London Medical - Knightsbridge Doctors

[Ketsuban 1,034]

Besides where do the doctors and nurses pee? They work thre all day

The only time I heard of an extreme like that is for a convicted criminal on parole.

I think I read somewhere in the depths of Reddit once that military recruits have to pee supervised. That's more than enough to put me off a career in the military

[nobbie 105]

You have to lie on the bed naked? Don't you even get a sheet to cover most of yourself up with? o.o I mean, I know they're going to be examining your entire body, but a little dignity wouldn't go amiss...

No, you strip to your underwear and get on the bed, then they have a quick look. I don't know why people seem to worry about this. I have a medical for work every 2 years and get this every time, you are an object to them, they probably get fed up with looking at peoples parts more than people get fed up with a 5 second peek.

[PBJ 60]

No, you strip to your underwear and get on the bed, then they have a quick look. I don't know why people seem to worry about this. I have a medical for work every 2 years and get this every time, you are an object to them, they probably get fed up with looking at peoples parts more than people get fed up with a 5 second peek.

People worry because its unusual, its impersonal, and being naked is the subject of our own shame. Its not that surprising really and quite normal. Few would look forward to it.

Knowing the medical folk do it all day is some small comfort, I guess.

[QueenOfBlades 224]

Good luck Otter, may you be hotter (but not so much hotter as to disturb the doctors at KB) !

QueenofBlades, you said your husband was with you at the medical? Could he attend all parts of it with you, or did he have to wait in the reception area? I'll be able to go to Jake's medical so I was curious.....!

He had to wait in reception the entire time, he was not allowed to do any part of the medical with me.

[Al422 221]

A doctor is about as interested in looking at your body as a mechanic is in looking at the brakes on your car. To them it is just work, and the doctor and mechanic want the same things from their jobs that you and I want from our jobs: To perform our work correctly, collect our pay, and support ourselves and our families.

It was interesting to read the terms members used here: Man jewels, knickers area, etc. When the doctor studied those areas in medical school, he or she called them a #######, a ####### and a ####### and still calls them as such. These are just body parts to the doctor, just like your ear, your nose, and your arm.

Out of respect for a patient's dignity, the doctor does not normally expose the patient's body unneccesarily, so if an exam includes these areas, the doctor normally goes to length to keep them covered until necessary for the actual exam. You don't really lie naked on a bed but stay covered until the doctor needs to see what he or she needs to see. The military of course is an exception, where your dignity is meaningless to their doctors, but that is another matter.

While i have never needed a medical exam other than for my own health, I have had medical procedures performed on my genitals and rectum by both male and female doctors and nurses. There was nothing sexual about it, not to me nor to them, not even the smallest sexual thought. I did not care about their gender, only their competence and professionalism. And none of them were the least bit interested in my #######, after seeing lord knows how many thoustands of penises throughout their careers. Like my analogy before, it was just another mechanic doing another brake job.

Edited May 4, 2014 by Al422

[nobbie 105]

People worry because its unusual, its impersonal, and being naked is the subject of our own shame. Its not that surprising really and quite normal. Few would look forward to it.

Knowing the medical folk do it all day is some small comfort, I guess.

Maybe it's me then, I don't give a monkeys about it, although I don't look forward to it. Weird that you use the word shame though.

[N-o-l-a 7,168]

Maybe it's me then, I don't give a monkeys about it, although I don't look forward to it. Weird that you use the word shame though.

I'm not too sure what is so shameful about it, it is just your body. Between pap smears, colonoscopies, and prostate exams you think that the modern person might be used to these things.

[Al422 221]

I don't blame you for not looking forward to it. Do you think I was looking forward to having a nurse squirt lidocaine up my ####### so the doctor can shove a tube up it and extract a kidney stone? I was however very much looking forward to having the kidney stone removed so it can stop causing me pain and stop blocking urinary function.

Think of this exam in the same terms. You are not looking forward to the exam, but the end result of getting that visa is something you are very much looking forward too.

[Ketsuban 1,034]

I think the fact they treat you as an object rather than a person unsettles me. But who am I to complain, the most intimate a medical exam has ever gone for me is to lift my shirt up so my GP could listen to my breathing through a stethoscope. I've just never had to show myself like that to anyone I didn't know, apart from when I was born obviously maybe I won't react as bad as I think I will.

[Al422 221]

I think the fact they treat you as an object rather than a person unsettles me. But who am I to complain, the most intimate a medical exam has ever gone for me is to lift my shirt up so my GP could listen to my breathing through a stethoscope. I've just never had to show myself like that to anyone I didn't know, apart from when I was born obviously maybe I won't react as bad as I think I will.

