So, just to recap:
I, Petra, get brought into A&E for treatment of a gynae nature and request a female doctor. I don’t have to explain why, but it’s not beyond the bounds to think that this is to prevent me from distress I would experience being treated by a male doctor.
luckily there is both a female doctor and a male dr (Upton) on shift. Dr Upton knows that, whatever his own beliefs, some people (correctly) read him as male.
i have not yet seen any Dr. Other than as a result of my illness/injury, I am not distressed.
if the female dr on shift draws back the curtain, i remain undistressed.
if Dr Upton draws back the curtain and I clock him as male (yes, completely laughable that I wouldn’t - even the fragrant Dr admits it’s a possibility) I will be distressed; both by the underlying past trauma AND by having my reasonable request today ignored. I might be a complete Peggie and be able to stand up for myself in the moment and tell Dr U to sling his hook; and, if he is to be believed, he would meekly do so.
but the point is, I would have tried to avoid distress, the NHS ‘says’ it’s my right to avoid the distress. But, despite knowing this, Dr U has decided his right to distress me matters more. The only ‘solution’ he presents - for him to leave on request - does not avoid my - the patient’s - distress; by the time i object, it’s too late.
much like the, “if there’s any bad behaviour by blokes, you can always complain…. “ except the bad behaviour’s happened by then…