State of undress when you were younger at your pediatrician examinations.

The nurse would tell me to strip down to my underwear. I did not get a gown until I was about 17

Mostly nude, which was unfortunate because I first began seeing a male. Much prefer a female nowadays.

Mosly everything off - except my small "whities" - once I had to undergo a so called "thorough ortophedic exam" (I wrote about that some time ago) they also had to come off!

All the exams (walking, bending down, spine controle etc. were performed entire nude!

When I was little I was always stripped to just underwear. Sometime in my teen years it changed to taking off my shirt but leaving my pants on.

When I was younger, my mom would be in the room with me. the nurse came in and told me to take off everything except my top and panties. And then I was instructed to get on the table and pull my panties to my knees and wait for the nurse or doctor to return. I could be sitting there for what seemed to be an eternity, knowing what was coming next, my bare bottom would start to twinge as I sat on the paper.

Panties.

Always would be fully clothes through height and weight. Once in the room, I would be asked to provide a urine sample after cleaning the head of my penis. Once i returned to the room from the bathroom, the nurse said "Everything off but your underwear and the doctor will be right in"

Always went to the doctor with my mom. I'd be undressed (down to panties), then the nurse would take me into the hallway to get my weight and height. I was in the hallway, half naked for anyone to see, passing patients, nurses, doctors... everyone. 😢 No one gave a hoot about a child's modesty then.

When the doctor finally made his appearance in the exam room I remained in my panties until the end of the exam, at which time he would have me (or my mom) remove the panties. I would be laying on the table nude, and he would take a brief look at my vagina etc.

On a few occasions, he would have me walk across the room and back while nude. I was never quite sure what that was for. Any ideas?

C.

^^^ Normal skeletal observation....spinal/vertebrae alignment....linear shoulder position...leg banding...foot placement in movement (feet turned in /out & fallen arch--flatfoot)...ribcage symmetry.

I have had a family practitioner since I was 9 -- he takes care of adults and children.

When I first started going to see him, I was undressed down to panties only for my physical exams. At age 12 I was allowed to keep my bra on at the beginning, although I did have to remove it during the exam. About age 14 or 15 I got to wear a gown over my panties.

Bottom line is that I've never had a physical exam with my clothes on. I don't know how my doctor would have been able to do a complete exam if i did.

For routine medical exams it was always to my panties, even the socks had to go off. And then when the dreaded time came even panties came off for a minute or two.

At my paediatrician, I always had to undress everything and was completely naked during the whole exam. And the paediatrician always examined me completely from head to feet.

What would be the point of having a child undress completely? Would it just be to humiliate? I always try to have my pediatric patients as comfortable as possible. Children just don't want to be undressed and are upset and cry when they are. As a physician I always try to make my patients as comfortable as possible. I never want to humiliate anyone. It's just counterproductive.

I was embarassed enough at the age of 11 being told to undress to my underwear and vest - made worse by the fact I wasn't wearing a vest (like every other 11 year old male I knew).

What would be the point of having a child undress completely? Would it just be to humiliate? I always try to have my pediatric patients as comfortable as possible. Children just don't want to be undressed and are upset and cry when they are. As a physician I always try to make my patients as comfortable as possible. I never want to humiliate anyone. It's just counterproductive.

Apparently times change and so do (medical) customs.I'm an avid collector of old publications and magazines of many kinds - news, art, humor and medical as well. And in just about all the old publications (meaning prior to WWII and a bit afterwards as well) virtually all illustrations, be it of mature or of youngsters show examinations being conducted nude. It's just the way things were done back then, just as nude swimming was mandatory in many venues as well. I have the impression, that in those previous times, it was thought that people in general did not wash enough or expose themselves to fresh air sufficiently. Therefore it never hurt for physicians or nurses to try and impose other ideas on their patients.

Nor should it be forgotten, that certainly in the 1930s-40s, it was an age of regimentation, of mass movements and diminished individuality. People were members of a collective, of a nation, a Volk and needed to know their (lowly) place in society. Being able to make people undress was also a form of mild, but unmistakeable submission, a way to exercise authority as a physician, nurse or whatever.

And if it seems contradictory to advocating health measures,it wasn't always necessarily so in the minds of people back then. Remember how leadership roles and enforced participation in mass movements was often thought to be a way to better society in general. I think many of us here came of age on the tail end of those times and so have mixed memories of how much things have changed. We simply have new and different paradigms now. Let's say that in the 30s (in general) no one much cared about making patients comfortable. It was probably thought more important to teach people (youngsters) their proper place and how to respect authority and that usually involved a bit of exercising of authority and a bit of humiliation if necessary.

Let's say that in the 30s (in general) no one much cared about making patients comfortable. It was probably thought more important to teach people (youngsters) their proper place and how to respect authority and that usually involved a bit of exercising of authority and a bit of humiliation if necessary.

Brilliant observation, and I totally agree. I set my "Jim's First Day of Physical Education" story in 1970 for that very reason -- that it was a completely different time when "normal" was much different than what we consider today. Back then teachers could get away with things that might be viewed as shocking today. And the same goes for doctors. Just a few decades ago, it was considered normal to actually get undressed for a physical exam -- heaven forbid! And we didn't think twice about it -- it was simply the norm and was expected.

