Exams in France

You often read that in America it is rare that adults-and even kids nowadays but not for me over 15 years ago-usually get gowns, especially women. that in other countries such as france that is not the case. one young woman in france wrote that she is examined in panties only there. I get turned on whenever I see a young woman from france picturing them in a doctors office, especially if they have to be naked laying face down on a paper covered table like I had to do. are there any women on here from france who can comment about this?

I'm not a female, but from what I hear from my wife and from what I also personally know from other adjacent countries as well (Belgium, Spain) you had better consign this to the realm of fantasy. In France and Western Europe for that matter, everyone experiences constraints of time and that includes doctors ... there is really no time for undressing and dressing in most doctor's offices. Time is the universal currency. And this applies to doctors working alone, in group or at a hospital/clinic.

Doctors are just as aware that potential complaints about improprieties can have serious consequences ...

The naked exam thing is mainly fantasy. Great and fun fantasy, but don't expect to step into a doctors office in France and be told to undress. True, you won't get a gown - that's something of an American affectation nowadays, but most examining will be done with the utmost parsimony in regards to undressing.

In fact, from all the accounts and true stories and memoirs posted here on zity, I sometimes get the impression that it's the US in previous times that was champion in getting people out of their clothes at the doctors. But maybe that is a 'greener-on-the-other-side-of-the-fence' thing ...

For the first time ever, I beg to differ Aglacier.

I went to boarding school in France, and found that rarely did the French doctors offer a gown, so if the exam warranted the removal of clothes, some of my exams were done in the nude or in just panties as the store says.

Personally I cannot understand why people want a gown. Most dr's only get you to remove as much clothing as the exam requires, and if they are giving you a complete physical they are going to see all of you anyway, just a bit at a time.

Essentially we're saying the same thing. No gowns in the European countries that I know about and doctors - out of constraints of time - will only have you undress to the degree necessary for them to ascertain whatever they are looking for. There will be no unnecessary undressing.

Your qualifier - if the exam warranted the removal of clothes - will certainly be correct, only the thing is, very few types of exams warrant the removal of all clothes. I've been here for over 50 years and aside from a serious operation (at which I obviously was not conscious and therefore have no recollection of, only knowledge of the procedure), I have never been required to undress completely for a doctor. Even when having a testicular ultrasound done, I was only told to remove pants and briefs, nothing else. In all other cases, I've never been required to undress.

I can't say much about boarding schools though, luckily to my great relief never having been to one. Perhaps out of expediency or not caring much about their pupils notions of propriety or dignity, boarding schools take a simplified attitude towards undressing. But then again, my wife was in a boarding school in Belgium in the late 1950s for several unhappy years, and she has recounted countless times how the female pupils were not even allowed to undress for washing. They had to wash themselves while wearing nightdresses, soap themselves, rinse themselves and go to bed in wet clothes, all for religious, prudish reasons.

And for my wife as well, she recently went to a dermatologist and here too, she was not required to undress, even though she was expecting it. Before the exam, the dermatologist, a female doc, 'reassured' my wife that she wouldn't be required to undress completely. We both thought it quite silly and needlessly prudish, but there it was. The doc didn't have my wife undress. Nor was I allowed to accompany her either, even though my wife requested so.

And one exception might be school exams. Though once again, the school I went to did not conduct exams undressed. Though I have read about school exams conducted differently in other countries, like the Netherlands.

I agree Aglacier.

I found boarding school like marmite and the military if you loved it, it was the greatest time of your life, and if you hated it, boy you made yourself hell. Both at boarding school and the military you lost all your dignity and you became someone else s property to do with what they want. Privacy went totally out of the window when you live and all have to shower together. Our showers were often monitored by the teachers, and even though I am a committed nudist, I still hate being naked in front of a clothed authoritarian figure.

When I lived in Europe, whilst I was not always nude, during my bi-annual physical, that was the state of undress that I was required to be in my case of all the exams.

What have you heard about the Netherlands?

What have you heard about the Netherlands?

I found a large number of short recollections written in Dutch of how school exams were conducted in the Netherlands. These were written mainly by boys who described how the more intimate part of their school exams were conducted, especially genital and foreskin retraction. It seems like checking the foreskin in Dutch schools was a part of the school exam that left a lasting impression.

These were in Dutch and written in the form of short blogs or often somewhat longer recollections, but usually not more than 1 or 2 pages in A4.

I've also some 100+ descriptions of medical school exams done in Belgium, again mostly to boys. These come from a now defunct Belgian medfet site.

Generally the accounts are more or less similar. Apprehension at the upcoming exam, undressing down to underpants, exam, removal of underwear, genital exam, retraction of foreskin, relief it's over (😃 ) - every now and then there are slight variations, say with 2 or 3 pupils examined at once, inadvertent orgasming, embarrassment tempered by arousal. Most usually describe friendly understanding doctors, male or female.

Personally I've never had any medical experience at all in the Netherlands. All I know is that for the national medical insurance in the Netherlands, you have to register with a physician that is assigned to a geographical region. There is no choice in the matter if you wish to benefit from national med insurance reimbursements. Which is unlike Belgium where you can go to any doctor throughout the whole country and still pay the same low, reimbursed rates. That's why Belgians tend to shiver in horror at the Dutch system and curl their lips in distaste ... no free choice of doctor in the Netherlands.

