Totally unnessessary breast exams

@Doc Holiday - if he didn't know what the cause was, he would do a full physical to try and find any other symptoms. That's not entirely unusual.

A few years ago grandma had 3 operations in six months; no one checked her breasts in the pre-op physical. (Japanese are small and she's thin) Not long after the last one she found a lump herself in the shower..cancer! Had mastectomy & chemo. With 5 relatives, 2 not blood relatives, having had breast cancer I'm not sure that there is such a thing as TUBE when getting a 'full' or gyn exam. Two of my sister's friends had breast cancer in the late 20's and died. Now if one is going in for a sore throat, cut finger or sprained ankle one might be suspicious.

IMHO: Better the doctor checks the boobs and find nothing than be lazy, or worry that the patient thinks she's getting a TUBE, skip the exam and miss the cancer.

In college my (now wife) went to the hospital for kidney stones. At the ER the female doctor did her first pelvic to see if it wasn't a gyno issue but indeed kidney stones. When doing rounds to see how she was doing on passing the stone, the male doctor said "I see you got a pelvic, but have you ever had a breast exam?" When she said no, he proceeded to give her one, no nurse present. I told her that he probably just wanted to feel a 19 year old's breasts, that a urologist has no reason to give a breast exam.

And if you think that there are no female doctors that take advantage of their patients, you are sadly mistaken.

LadyDoc

LadyDoc, this sounds interesting, could you please explain?

I've seen this occur under a couple different but very similar circumstances aside from the blatant tube scenario. Some time ago there was a video journal of a woman going through IVF. In one of the clips she gets a pre procedure exam. Prior to the pelvic the doctor did a very quick check on vitals and steth, and then quickly lowered the gown just enough to slip his hands inside the gown and feel each breast for what amounted to a grope more than anything related to an exam. A while back my wife had a minor gyn procedure...so she had her annual which included a breast exam prior to scheduling the procedure, then an exam prior to the procedure itself, this was less than 2 weeks after the annual and he very quickly felt each breast for less than 5 or 6 seconds each. When we went to the follow up appointment it was everything off which I did not really think anything of at the moment. After the expected questions he got her directly into the stirrups, he started to sit down and pull open the instrument drawer but then decided to get back up, get her arms back over her head and give her a breast exam. I'm certainly not complaining about the added exams and there was not really anything improper in his approach. But medically there was no reason to do this. It seemed more like a situation where he concluded if she was already up on the table then the breasts needed to get included.

Doc4u,

So she had three breast exams in the span of a couple months? Why do you think they did that? Do you think maybe instead of it being for sexual reasons, it was for insurance purposes...like adding services that they could charge up for.

LadyDoc, this sounds interesting, could you please explain?

Yes LadyDoc, and if you could refer me to any of those females doctors who take advantage of their patients, that would be great.

^^^ LadyDoc has not been here for the last 4 months

Happy to add to this topic...and may add at least one more acronym to go with it!

Love acronyms...all manner of fun in abbreviated lexicography...”AL” I will call it.

Alas, today my wife was a TUBER...Totally unnecessary breast exam “Recipient. “But also a “TUBEFSR”

That acronym/term will be described below...

Today, her attractive male doctor our age, saw her for a really mundane leg issue(localized mid thigh inflammation). Note: I would normally go to @at least “observe” his usual “bending of Doctor liberties”, associated with medicine, the white coat, stethoscope and an attractive female patient...but, this was a simple “look, feel leg, and prescription” matter so I went to work...

Mistake! BIG mistake!

Before the visit is far along, he says to his nurse, “let’s have her disrobe and put on this gown” ...she has worn a skirt she could pull it up for the exam....but he thinks disrobing and a gown is medically better....Hmmmmm...but I am not there? Any connection?

She obliged, and he comes back a while later “sans nurse” to start the exam.

To “bring her up to date” as he told her, he does the eyes ears nose throat stuff, along with, to her surprise (not unpleasant surprise...he is cute) a TUBE and “happily” proceeds to check certain of her other private areas, plausibly associated in some far off text book.

Exam over...he steps out...she gets dressed... waiting for script.

