back injury = pervert doctor???

[gingerflaps]

i recently had a back injury (lower back and a little to the left hip) i went to the hospital on my own and there was a young pakistani doctor seeing me and he told me he had to 'check my back passage' i was mortified but he said it was common procedure. so i very embarredly let him 'check'. but later told that it wasnt common procedure and the doc was a perv. so does any1 know if this is right?

[ratbag66]

It is usual practice to do a rectal examination if the patient has any abdominal pain or injury.

A friend was given such an examination after a car accident (she had hurt her back). 

I was admitted to A+E with stomach pains and also had a similar examination.

If the doctor was male and you female he should have ensured that a female member of staff was present when he carried out an intimate examination.

[SASHAGREEN]

that sounds funny to me! your pain sounds like it could be around L5 and it is probably pinching your siatic nerve. try a chyropractor. thats about all you can do. keep heat on it. and sleep with a pillow between your legs. this is about everything i do for my back! i suffer from pain every day of my life. and i'm only 25! i feel like i'm 90!

[SASHAGREEN]

oh yeah! he sounds like a pervert to me. i would talk to your doctor about it and see what he says. i've never heard of such a thing.

[libertie]

Sorry gingerflaps I don't know if this is right or not, but think you should maybe go visit your own GP and ask his opinion before you make this kind of assumption!

[gingerflaps]

i would of done but i went straight to the hospital and the doctor there did it, i saw my dr the day after

[acw]

MESSAGE FOR RATBAG - it's ok - I read your answer - even if no-one else managed to!!

Gingeflaps - what difference does it make that the doc was Pakistani?  Are you male or female?

[gingerflaps]

female

[gingerflaps]

i didnt mean anything in it when i mentioned where he was from so dont take it wrongly coz i know ppl will

[gingerflaps]

also...if i hadnt of apoligised before u started then u would never of said anything....so stick that in ur pipe n smoke it

[indian]

I think it's just a female thing, I always add in the age/race/religion/distinguishing features when mentioning someone, and I've noticed alot of women do it. Don't worry gingerflaps, I'm asian and took no offence at all.

[delilahcat]

Agree with ratbag66. My partner was taken to hospital with agonising back pain and was also given a rectal examination - it's standard procedure for back injuries.

[Golem]

The doctor was checking to see if you had any nerve damage as a result of your injury. The spinal cord exits the spinal column in the lower back (where you say your injury was) and the nerves continue through to the lower parts of the body. This is most obviously evident in 'sciatica', a trapped nerve producing pain in one of the legs. Nerves also go to the bladder and bowel and a back injury may well affect these functions. A rectal exam establishes if these nerves are still functioning by checking for 'rectal tone', ie how your sphincter responds. I have copied a line from a health professionals website that I use frequently and is well respected and is an article about what examinations to conduct for a mechanical back injury, as in your case.

"Also perform a rectal examination on any patient who may have cauda equina syndrome to assess rectal tone and perineal sensation. If cauda equina syndrome is suspected, urinary catheterization for a postvoid residual is helpful to assess urinary retention."

I would suggest that the doctor was being extremely thorough in his assessment of your injury and you should be impressed that he was ruling out any potential side effects that you might have had. Perhaps he could have explained what he was checking for, but conversely, you could have asked him, it is your right after all.

What credibility does the person who said the doctor is a 'perv' have? Do they know what they are talking about or just have an 'opinion'?

Likewise, don't necessarily take my comments as gospel, you don't know who I am; ask your own GP when you see him/her.

[acw]

I've also asked friends who are nurses - and they said that this would just be part of a thorough examination to check that the back injury hadn't caused internal problems, for example to the bowel. 

Oh and did you check that the doctor was actually p#Pakistani?  Or did he just have darker skin?  Because not all English people are white.  .  I'm white and I was offended by it - and I don't care what anyone says I have a RIGHT to be offended by racism, whatever my colour. 

[jno]

gingerflaps' description of the doctor may have been superfluous but it was also neutral, so no need for anyone to devote their days to analysing her psyche. I notice that nobody has complained because she called him 'young', though that's obviously a disgracefully ageist comment :-) It's not yet illegal or immoral to call someone a Pakistani even if he isn't. (And acw you were meant to be offended by the curry remark: gingerflaps offered it as an example of an offensive statement... that she hadn't made.)

[acw]

I realise that - just felt that there was no need for it.  I agree observations are fine.  I just simply don't believe that the doctor's race would have been mentioned if the doc had been white.  And I was still annoyed by the comment that implied that only white people can be English,  Anyway - my principles are apparently way off - so what would I know!?! :-p

[gingerflaps]

this post was just simply asking if a rectal examination was needed for a back injury and now every1s talkin about race... thankyou jno for seeing it my way, i dont see why everyone reacts so badly to people of diffrent skin tone, i call americans 'yanks' so is that offencive too?  anyway, wots done is done and wots said is said. so lets EVERYONE get over it...plzzz!!!!!

[acw]

No worries - it did get a bit out of hand.  Sorry for my part in that. 

Are you satisfied with the answers that actually answered your question?  A few of us have asked around and it does seem that it is a common procedure but that probably a woman should have done it, or at least been present. 

In amongst the silliness, I hope you got an answer that you were pleased with.  :-)

[gingerflaps]

yeah thanx, im at ease now, i was just a little bit sceptical about the whole 'procedure' as ive never had it 'done' before. in future posts i will try not to describe the people..lol (i cant halp it tho, i always do it)