@Lavender14 · Yesterday 10:01
I think in terms of those saying mayo chose deliberately to misanswer or lie to the nurse, I really don't think it's as straightforward as that. If you're terrified or in denial enough that you've hidden a secret that large for so many months it becomes extremely difficult to suddenly open up about it. Especially to a stranger who you will know has a duty to report it or at least take further action based on it. I work with lots of vulnerable young people (not with any additional needs just vulnerable due to circumstances) and a lot of those who didn't make disclosures to previous workers said they didn't do so because 'they didn't ask me the right questions '. So because the question wasn't direct enough the young person felt the worker was either still unaware or wouldn't understand or didn't want to support them so was avoiding asking them a straight question. It can also make the worker look like they are uncomfortable with the topic and therefore unequipped to deal with it empathetically so the young person didn't feel able to open up to them because their reaction was therefore unpredictable. It could be that mayo was answering no that she wasn't sexually active because truthfully she wasn't at that time, but if the nurse had asked (what tbh I'd expect as a routine follow up question especially given her symptoms and presentation) 'is there any chance you could be pregnant and should we do a test to rule it out' then there might have been a different outcome. I've had that before with a gp when I truthfully hadn't been sexually active and had to do a test anyway for them to rule it out being thorough so that should have been done here.
My guess is the nurse didn't ask the right questions because of mayo's young age which is actually a huge failure to safeguard effectively on the nurses part. I don't think mayo should be held accountable for a professional not safeguarding effectively. And I say safeguarding because a 14 year old can't give consent for sex so this sounds immediately have been flagged for further investigation. But I'd imagine the nurse didn't want to think of the possibility of a 14 turning 15 year old being pregnant.
I think you have brought a lot of insight into understanding Paris Mayo and how her meeting with the nurse ended up taking the futile course it did. Thank you, your experience with vulnerable young people is evident and shines through your words.