But that’s not what happened...

She gets home and tells me HE, not his nurse, decided to give her a steroid shot in her bottom...ok...

I am thinking upper quadrant, pull up skirt, lowered panties to a point...?

Not!!!

He has her raise her skirt and lower her panties to mid thigh and “roll over on her tummy.”

She is there “bare bottom, in totality” while he chats with her and prepares the injection...

It wasn’t already prepared?

She said she felt so “on display” as her white cheeks glistened in the light and he prepared the shot.

She said they chatted, he watched, she mumbled, he made small talk until it was time.

Alcohol, the stick, the medicine, the rub...all while chatter continued....

So, all “ends” well?

She is hopefully better...

Doctor goes home happy....

Come on...upper quadrant would not work?

In my mind, she had become a TOTALLY UNNECESSARY BOTTOM EXPOSURE FOR SHOT RECIPIENT (TUBEFSR)

Whilst I am sure unnecessary exams go on for insurance billing etc but actually an exam can only be classed as unnecessary once it has been done and deemed normal? The basis of a checkup / physical is to go looking for trouble before they may be symptomatic.

By the logic of TUBE all normal smears are unecessary.

Even though I was thin, I wasn't pretty and didn't have large breasts so I've never experienced any totally unnecessary breast exams.

My breast exams haven't even been that thorough. I've had a fibroadenoma for years and some doctors never even mentioned or documented it even though it could be felt when I was thinner. It doesn't show on my mammograms because of breast density so I have to have ultrasounds.

I see my doctor every 4 months and each time it includes a breast exam

My mother had three operations in 8 months. A couple weeks after the last one she found the lump which was the cancer. She was 79 then and being thin and Asian has very little breast tissue. I surmise that preop physical exams skipped the breast exam, else they‘d have found it. My sister at 50 had routine mammogram. Zap! Breaat cancer found. Breast cancer has claimed 2 of my aunts Women in our family take this disease seriously and desire good examinations

In response to the comments around the idea that there are no TUBEs because you might find blah blah I say this. If you see the doctor for a sprained ankle, you’re fully up to date with your well woman exams, and you wind up with a breast exam it’s a TUBE.

I have had them but when I was much younger. Were a doctor to attempt to give me one now I’d refuse it.

I knew as a pre-teen/teenager that adults needed to get breast exams. A few women I am close to unfortunately had breast cancer. I was not expecting them as a teenager though! I didn't really like my pediatrician. I HATED getting a breast exam as a 14 year old from a male doctor with small stuffed animals up and down his stethoscope. A female doctor had me show her my breasts to make sure they are developing correctly, but she never touched them. She talked to me like I was intelligent, so I was ok with that. Every doctor as an adult made it clear if I was getting a breast exam or not. There have been no unexpected breast exams as an adult.

I still think the 14 year old breast exam was unnecessary.

I see my doctor every 4 months and each time it includes a breast exam

@kristens

I think a breast exam by your doctor every 4 months is excessive.

Careful palpation and visual examination by a medical professional is warranted only once a year;

On the other hand, it would be preferable for you to take ownership of your own health and to practice regular self-screening.

I recommend doing it at least every 3 months, right after menstruation for pre-menopausal women.

This examination can also be carried out by your partner if you make him look at the method on a specialized site or if he accompanies you to learn from your gynecologist.

I am very surprised that some people talk about unnecessary breast exams, why would doctors do this?

For example, when you see a patient very regularly for fertilization follow-up and/or IVF, chest palpation is not necessary at each visit.

For the record, a mammogram is recommended every two years from the age of 48-50 and if the breasts are still very dense an ultrasound is required. We should not, in 2022, miss a fibroadenoma (even if this condition is generally benign and without major risk of cancer)

In France Pink October is an opportunity to raise awareness about breast cancer screening.

I therefore invite all those who will read me to take charge of the follow-up of their mammary glands themselves and to be actors in practice in addition to the annual visit to their gynecologist.

I'm just imagining doctors having chaperones present for TUBE. They'd be like accessories after the fact, after being put under the notion that these exams were actually necessary.