I had a friend of a friend be forced to take (and pay for! Thanks America!) A pregnancy test when she had to go to the ER, despite her telling them she physically couldn't get pregnant because she is trans, I swear in some cases it's like they just don't listen to patients at all ðŸ˜
As an emergency physician I promise it's not something we do on purpose to harm anyone. It's because people lie to us all. the. time.
I've had patients who were lesbian, with their partner, swear up and down that they only had sex with women who were pregnant not once but twice. I diagnose surprise pregnancies quite frequently. It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I can't fully trust anyone.
Edit:
I appreciate the thougtful comments I'm receiving on this. To help clarify - in the emergency department if I'm ordering a urine hCG I'm probably seeing you in triage, I have 5 to 7 minutes to see you, ask questions, perform an exam, and place orders. No I don't have time to review your prior records, I have 60 patients in my waiting room and 10 people after you to screen, 14 more checking in the next hour.
Respecting your autonomy, your sense of self, and being an ally are very important to me. But I've also had patients believe they had a hysterectomy when they didn't because health literacy is hard. If I'm seeing 60 to 80 patients in triage in a shift my first priority is minimizing mistakes and misses.
I hope you understand we as patients cannot trust you either. I've had medical professionals outright ignore my concerns and they basically tortured my mom to death during COVID by intubating her repeatedly against her wishes. Never again. I have seen the laziness, massive egos, and downright hostility given to patients, and the lack of genuine give a shit that doctors and nurses seem to have these days.
A lot of medical professionals got traumatized during COVID and if they're still in the field they're so desensitized and shut down. The desensitization from the field was bad before but I think a lot of people really hit their limit during the pandemic and that's partly why it seems like so many more medical professionals are terrible compared to how it used to be. Not excusing though and I'm very sorry that your mom went through that. Just saying you're right, doctors and nurses ARE worse these days. For the US specifically our health system needs to change badly. The only people attracted to the profession do it for money or they just dont have empathy so it doesn't bother them to do what they do.
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u/mysocksareinsideout MakeshiftEmery Jul 31 '26
I had a friend of a friend be forced to take (and pay for! Thanks America!) A pregnancy test when she had to go to the ER, despite her telling them she physically couldn't get pregnant because she is trans, I swear in some cases it's like they just don't listen to patients at all ðŸ˜