AITA for telling a waiting room about the encounter I had with a doctor?
hello.
I am in my mid-thirties and have a teen daughter. We just moved to this town and are trying to find a new family doctor. My daughter prefers when I come into the room with her because she has really bad social anxiety and struggles to verbalize things because of this.
We went to a doctor a little bit ago. Everything was very standard: we went in, had a very sweet person check us in, and we waited an hour to be seen. The nurse took my daughter's vitals and checked her height and weight. We told her some concerns (not important) and waited for the doctor.
Once the doctor came in, we chatted for a few minutes and he asked her some routine questions. Any mental health concerns, up to date on vaccines, any issues with food, any concerns, etc. My daughter wanted to get on birth control because she is interested in being sexually active with her boyfriend and obviously wants to be protected. I'm not by any means thrilled, but I will always ensure my child has protection and we have always stressed safe sex, especially since I come from a very, very long line of teen parents.
The doctor asked if she was sexually active and she said no. He asked what she currently uses for protection and she said abstinence. He sort of chuckled and said that she was a good girl.
Finally, he asks if he can do a pap smear before he makes a decision on giving her birth control. I asked why and he educated us on early prevention and if she is becoming active, it's a good thing to do and it would be irresponsible for her to not receive one. He would not feel comfortable prescribing her any type of birth control if she said no. I asked my daughter if she was comfortable with that, if she wanted to wait, or what. I wanted to make it clear to her that it was her choice. I hate having pap smears done and always feel very uncomfortable with it so if she wanted to avoid it until she was older, that was fine with me.
My daughter started to retreat and said it was fine, but I know her anxiety clues really well. She was not truly comfortable with it and I could tell. I asked her again, but more quietly, and she stated again she was okay with it.
insecureThe doctor left the room while she got into a gown and when he returned, he asked me to leave. I asked why and he stated that it's against the clinic's policy to allow parents in the room when these procedures are being done unless the child was special needs. I was very hesitant to let her be alone because I know her anxiety is really bad. My daughter can't even call someone on the phone. I asked if I could wait for the nurse to come in and he asked why does the nurse need to come in. Whenever I've had these types of things and I've had a man do my exam, they are always accompanied by nurses. I thought it was standard and I felt really thrown off at this.
I've always never once been asked to leave my kid's appointments for ANY procedures unless it required it to be sterile. I have an older son who had his 3 of wisdom teeth taken and stayed for all 3 procedures, I have a younger daughter who needed a catheter for a medical procedure and they never even asked me to leave for that. I have never been asked.
After I asked that, he said there is no reason a nurse to come because it is a noninvasive procedure and he tried to reassure me that it is painless, and it takes longer for people to disrobe and get dressed than it does the procedure. I said I would prefer my daughter having a nurse in or a woman doing this. He questioned me on why. I said that my daughter is very clearly uncomfortable and at the age where she is insecure about her body. He said that he is a professional and he sees bodies of all ages, ethnicities, and weights. There is nothing sexual or inappropriate, it is a simple medical procedure to ensure my daughter has no issues.
I looked at my daughter and I asked her if that was okay. At first she just stared at the ground and shrugged by after some reassurance, she said she doesn't want to do this. She asked if she could go on a different birth control (she wanted the IUD because we both agree that she isn't in the best place for that level of responsibility. He told her no because it did not matter of which birth control she got, she was required to have one for any. I said she is going to get dressed and there wasn't any point to continue unless he has any concerns.
He said that going forward, because she wants to be sexually active so he would have to note that and wanted to give me a heads up. He left and she got dressed and when we went out to the waiting room, I was very upset. After we checked out with the very nice woman from before, I went out the door to the waiting room and saw another teen girl my daughter's age and in a fit of angrily, but not out of control angry (I wasn't yelling), and I said "if anyone is in here with Dr MisterDr and your child wants birth control, they won't you stay in the exam room."
I told my husband and he think I was out of line and embarrassed our daughter. I feel very sad and bad that I did it, but I also think I'm justified, but I may be bias. I don't know. I don't always like admitting when I'm wrong.
Thoughts?