shock. There was a nurse in the room but she had her back to us and could not see him even if she had turned around. He was sitting and the drape was over my legs. I did file a complaint with the Texas medical board but I am unsure if any other steps should be taken. I called the board hotline and asked if I should do anything and all they said was if it was a criminal offense to file a police report. I assume it is. But I'm just at a loss. I can't really prove anything. I found a few online reviews that the same doctor had made others uncomfortable and one even said not to go without a friend. But they were anonymous. Just confused, upset and not sure how to proceed. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[justalayman]

I'm not trying to discount your statements nor minimize the situation but an endometrial biopsy does require some very intimate contact, even when no hanky Panky is involved. if you are certain whatever was done was not something you misinterpreted, the only real paths to take are to file a complaint with the medical licensing board,
any other board he may be a member of, and/or file a compliant with the police.

Yes, it can be difficult to prosecute anything like this, especially if what happened might be explained away as you misinterpreting what happened. given the circumstances I wouldn't expect to see a criminal prosecution unless the doctor outright admitting to an illegal act. Filing a complaint as you have may not cause anything to happen now but it will be there in the future should other patients suffer similar issues. Eventually it could be adequate for the board to act.

 

[EECR6]

I'm not trying to discount your statements nor minimize the situation but an endometrial biopsy does require some very intimate contact, even when no hanky Panky is involved. if you are certain whatever was done was not something you misinterpreted, the only real paths to take are to file a complaint with the medical licensing board,
any other board he may be a member of, and/or file a compliant with the police.

Yes, it can be difficult to prosecute anything like this, especially if what happened might be explained away as you misinterpreting what happened. given the circumstances I wouldn't expect to see a criminal prosecution unless the doctor outright admitting to an illegal act. Filing a complaint as you have may not cause anything to happen now but it will be there in the future should other patients suffer similar issues. Eventually it could be adequate for the board to act.

I am 38 and have 4 kids. I am 100% certain his actions were not misinterpreted. I had my yearly exam 2 weeks before so there was no need for any exam whatsoever after the biopsy. Without going into too much detail, there are certain areas even the Gyno doesn't touch. Much less touch in the manner he did.

Thank you for the advice. I just stand the thought of this happening to anyone that doesn't know it's not normal.

 

[quincy]

... Without going into too much detail, there are certain areas even the Gyno doesn't touch. Much less touch in the manner he did ...

I don't want to discount your concerns, either, but my wife says she cannot think of any area covered by a drape over the legs that would not be touched by the gynecologist during an examination. With a nurse present during the exam, any inappropriate touching by the doctor would seem unlikely.

But you could file a complaint with the medical board if you think the touching was inappropriate.

 

[EECR6]

I don't want to discount your concerns, either, but my wife says she cannot think of any area covered by a drape over the legs that would not be touched by the gynecologist during an examination. With a nurse present during the exam, any inappropriate touching by the doctor would seem unlikely.

But you could file a complaint with the medical board if you think the touching was inappropriate.

Idk what type of exams your wife has had, but if her doctor is rubbing lubricant on her exterior lady parts she needs to find a new doctor. And THIS is the reason I'm afraid to report him. Because other people assume that it's not possible. I did file with the medical board. Just trying to decide what to do next.

 

[quincy]

Idk what type of exams your wife has had, but if her doctor is rubbing lubricant on her exterior lady parts she needs to find a new doctor. And THIS is the reason I'm afraid to report him. Because other people assume that it's not possible. I did file with the medical board. Just trying to decide what to do next.

If you already filed with the medical board, they will investigate. If the board determines there is a reasonable probability that the doctor acted inappropriately, the doctor's license could be revoked.

You can wait for the results of the board's investigation to determine what (if anything) to do next.

 

[ecmst12]

I'm sorry that others on this board treated your complaints as suspicious. As an owner of lady parts, I can confirm that it would not be difficult to tell the difference between an appropriate touch and an inappropriate touch during a vaginal exam. And what he did was definitely a crime in addition to a violation of his medical license. You are not crazy and it is not your fault. And it would not be inappropriate to go to the police. You might want to speak with a sexual abuse counselor. Even though you only experienced one incident, that's still a major violation and it's ok if you need some help to process it.

 

[quincy]

I'm sorry that others on this board treated your complaints as suspicious. As an owner of lady parts, I can confirm that it would not be difficult to tell the difference between an appropriate touch and an inappropriate touch during a vaginal exam. And what he did was definitely a crime in addition to a violation of his medical license. You are not crazy and it is not your fault. And it would not be inappropriate to go to the police. You might want to speak with a sexual abuse counselor. Even though you only experienced one incident, that's still a major violation and it's ok if you need some help to process it.

I object, ecmst12.

I can guarantee that the veracity of the complaint will be questioned thoroughly by the medical board and it will be questioned thoroughly by any attorney involved. There will be a whole host of questions asked, as they should be. All of the facts that can be known need to be known.

Professional reputations are too valuable to simply accept blindly any allegation of wrong doing. A doctor's medical license is at risk with just the filing of a complaint alleging inappropriate touching. The nurse who was present during the examination is at some risk of losing her license, as well.

The flip side of this is, of course, that the type of offense is so serious that it should not be left unreported. A complaint to the medical board is a good first step to take. They will investigate.

