For thinking this surgeon was a bit out of order? OK, I know I'm overweight but...

[trickynicky]

Not sure if I'm being oversensitive here but I was in hospital over the weekend passing a gallbladder - terrible pain. On the ward round on the following morning, Mr Bigshot, the Consultant Surgeon came round with his minions (4/5 student doctors). He examined my stomach, prodded and poked and then stated I needed to have the gallbladder removed. He then looked at my table upon which was half a piece of toast I'd eaten for breakfast and an open mini packet of butter half opened. He then ceremoniously picked up the butter and said "well, you don't want to be eating that if you have gallbladder issues - it's fat" and then he pinched a piec of my stomach and said "you've got enough here"!! I was somewhat taken aback and just mumbled "I know".... he then obviousy thought better of what he said and said "I didn't mean to insult you"........smiled, and then wondered off.....

On reflection, I am mortified. Actually, he's totally right. I am quite a bit overweight - I do KNOW that.... but wasn't this just a little bit insensitive, unprofessional etc etc or am I being over dramatic?

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Abdominal fat is known to be the most dangerous.

Maybe he wasn't pinching, maybe he was roughly assessing her level of body fat, in lieu of doing it more accurately with calipers?

[IdoknowtheMuffinMan]

That same consultant died a little bit inside when DH said we were going to do our shopping after work at Asda

Thank goodness he didn't find out about the time DH ate a Pot Noodle

[Latara]

I work with Consultant Surgeons... they remind me of IT Technicians / Computer Programmers. Good at fixing stuff; not so good with communication.

As a general rule i find that the rudeness level of Surgeons is higher if they are highly skilled in their Speciality
The best Surgeon i know has the tact of Prince Philip.

You would be safe under the scalpel of Mr Rude.

(good luck with your Gallbladder problems though; hopefully it will get sorted & not be too painful).

[IdoknowtheMuffinMan]

Can I just say in defence of DH, he is lovely and also highly skilled at operating

[TooImmatureTurtleDoves]

So? If you are intelligent enough to be a great surgeon then you are probably capable of remembering a few ground rules when dealing with patients.

Number 1: No pinching patients
Number 2: Engage brain before mouth

This surgeon clearly knew that he was in the wrong because he backtracked, so it is possible for them to learn. But, like with small children, you have to keep repeating the lesson - and so I would tell PALs. Pinching people is not on. It was not a fat caliper test, because it was conducted in a highly unprofessional manner. If he wanted to do a fat caliper test he should have explained clearly what he was going to do before he did it, and not made rude comments.

[KillerRack]

Anyone who works in care knows care value base etc, treating patients with respect, dignity etc is a large part of the job.

If he is going out of his way to be rude i.e pinching stomach , trying to embarrass you in front of med students then he really isn't being professional at all. Its not a case of 'being over-sensitive,.