You are exactly correct Jimmy Johnson. For sure it still goes on these days also, but not so blatant as it was back then. Teachers and Doctors in the years you mentioned were part of an era when the public was innocent to what went on in the real world, they were placed on a pedestal and could do no wrong. If a boy complained he would be the problem, not the Teacher or Doctor. So few complained out of fear of embarrassment and the truth never came out. In this Forum if you told of a situation you had back then the room bashers would immediately come to the defense of the Doctors and tell you that your fantasizing.

I'm very sorry but that is just a paranoid fantasy. I was there then and a physician and it just didn't happen very often at all. I may have been born at night but it wasn't last night as someone so aptly put it.

I can say i was left in my undies when it come to check down there he just pulled the elestic band took a quick look stock his hand in felt around some but i was never made to strip completly

See what I meant Jimmy Johnson, their defense rose quickly as I expected. Now they are defining it not only as a fantasy but a paranoid fantasy. They are unrelenting in protecting and covering up for their own just as the Catholic Bishops have done for years.

I'm not covering up for my own. I have helped terminate several doctors who were guilty of sexual impropriety. It's just not very common in my experience over forty years of practice. Believe me we police our own. Such behavior can't be tolerated. The analogy of comparing medical abuse to abuse of young boys by the Catholic Church is a specious one. Believe me if medical sexual impropriety were as widespread as by the priests of the church you would have heard all about it in the media. Why may I ask are you so hostile to the medical field? Did you have personal experience of this? Your profile says you are in your twenties. Did you have a family member or friend suffer such abuse since you weren't there then? Please elaborate or I suggest that your views are the product of a paranoid personality disorder.

I think your actions against your own are commendable. I do believe sexual behavior exists and always will within the Medical Profession.The comparison of Doctors to Priests is balanced I feel but the Doctors have yet to be exposed in the numbers that the Catholic Clergy have been exposed. I do have friends in the Medical Field that agree with me and have told me certain fields of practice do attract certain types of individuals, its just real world. One Doctor told me the inner thoughts can always be there but are seldom acted upon. No, I have no paranoia about Doctors however Doctors have made suggestive verbal and non verbal actions toward me during routine physical examinations. One Doctor called me at home three days after my office exam and wanted to come over to see my McIntosh Stereo System we discussed during my appointment. I have had other routine physical exams where I was over examined, one being at a Pediatricians Office at 14 and another being a New Hire Company Physical at 22. Yes things do happen and I am not at all paranoid, in fact as time passes I think of it as a compliment to having a nice body and personality though at the time it seemed overwhelming. I do think certain individuals experiences are never the same as some one else and I don't have to fantasize because I know what happened and I am not paranoid of Doctors.

I'm sorry that happened to you. For a doctor to visit you at home after a single office visit seems most inappropriate to me. It sounds as if you have had a run of bad behavior from doctors. I and my colleagues would never dream of such behavior. Yes such behavior does exist but those who practice such behavior are risking all to do it. It's time to find a new one!

Although I never had to strip completely for the examination itself, my trousers and pants had to come down before bending over the receptionist's lap for the dread injection(s) in my bottom (penicillin when I was ill and booster shots when I wasn't). It was what I feared most from the moment I knew I had to go the the doctor and throughout the examination.

Physical said

. . . . One Doctor called me at home three days after my office exam and wanted to come over to see my McIntosh Stereo System we discussed during my appointment. . . .

Maybe he was interested in your stereo system and was looking to make a purchase soon. I don't think that's unusual at all. He was making a bit of a social visit--nothing sexual at all.

My husband's physician has come over to see his Burmester system, Transrotor and Vivaldi stack. He stayed for about four hours as they listened and drank scotch!

I was always told to take everything off but my panties (that included my bra when I was older) and always given a gown.

Is it even the standard nowadays to have to undress for a physical exam at the pediatrician's office or for a sports physical?

I was almost always stripped bare from about 14-18 ish by my female pediatrician. I do not think the exam was inappropriate, just detailed.

It seems like a doctor/pediatrician who really cares for you and does a through exam would now be looked at as a pervert?

This was a very funny happening. I was in a Ped's private office discussing antibiotics with him. A totally nude one year old girl came running into the office with her finger stuck in her mouth grinning. The Doc glanced at her and kept talking (like nothing had happened). A frantic mom came rushing in and scooped up the toddler with an embarrassed look on her face. I assumed that similar things happened regularly. The Ped. ignored it, but I was a little surprised. She was a very cute little tyke with no concern about nudity. My train of thought about comparative antibiotics was a little shaken, but the Doc wasn't phased in the least.

It was usually to my underwear while I was a teenager. I always had a genital exam but no prostate exam until I hit 40. I never wore a gown until I hit my 20s in the late 80s or early 90s. Hell, now my primary care physician doesn't have me undress at all. No genital exam, no prostate exam---heart lungs and blood work--that's it.

Usually just in underwear for the most part, many years ago!