By the way, I did ask EECR6 about the area that she stated "even the Gyno doesn't touch." In her explanation, the area that EECR6 said was inappropriately touched is in fact an area that gynecologists commonly touch during an examination. I am not saying that this means the touching was appropriate. It could, however, explain why the nurse did not step up and stop the doctor or say something. It definitely would have been BEST if EECR6 had said something at the time, though.

With that said, if EECR6 felt the touching was inappropriate, I am certainly not in a position to say that it wasn't. I can say that, because of the type of examination and the fact that a nurse was present during the examination, EECR6 could have a very difficult time proving the touching was inappropriate.

Seeing an abuse counselor is a good suggestion.

 

[justalayman]

I'm sorry that others on this board treated your complaints as suspicious. As an owner of lady parts, I can confirm that it would not be difficult to tell the difference between an appropriate touch and an inappropriate touch during a vaginal exam. And what he did was definitely a crime in addition to a violation of his medical license. You are not crazy and it is not your fault. And it would not be inappropriate to go to the police. You might want to speak with a sexual abuse counselor. Even though you only experienced one incident, that's still a major violation and it's ok if you need some help to process it.

I too take umbrage at your comment. I never suggested ops complaint was suspicious nor invalid. I did not want to get into anything remotely descriptive so I left it at if op believes the activity was inappropriate I gave direction i believe to be apprpropriate. I suggest you step off that horse you rode in before a fall from that height causes you injury.


Just because you have "lady parts" doesn't mean you have some innate and unobtainable knowledge of the subject at hand. Suggesting you do is quite ignorant. I have known women that felt anything a gyno may do during an exam was suspicious. Hell, I knew a woman who would never undress in front of her husband. She had an extremely conservative mind as to what might be proper in situations such as the op has experienced. A woman's knowledge, education, and upbringing will have more to do with seeing some action as inappropriate than simply having "lady parts".

Plain and simple; your comments are inappropriate.

 

[ecmst12]

The police and the medical board do not, of course, have to blindly accept an accusation as true. However, we are neither the police nor the medical board. If a woman says she was sexually assaulted, there is no justification for anyone here to treat her as if she is either lying or mistaken. Telling her that she may be questioned is fine. But we can do that while still treating her as if she is honest and correct.

 

[justalayman]

The police and the medical board do not, of course, have to blindly accept an accusation as true. However, we are neither the police nor the medical board. If a woman says she was sexually assaulted, there is no justification for anyone here to treat her as if she is either lying or mistaken. Telling her that she may be questioned is fine. But we can do that while still treating her as if she is honest and correct.

You've got some serious issues.

First, to ignore the fact some women see even the most accepted methods of such an exam as inappropriate is showing your ignorance. There groups in the world that would consider what we in the US accept as a proper and accepted exam as improper touching. You limiting your statements to US standards shows your prejudices and ignorance.

Second, suggesting a person that doesn't have "lady parts" (every time I write that I realize just how juvenile and sexist it is) can't comprehend the difference between acceptable and unacceptable contact is igorant and sexist.

Third, I simply didn't ask what specific act the op deemed inappropriate and as such, never attempted to consider making the determination of whether the touching was appropriate or not. Instead I simply suggested the OP consider the activity at hand and if they believed the touching to be improper I suggested actions available. I don't see how allowing the op to make the call as doubting her or suggesting she is wrong.


Grow up. Being a female doesn't make you somehow more able to understand the issues at hand. In fact, it actually allows you to have experienced situations that may make your opinion less valid. Given your reactions to what Quincy and i have posted suggests you may be making statements from a less than objective position.

 

[quincy]

The police and the medical board do not, of course, have to blindly accept an accusation as true. However, we are neither the police nor the medical board.

We do not have to blindly accept what is written as true, either. Nor should we. If we have questions about what was written and if we need clarification on what was written, we should ask the questions and request the clarification.

Without all of the facts (and we have very few facts here, none of them provided by the doctor or the nurse), we are in no position to make definitive statements (e.g., "what he did was definitely a crime").

If a woman says she was sexually assaulted, there is no justification for anyone here to treat her as if she is either lying or mistaken. Telling her that she may be questioned is fine. But we can do that while still treating her as if she is honest and correct.

I think you read more into what I wrote than was written, and I think you especially read more into what justalayman wrote than was written.

 

[ecmst12]

The way we as a culture treat victims of sexual assault is deplorable and needs to change.

 

[quincy]

The way we as a culture treat victims of sexual assault is deplorable and needs to change.

The way we as a culture treat those accused of sexual assault is also deplorable and needs to change.

Once someone is accused of a sexual crime, their reputation is often harmed beyond repair - even when cleared of any charges.

It goes both ways, in other words, ecmst12.

We cannot ignore the fact that there are false accusations any more than we can ignore the fact that many victims of sexual assaults are afraid to report them for fear of not being believed.

 

[ecmst12]

False accusations are exceedingly rare. So rare, we might as well not even talk about them. What's common is the majority of sexual crimes that go unreported, just like this one, because the victims are afraid of what they will be put through for coming forward. Rightly so, because we blame the victims in every way we possibly can. The way we treat the accused is only a problem in that they are given so much more respect than the victims. They claim their reputations are damaged, but in reality they see almost no punishment even when they are convicted.