Normal or inappropriate child examination?

[ExhaustedPigeon2]

During a medical examination of a four year old male child with a fever, would it be normal for the A&E doctor to lift up his pants therefore viewing his genitals in order to examine the groin lymph nodes?

And with no warning? I only saw as I moved around the dr and put my head next to my child's head (he was lying on a bed) in order to be able to see past the drs back at what he was doing.... Just wondering if this is perfectly normal or not... Has anyone else had this?

Totally normal. Enlarged glands are a marker for all sorts of nasties. It would have been good practise for him to tell you what he was doing but it really isn’t anything sinister.

Thank you very much for answering me. Do you mean the viewing / exposing of the genitals is completely normal while examining the groin nodes?

I expected the groin nodes to be checked, but wondered if they'd be felt under trousers but to side of pants rather than lifting the pants up?

If this is a child with a fever without a definite cause, I think they probably wanted to have sight of the scrotum to be sure that there wasn't any redness / swelling there as well. A 4 year old is still young enough that you wouldn't rely on asking them "is anything else sore". They would be checking not just for infection, but also for things like testicular torsion - rare but important to pick up.

So yes, it was a normal part of a thorough examination allowing lots of things to be recorded as "no obvious abnormalities". Doctors are trained to be quite systematic, and there can be things they made a note of that you might not even be aware they'd looked at.

Hope the little one is feeling better / gets better soon.

I’d agree with pp and say that was part of an examination for fever of unknown cause, so yes, appropriate.
Communication leaves space for improvement though.

Hope your son is better now.

Perfectly normal. Are you always this anxious?

Yes, normal- although I understand why you would t think so. Looking at the testicles and penis- can also help with differential diagnosis, as well as the lymph node check.

Normal, but DS' dr has always explained what she's going to do and why it's necessary before any examinations like that. I'd be a bit surprised if they just jumped in there without any warning to the child.

It's normal. If removing the child's pants allows them to check fully then that's what they're going to do. Your child's health is the most important thing here and they won't take any chances.

Normal but I think doctors should ask permission of kids or at least parents for that kind of exam. It sets important boundaries.

Ignore the 'are you normally this anxious' comment.

It is usual for doctors to explain what they are going to do and from what you described him doing this examination with his back shielding this from you is strange. Possibly misinterpreted but doctors should not leave themselves open to misinterpretation.

Totally normal, but it's good practice to tell the patient before hand, even if it's a child.
When DS 10 had a scrotal examination, the urologist explained what he was going to do beforehand and asked DS if it was OK.

Thank you everyone for taking time to reply. From your kind replies I do feel more confident that it was likely to have been an appropriate examination. However my feelings of unease at unexpectedly seeing a Drs hands inside my four year olds pants were understandable given the lack of communication. An you raise a good point that actually my son should have seen me being asked for permission, and have given permission himself, because it's not ok that he was taught that a man can put his hands there without this.

Thank you all for helping me to see it was an issue of poor communication rather than an inappropriate examination.

He is fine now - thanks for those who asked.