Nurse taking advantage?

[Supernick]

A friend went to the doctors last night for a checkup, and when it came to weighing her the nurse (male) asked her to strip down to her underwear. After weighing and measuring height she got dressed again, and he asked her id she wanted to go for a drink sometime and gave her his phone number which she declined because she's married.

The rest of the girls in the office have never had to strip off to be weighed apparently, and I'm wondering if the nurse may have been behaving inapropriately. My friend didn't feel uncomfortable at all though throughout the whole thing.

[Cockney_si]

Not sure if it's part of the smae ethics associated with Doctor cannot date a patient he has on his books or not, although I suspect it may well be.

Not the best of scenarios to be in really though, come on, however flattering it may have been to be asked out by someone that you've just stripped in front of is, apart from vary bad timing, just plain creepy, sorry, just my view.

[willow74]

it is definately something the surgery will be impressed with. i work in a local hospital and everyone is weighed fully clothed, minus shoes.  everytime i have been weighed at a practice/surgery i have been clothed.

it depends on how your friend wants to proceed.  he did not 'touch' her so it is not an assault but she was violated.  if she just wants to make the practice aware she should write to the practice manager of the surgery.  if she wants to proceed past that then i would still offer the practice manager a chance to answer if this is standard practice.

[willow74]

will NOT be impressed with !     *(thats what i meant)

[FP]

I think it is dodgy.   I have never been asked to strip off to my underwear to be weighed.  And it is certainly not good practice for him to have asked her out whilst she was having a check up.  I wouldn't think it acceptable at all.  Good advice from Willow.

[oxeyedaisy]

i would make a complaint about it ..as unfortunately dodgy people slip through nets to gain jobs where they can abuse the situation..if their was no complaint made then an incident could occur at some time with a patient that was guilable..or even backward and it would be dreadfull to read about it in the newspaper and know you didnt report him..its a good job he wasnt weighing me as i would have asked for a female nurse to be in the room also..

[tubeway]

ref willows comments - you do not have to be touched for it to be assault - this could well be construed as assault

[hugoboss]

I think this incident is totally unacceptable, and your friend should make a point of complaining to the doc surgery immediately. In the past, when I have been examined by a mail doctor, they state there must be a another female present at the time - for the patient's benefit. I would be appauled if what happened to your friend happened to me.

[spunkypumpkn]

No assault has taken place. What has occurred is unprofessional behaviour, which would more than likely be frowned upon by the surgery, and by the NMC (Nursing and Midwifery Council)

Asking a patient to remove their clothing to be weighed can be justified in order to reduce the number of variables for further weigh-ins.  THEN asking the patient for a date is in rather bad taste, and very poorly timed, considering he'd just seen her in a state of undress.

I'd say a letter both to the nurse AND the surgery might be appropriate under the circumstances.  

[brawburd]

Personally I would write to the Practice Manager and ask for information on complaints procedure.  That was completely unacceptable, unwarranted and unprofessional.

[ALLO]

i would tell the guys boss. or ask why he had her strip down. this pervert should be fired!

[Scarlett]

This is disgraceful!

Report the nurse immediately. He should NEVER make advances to patients- it is totally unprofessional.

[Gilli]

That would definitely ring alarm bells for me ....... unless it had been clearly explained beforehand why I needed to strip down - and - the answer given was professional and relevant to my case.

I have never been asked to take my clothes off yet have been weighed on many many occasions .... during pregnancy, post natal, consultations for the pill etc.

I'm glad your friend didn't feel uncomfortable but maybe that's because, like many of us, we place our trust in health professionals and tend to give them the benefit of the doubt .... which, of course, is how many of them get away with it. However, if only for the sake of future - possibly more vulnerable - patients, i'd urge her to make a formal complaint.

[flaming]

I agree with all the others.  It was grossly unprofessional.  Even the doctor, or any doctors I have seen, are very particular about any undressing. Mine only asks you to remove the minimum iclothes n the area he has to examine.  I am sure if it was necessary for certain areas to be naked he would have the female nurse present.  I think the practice manager should be told as the doctor would be responsible if there was any unpleasant incident, perhaps between him and a young girl who was on her own. An alert might make the practice look into his past details, because one reads about many cases of non-qualified men and women lying to get jobs in nursing etc.

[MargeB]

I went for physiotherapy on my leg and it gets very very physical, halfway between wrestling and foreplay, it's really very strange. After about 5 sessions, it became abundantly clear (but not very very overtly) that they physio was trying it on. I found it quite funny, but for some strange reason just stopped going...dunno, it just doesn't feel too nice, they're supposed to be fixing my leg! One time, as i was getting physio, the 'curtain' was thrown open by some doctor, then thrown closed again. I assume I wasn't the first this had happened to. Pretty funny, now I think of it.

[toecrusher]

i have never been asked to undress to be weighed. if having to be undressed for an examination, a female has always been present. i find this inappropriate and a bit creepy like others do. i would telephone or visit  the surgery and ask a few questions

[smudge]

I've never been asked to strip down to my undies when being weighed & if I was ever asked to do so, I'd ensure there was a female nurse to hand!

[MargeB]

"Oh, we completely misdiagnosed this patient because there was an extra 100g of clothes on his body when we weighed him"...Na.

[angel1978]

http://www.nmc-uk.org/nmc/main/advice/practitioner-clientRelationships.html

Found this (NMC site) which may be useful as might be the rest of the site (not much time to check it out for you).

May be worth ringing them to ask what to do in a confidnetial sense at first?

[Morrisonker]

I'm with that majority there, she really needs to tell someone in the practise about this.  How many stories have there been recently about women being assulted by medical practioners during examinations?  I'm sure it seemed perfectly routine if she hadn't had it done before, but no one is going to tell her she's being silly or bringing it to their attention.  The fact that she told you about it suggests that she thought it a little unusual and judging by everyones reactions I think she'd be perfectly justified to make a complaint, or at least query the behaviour.

[Supernick]

Thanks to everyone for their posts, it was very helpful in trying to pursuade her that this kind of behaviour is at best inapropriate, and at worst a worrying breach of trust from a healthcare professional.

Unfortunately she's adamant that becasue it wasn't 'sleazy' and he was 'sweet' (ridiculous I know) she's not going to report the incident.

Again, many thanks to all those who posted answers, and I'll persist.