AIBU to think you should get dressed for a medical appointment

[Ducksbehindthesofa]

Following on from the PJs on a plane post earlier today, curious to hear the consensus on this.

I had the misfortune of winding up in A&E on New Year's Day and was amazed by the number of people in grubby nightwear, dressing gowns, and slippers in the waiting room. There was an enormous amount of groaning, coughing, sniffing and sneezing going on by most of the wearers, so I guess there was a lot of the winter lurgy going on.

And last week, whilst at my GP practice (small village surgery where nobody would live more than a few minutes away), there was a woman in the waiting room wearing a dressing gown and Ugg boots, accessorised with a washing-up bowl on her knee. She did have some make-up on though, so a point was added for effort.

It's just yeuch, isn't it? If you're well enough to drag yourself to a doctor or hospital, you're well enough to at least throw some clothes on.

And I know it's none of my business and it doesn't matter one jot to me really, but I don't have to like it!

Why do you need to wear make up to go to the doctors. It sounds like you’ve been mulling over this a while op and the other thread has given you the green light to let it out

I think when it comes to a&e, normal rules go out of the window. People are feeling their worst FFS

I was once that woman in the GPs, was fine as dandy, felt great, started getting ready re makeup etc, suddenly felt like I was dying, suddenly had searing pain and was lying down puking on myself felt like I couldn’t even lift my head to not puke on myself, could barely move. Got an emergency GP appointment for 30mins later (this was pre Covid years) dh shoved me in pjs as the easiest thing for him to get on me as clothes were covered in puke, bowl, turned out to be kidney stones combined with a UTI no idea how it came on so fast but I peed blood in the dip stick tester and felt like death and I could barely get out of the house let alone dress myself.
there’s an argument to be had about clothes in other places, but pjs in hospitals and drs makes sense, people may not have been able to get dressed, or for whatever reason needed something easier to put on or help putting on, buttons in front (easier for someone else to put on) loose, baggy, elasticated.

Just wait till she finds out they sometimes have to cut open your clothes. Maybe better to be wearing Shein than Dior if you're planning on suffering a spontaneous near fatal injury. 🥴🤣

The OP was in the middle of receiving chemo at the time. Have you actually read all of her responses?

I put it on because I was ashamed of how shit I looked after throwing up 20+ times a day and everyone else was glowing with pregnancy… yep what a dreadful person I was

DH was on end of life care last time I took him to A&E, he'd broken his leg due to the cancer that was killing him. Getting him out of his pyjamas and into his day clothes was the very last thing on my mind as it would've caused him even more pain.

I would actually argue that if you’re well enough to spend time getting ready and focus your efforts on your outfit you should NOT be going to A&E.

Ach, don't apologise. Given your circumstances I'm not surprised you needed a distraction.

I think you've touched a nerve here @Ducksbehindthesofa but I like it.😉 You obviously didn't mean the elderly, poorly kids or anyone having a proper medical emergency like a heart attack. You meant people who've got a tummy bug etc. You're right, if you can take yourself off to the doctor/A&E then you can pop a tracksuit on before you go. Have a bit of fucking decorum people. 100% agree. I was back and forth to A&E in last few years with illness. Not once did I go in my pyjamas. Have a bit of fucking decorum people!

I think I've only ever been to A&E in my nightwear tbh. Jeans and a nightshirt last time, I think, but honestly I was in so much pain (bowel blockage) that I didn't care. And as I then spent the next week in a hospital bed it actually seems pretty appropriate.

YABU

You wouldn't be sitting in the A&E waiting room if you are suffering a stroke or a heart attack though would you?

If you are the person who is ill, perhaps fair enough. Not those accompanying them.

All depends on the circumstances. If going to A&E in an emergency just go in the clothes you are wearing at the time of the incident but for a routine appointment and you are able to get dressed then you should. It would be respectful to the clinician seeing you.

I had a mastectomy a few years ago and 3 weeks after my operation I developed a huge haematoma (clotted blood) which burst my wound which was semi healed. It was leaking blood and puss. I still managed to get dressed and then made my way into the hospital.

My mum went to hosptial after a severe heartattack wearing her night things because she had the heart attack while she was in bed and guess what,the paramedics thought the priority was to get her to hospital at once rather than tell her to put on a smart outfit

If it's an emergency you shouldn't be wasting time getting dressed.

unless they too had to escort them in an emergency too ?

I’ve been to A&E in my pyjamas. Not too fussed what you think, I’d be far more embarrassed about being a person who judges what people are wearing in A&E

the thing that was more omg in a and e is the prices of food and drinks in hospitals etc

Yeah, strangely when my toddler was blue-lighted to hospital with anaphylaxis at 6am one sunny May morning I did not stop to dress, I just jumped in the ambulance with him. 🤔

🤦‍♀️!

😂and keep up with the fake tan too, no pasty skin please!

It was good of you to apologise, but i honestly think a lot of the PPs on here are the ones who should be apologising. Berating a woman undergoing chemo is just outright vile. She made a post that was a little insensitive, even after clarifying what she meant numerous times. It was no reason to rip her head clean off when the majority of you grown women knew perfectly well what she meant.

Totally agree with what you're saying here, as well. Its not what people wear that bothers me really, it's the people that really don't need to be there, bleeding the NHS dry for what just seems like something to do. Some people really will rock up to A&E and the GP in whatever clothes over something stupid like a cold.

Took my unresponsive DS to A&E when he was 11 months old. Was in the waiting room for 10 minutes and seen one family there in particular who pissed me off. All kids running around screaming, certainly didnt seem to need emergency care (how would I know, right?), the mum gets up and asks the receptionist if they can change the film on the TV to frozen. Like really. Asking all the excited kids what they wanted from Subway, it was like a kids birthday party and a complete joke to all the other people waiting there that actually needed seeing to, having to wait in a queue behind this woman who brought her kids to A&E to watch a film and eat a Subway.

That’s not who I was responding too…..I wasn’t responding to the OP…

Every A&E department should have a dress code plainly visible at the entrance.