I wanted to ask if what happened to me at a transvaginal scan sounds normal, privacy wise. I keep thinking about it and how uncomfortable it made me and want to know if I just need to get a grip!
For context, I’ve had two children and loads of intimate procedures and I’ve never felt uncomfortable before.
It started as an abdominal scan for my ovaries, and then the sonographer said a transvaginal scan would be needed, so I emptied my bladder and went back in. There was a female sonographer doing the scan and a male member of staff at the computer (green scrubs).
The first minor thing was when I was asked to remove my clothes from the waist down and sit on the end of the bed. They were both behind a solid, four-panel screen while I was getting ready, but the last panel wasn’t pulled right out. I could see the male staff member’s shoulder sticking out from the side of the panel facing towards me and just kept thinking move in a bit!!
I laid at the end of the bed with my knees bent and used the sheet to cover myself completely from my stomach down to my feet. When the sonographer came round, she said something like “Oh, you’ve really tucked yourself in, haven’t you?” which I thought was a bit odd as I would be exposing myself otherwise!
Then the screen was moved away, and the male staff member sat at the computer facing the wall, at the foot of the bed. The sonographer lifted the sheet up and placed it over my knees, opened my legs for the scan, and didn’t replace the sheet. I was completely exposed, and from his position he could easily have seen me if he’d turned slightly. He didn’t have his back to be, I was just to his side.
I just didn’t understand why there couldn’t have been a screen between us, or why the sonographer couldn’t have kept me covered. I’m not sure if I should of said anything at this point but I didn’t want him to turn his head automatically if I said anything so just thought it would be best to wait for it to be over and not draw attention to myself.
When the scan was finished, I covered myself again with the sheet and waited to get dressed. The male staff member pulled the screen across and stayed behind it (in the middle this time!). The sonographer started tidying up equipment. Then she went behind the screen too, so I assumed it was okay to get dressed, but she came back around the screen a few seconds later to put a stethoscope away while I had started to clean myself up. I quickly covered myself, and then she went back behind the screen and said loudly, “Now you can get changed.”
I left feeling absolutely mortified. I just can’t understand why that situation was handled so differently from anything I’ve experienced before. I’m not bothered about intimate procedures themselves, and I’ve agreed to students observing procedures when I was pregnant, but this just felt so unnecessarily exposing and I guess lacking in awareness?
Are maternity and gynaecology staff just so used to these situations that it’s second nature to them to avoid unnecessary exposure? I’ve never had a bad experience before this.
I was really surprised at how upset I felt. Am I overreacting?