A lot more than that happened. For instance, no one said a word about the episiotomy until I saw a long needle for the saddle block. The students or residents or whatever they were gathered around staring into my crotch while the attending pierced my perineum. I screamed, arched my back and tried to scoot away, saying "No! No episiotomy! I'd rather tear! Don't!". One of the boys between my legs patted my thigh and said 'We're just making the opening a little bigger." I said "No, you can't do that without cutting me!". Somebody shoved their finger down into my the muscles just inside my vagina (sorry, don't know the name) to stretch the tissue. The pressure caused intense pain and I arched again and said "Ow, oh stop that hurts..." The student/residen/boy said "One minute..." then I felt a burning pain and heard flesh being cut with scissor. I wasn't numb yet. My husband said I screamed "what are you doing?", my eyes rolled back, blood fell onto the floor and I began sobbing. The boy looked up and said "See? All over." like he was putting a band-aid on a toddler. I tore another inch as my child's head was born.
Any protests I gave were either ignored or I was placated with platitudes like "You're almost done". They never addressed anything that I said or asked them to do or not do.
There was one moment when the three were between my legs touching and staring at my vulva, which felt so humiliating. I remember feeling that getting pregnant was a terrible mistake and I was paying for it. A woman should not feel guilty for giving birth!
One of them said "Look, I see hair!" as though this would cheer me up. I snapped "Well I guess you do. Haven't you ever seen one of those before? They have hair."
I was not a welfare patient, btw. I had full insurance and was paying for the services of a private physician. One of the residents/students even poked fun at my husband, saying " well, if you want the pros, don't have a baby at 6pm on a Friday. They've all gone home."
Ok, if you're going to troll, try to be more subtle so at least it isn't so obvious.
My point here is that it seems doctors have forgotten that pelvic exams, gynecological procedure, breast exams, giving birth, those processes can feel terrible, and in a lasting way. To you, it's routine. To some of your patients, it's like being stripped and penetrated against our will, in the middle of Wal-Mart. Our feelings are valid.
I am trying to find a way to give the youth group girls a balanced view.