Involuntary pelvic exams given to anesthetized women of color
Medical student exams should not be hidden in the fine print
Teaching hospitals give me a headache. TV shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” would lead you to believe they’re far more organized than they actually are. I didn’t realize they aren’t until an ambulance took my grandfather to a well-known one in Chicago a few years ago.
I was his caregiver at the time and working from home. That same day, we’d gotten into a debate regarding me canceling his cell phone (that he never used and always lost) contract. For whatever reason, he still wanted that phone and grumbled in another room about “taking away my privileges.” I left him alone. He was healthy enough to get to the restroom on his own, but after a while, I wasn’t hearing any activity in the background of his home — not even a toilet flushing. I went to check on him. I thought he was sleeping at first glance. He was not.
I don’t know who is working behind the scenes, but this had been my biggest gripe for years about teaching medical hospitals — until I learned about involuntary pelvic exams.
When I got to the hospital, I had to tell the story of finding my grandfather unconscious from a low sugar level (due to diabetes). He was alive (to my relief), but I still felt ashamed. I had to tell this story over and over and over again. One doctor looked at me with judgment in her eyes, as if having the audacity of working from home while being a caregiver was a sin in itself. And to assume my grandfather was sleeping quietly was even worse, in her mind.
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Meanwhile, my grandfather was hanging out in his hospital bed, referred to me as “Da Punkin” when hospital attendees asked him to identify me and was far more interested in returning home. Even when I apologized to him, he couldn’t have cared less and just wanted to know where his street clothes were.
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But medical students kept coming into the room, asking me why he was sent to the hospital. First, there was one student. Then there were a set. And then another set. I got to the point of wanting to just yell out, “For fuck’s sake, gather ’em all up so I can tell this story one time and be done with it.” Although this hospital was far less chaotic than another one he was in without medical students, they’d lost his dentures. I was pissed. I don’t know who is working behind the scenes, but this had been my biggest gripe for years about teaching medical hospitals — until I learned about involuntary pelvic exams.