Medical Education

Recently I went to a doctor’s office for a pre-surgical consultation/orientation for a foot problem. When I got there I did as everyone does and checked in at the front desk and then sat in the waiting area for my turn to go. Eventually a nurse came in and called my full name. I stood up but a guy who was in the waiting room said “hi” to the nurse. She immediately thought that he was the patient she was after. I walked up to her and told her we could go now, that I was the name she had called. She stammered “It says M on the chart, I was expecting a fellah, not you.” On the walk through the hallway to her office she clumsily tried to apologize for the mix-up, “It’s funny how you respond when you are expecting something and then see something different.” At this point she still could have salvaged the interaction. Yes, she had messed up but she had tried to apologize- even if in doing so she referred to me as a something. It only got better from here though.

Once in her office she handed me her paperwork and asked me to confirm all the info on it, specifically asking about the M. She then asked a few of the standard questions, which apparently in my case included asking if there was “no chance you’re pregnant?” I responded no. She still wasn’t getting it. “Can I ask why you haven’t gotten pregnant? Are you practicing abstinence or are you on birth control?” So, here I was in a position where I had to explain basic biology to the medical professional who was going to be working on me. While nothing further was specifically said, I still don’t think she had caught on to what I had just disclosed to her. Ignorance is bliss, perhaps? Thankfully I received excellent services from them without much more worth blogging about. It was interesting though, that even after having changed into the little johnny gown and laying on the stretcher while the nurses fixed my IV they continued to refer to me using female pronouns, although they didn’t seem to sure of themselves while doing so. Did they not know what they were doing? Or were they doing it purposely because they were amazingly perceptive?