A good reason for NOT “stepping out of the room” and leaving your minor child alone when the doc is taking patient history .... and asking intrusive questions that affect the home and the parent(s) rights.
I NEVER leave the room when my kids are at the doctor’s office, and boy oh boy do they get cranky about it (the docs, I mean, not the kids).
It got so heated last time that the doc actually suggested that he’d have me removed from the room. This caused me to stand up from my chair and tower over him while I inquired as to exactly WHO was going to accomplish that feat. (I stand about 6 inches taller than him and I guarantee he wouldn’t be able to do it— and I’m a GIRL).
Anyway, my big boy won’t go back to the pediatrician anymore so now he goes to my husband’s doctor who never never never asks the stupid, intrusive, and utterly un-medical questions the ped. did. That doctor takes his pressure, listens to his chest, thumps on his back a couple of times, does the “turn your head and cough” routine, and tells him to get out and come back if something’s wrong. Just as it should be for a 16-year-old in perfect health.
Here’s what the pediatrician really wanted to do behind my back: 1. Ask about guns in the home and if he felt “safe” in his environment. 2. Do Mommy and Daddy spank you? 3. Give him condoms so he can have “safe sex.”
He implied that he wouldn’t be able to get the truth out of him if I was in the room. Not true, but let’s say my son DID have a secret. I have WAY more need to know it than any doctor. So if I’M not getting the straight scoop, then neither will HE.
I told the doc to stick to the medicine, and I told Billy that he was to ask the doc any question he might have. “Do you have a question about your penis, Bill? No? You understand where babies come from? Excellent!” Poor Billy; he was appalled, but rightfully placed the blame on the doc for not backing down immediately when I refused his “help.”
Those pediatricians are fine when the kids are little but they become menaces when they’re dealing with teens. And you know what? I don’t know ANY parent who thinks it’s a good idea for doctors to keep secrets from the child’s parents. How did these stupid laws get passed anyway?
Regards,