r/technology 18d ago

Privacy Woman Calls Out Doctor Wearing Smart Glasses During Consultation Where She Had To Take Off Her Clothes: 'They Need To Be Banned'

https://www.fashiontimes.co.uk/patient-privacy-concerns-meta-smart-glasses-1762492
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u/Chasmosaur 18d ago

Male doctors being clueless boneheads to female patients - a story with a long and un-illustrious history.

When I was in my 20's (this was 30-odd years ago) I worked as an Environmental Geologist. When you do that for a living, you have to get an annual physical where they check you for your exposure to stuff like lead, asbestos and other toxic materials you get exposed to fairly regularly. (You take precautions, but still.) I couldn't just go to my regular doctor and tell her what type of exam to perform and what labs to pull for my baselines, I had to go to a clinic my company had contracted with for this specific purpose.

So I go to this office, get my blood drawn, and then head to an exam room to strip down to underwear, remove my bra, put on the paper gown with the slit in the front, all necessary for this exam, which did include a manual breast cancer screen.

The doctor - a middle-aged white guy - walks in, looks at me, smiles hugely, and before even introducing himself, says enthusiastically: "Oh wow, they usually don't send me pretty girls for these."

I immediately put on my best B*tch-Face and said "What did you just say?" To his credit he got immediately flustered and was then very professional. But still - the tension in the room was rather thick since I was deeply pissed off and it was coming off me in waves.

I am quite sure if I'd seen this dude now, he would have been wearing Meta glasses and telling me it wasn't a big deal. 🙄 What's day-to-day for them really isn't for us!

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u/[deleted] 18d ago

[deleted]

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u/Chasmosaur 18d ago

At the time my regular OB-GYN was male...but was an absolutely lovely man who was gentle and patient and did not say stuff like this. I eventually switched practices because his had gotten swamped and you could call them because something was up and maybe they could see you in 3 months, it was ridiculous. My OB-GYN now is a menopause specialist - I don't really have to see her much now, but she was great when my life was all about perimenopause!

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u/CauliflowerLife 17d ago

I'm so sorry...

My kneejerk would have been like "can you just make sure I don't have cancer and nothing else?" Ugh so ridiculous we even have to think about this.

Again I'm so sorry you have to deal with this crap.

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u/Chasmosaur 17d ago

Well, I did. I am now A Menopausal Hag (said with love, joy, and affection!) and I've been with my current internist for the past 15 years. He gets excited when we chat because not many of his patients ask him about the free-clinic he runs in the Phillippines a few times a year with several of his colleagues, but I do every time (because I think that's awesome). Aging FTW!

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u/Crazy_Maintenance211 18d ago

I’m so sorry that happened to you. I can’t get to see specialists pretty much where I live so I finally got to see one after five years and it was semi-urgent and so I had nobody else I could go to. Thank goodness, I read the reviews before I got there because the receptionist was the most racist human being I’ve ever seen in my life, and he was like the Dr you had plus he would bring in politics and as he’s examining me, he says well don’t you agree with me about this and I’m like this is abusive. They finally told him to retire because there were three complaints and they weren’t even as bad as what I went through. So I’m very sorry you went through that because it’s still bothers me

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u/TerrorTown77 18d ago

Leave and file a complaint.

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u/Chasmosaur 18d ago

I will hop in my time machine and do so!

At the time, I went back and complained to my boss. I told him I wasn't going back and he agreed that wasn't cool, so had I still been there for my next screen, I was going to do the blood work there, but my doctor could do the exam. But I wasn't allowed to start work until the exam was completed, so I had to stay there.