Well it is good practice for later in life when exams like colonoscopies and mammograns and pap smears become necessary. Never put these exams off! They are screenings for deadly cancers that will kill you if they go undetected.

I think when you see how doctors respect your dignity when examning genitals and anuses and breasts, you will see that you are indeed a person and not an object. If you get a doctor who treats you as an object (there are a few but not many), that is time for a new doctor.

[PBJ 60]

Maybe it's me then, I don't give a monkeys about it, although I don't look forward to it. Weird that you use the word shame though.

Weird humour then.

[Hotter Otter 1,211]

I think the fact they treat you as an object rather than a person unsettles me. But who am I to complain, the most intimate a medical exam has ever gone for me is to lift my shirt up so my GP could listen to my breathing through a stethoscope. I've just never had to show myself like that to anyone I didn't know, apart from when I was born obviously maybe I won't react as bad as I think I will.

I thought I'd be nervous and it was a little bit weird having a female doctor too but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. I'd built it up in my head to be standing in the middle of the room butt naked while I was poked and of course it's not like that at all! You'll be fine

[Al422 221]

I thought I'd be nervous and it was a little bit weird having a female doctor too but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared. I'd built it up in my head to be standing in the middle of the room butt naked while I was poked and of course it's not like that at all! You'll be fine

Thank you. You have pretty much confirmed everything I have been saying. To doctors (most of them at least), you are a person with dignity, and far be it from them to do anything to hurt that dignity. They are disciplined professionals who are called upon to examine a person, not an object, and they never lose sight of that fact.

Think of a doctor as a body mechanic. You can't expect a mechanic to keep your car running well if he can't look under the hood and examine the engine, nor can you expect a doctor to keep your body running well if he can't look under your clothes and examine your body. When you are selling your car you can't expect anyone to buy it if you won't allow the buyer's mechanic to examine the engine, nor can you expect the government of the United States to allow you to live in their country if their body mechanic cannot examine your engine.

I have been sick before and in the hospital before, and I didn't give a hoot if the doctor or nurse they sent in was male or female. Not once ever has there been one iota of difference in what a male doctor or nurse would do compared to a female doctor or nurse. It just does not matter. Let the body mechanic do his or her job.

[PBJ 60]

Had my medical this morning at 9.30am. It was a breeze and the all staff there are polite, professional and explains themselves well throughout the process. The receptionist even apologised for the considerable bill at the end, right as she was swiping my debit card.

I won't repeat what has been said here about what happens - its all been covered before. However its worth pointing out I did require a second MMR jab since my vaccinations record showed one jab when I was a baby, and what I thought was a second one was in fact only an MR jab (did not cover measles). This was apparently how it was done in 1994 and many of you may be in the same situation. My advice would be to study your vaccination history properly, and if you don't have two MMR's then get it done with your GP in advance to save on cash at Knightsbridge (FYI its £40 at Knightsbridge and although not necessary I did opt for it there and then to simplify things for AOS.). I had my t-Dap booster last week and had I not overlooked this I would've had my MMR there also.

I also had to pay up for a drugs test due to an historic police caution for possession. This is £48 and results take 4-10 days preceding the medical. They supervise a urine sample at Knightsbridge. Nothing exceptional here but worth noting if you're in that situation.

[paddington_bear 30]

Maybe it's me then, I don't give a monkeys about it, although I don't look forward to it. Weird that you use the word shame though.

Maybe it's that I'm American, so I'm coming at this from a different culture (and yeah, UK and US culture are quite different, I'll admit!) but "shame" is such an apropos word, not a weird one, at all when talking about the body in our culture, at least. It's an inheritance from the puritans--you know, the ones you sent packing from your country after the Restoration because ya'll thought they were crazy!

There's a huge body shaming aspect to our culture (and I would say I still see quite a bit of it in the UK, at least compared to other places like France!)--whether it be the health of the body (too fat, too skinny, too feminine, too masculine) or (albeit antiquated) notions of modesty (too "slutty"--cover up! only x can get away with wearing something like that. You're too old, too young, too x, too y, too z). People can't really win--this is especially true for women, though men certainly go through it.

It's sad, though, I agree. Doesn't mean it doesn't carry over to the doctor's, especially when you have a member of the opposite sex. I was raised fundamentalist Christian (I've since been liberated), and going to male doctor was a cause of extreme anxiety for me not because I didn't understand the goal, but because I had parents who constantly made body and bodily productions a cause of just that--shame. Not everyone is so lucky, I guess. (I should also say not every Christian is a body shamer, and not every body shamer is a Christian--it goes beyond religion, though that was just my experience.)