My wife was once scheduled for a then new procedure that was not yet done in Belgium. She was referred to a hospital in Maastricht, in the Netherlands, but found it to be extremely unsatisfactory an experience. Not only was there an administrative mix-up due to differences in how Belgium and the Netherlands register a wife's name, but she said the nurses were cold and condescending, seemingly bored with their work and the patients and patients themselves were expected to be eternally grateful and were moreover treated as if they were back in kindergarten, with everything being highly regimented with often silly, strictly enforced rules. This was especially galling to her as she was a medical professional herself.

That said, there is something especially arousing about the IDEA of Dutch medical personnel though. Probably in the same way that German doctors play to the imagination by being imagined as strict, cold, distant and commanding. And the Dutch also have a specific manner of talking, an accent and choice of vocabulary, that reinforces these last traits.

All my exams in France: the doctor will have you remove only the relevant clothing, unless this is a general "physical" (e.g. for work) where you end up in underwear (socks, briefs; I suspect women keep their bras). There are no gowns unless you are in hospital.

Most French physicians are self-employed so they have no nurse or other staff, and no time to waste.

I've seen mentions of women being examined in the total nude by gynecologists. I'll ask my wife.

I have only been to 3 doctors outside of hospital since moving over here but here is my experiences.

The first one I went to was when I was 15. When I was told to undress I striped to my underwear, but got told to remove everything before having to sit by the doctor on a plastic chair with a paper towel on the seat. My second doctor was pretty much the same except by then I knew the procedure. Enter the room, greet the dr and nurse and then completely strip off, no matter what you had wrong with you and then go and sit by him. The second doctor had a very hands on nurse that always liked to help me dress and undress. The third one was slightly different in that you went into the reception and told the woman behind the desk whom you were and then you entered a small ante room where you undressed, put you clothes on the back of an horrible wooden seat and sat down. When the other patient came out and started to dress, the doctor would come out and invite you in.

Mellow: Where in France do you live? I've never seen a doctor employing a nurse in France - at best, and not always (very seldom for general practitioners, more commonly for surgeons), they employ a receptionist/secretary.

As I stated I do not have a vast experience of the French medical system, and naturally being French you have more experience.

I guess that my companies medial insurance pays enough to send us to an up market doctor.

Sorry Pecan, but I have to agree with Mellow. It is all to do with the apartheid world we live in. I have worked across the world but have settled down in Europe and I have found that as a foreigner, the health care that I get is substantially far better than my colleagues that were born here because to get me to stay here, my company pays greater medical premiums.

Whilst the doctors medical knowledge is I am sure the same, it is the level of facilities that is so different. When I go and see my physician, the greeter who is nothing to do with the receptionist will always ask if I would like tea, coffee or water.

I know what you mean about going from the reception into the "other room" Mellow. When I went for a insurance physical the receptionist said to go in there and get ready. Imagine my surprise to find a woman waiting to be seen by the physician sat totally naked reading a magazine. Taking the hint I undressed and sat beside her and she started talking to be without any embarrassment. A few minutes later the doctor put her head out of her door and the woman got up and walked into his room.

I have worked across the world but have settled down in Europe and I have found that as a foreigner, the health care that I get is substantially far better than my colleagues that were born here because to get me to stay here, my company pays greater medical premiums.

Which country are you talking about? I have experience in Belgium, France and Spain. From what I know, the better VIP care is not so much a question of paying higher insurance premiums since the government run health care systems ask the same premiums from everyone in the same categories across the board. By the same categories I mean that invalids or senior citizens fall into different categories and pay less premiums per year. But they are still treated the same.

But in all three countries there are also privately run practices and clinics that operate outside the national health care systems. When you avail yourself of their services, you naturally pay whatever they ask - and it can be quite hefty - but I doubt they adhere to any kind of medical insurance plan. And if they by chance did, it would be a private medical insurance - outside of the normal health insurance system, to which everyone is obligated to contribute in any case, whether they go to high priced private doctors or not.

→ Agracier → perfect description of the "system"

Whats the best way to get an exam in Europe if you are an American? Are there places you can pay for a physical?

GeitherT: In France, the most common procedure is to pay the physician and get reimbursed afterwards; so if you're not covered by local medical insurance, you pay the physician and that's it. The difficulty is rather: a physician may fail to understand why you want a physical there instead of your regular American health services, unless of course you have some symptoms of illness.

Whats the best way to get an exam in Europe if you are an American? Are there places you can pay for a physical?

In Belgium you choose a doctor - from a phone book/internet search or by recommendation or even just by walking around a city - most doctors have signs outside on the buildings with office hours and if applicable their specialism if they are not GPs. You either go during visiting hours or make an appointment, then pay the doctor in full. If you aren't eligible for reimbursement, then that is all there is to it. Normal consults are now 25 euros for a GP, but I would surmise that a full exam would probably be more expensive since it would take longer than a normal 'I am ill' consult.

However I would suggest that in Belgium you inform the doctor about wanting a physical exam, preventive. Yearly physicals are not the custom here. People normally only come to a doctor when ill or if following a protocol of procedures. A check-up to be on the safe side is not the norm here.

In Spain, if you wish to avail yourself of the national health service, you would need a proof of being insured in your country of residence. This document you then present to a local dispensary where they will then enroll you as being eligible for free health care. But, as far as I know, in Spain free health care extends to illnesses, diseases, accidents and conditions, not to yearly physical exams - for those you'd have to go to a private practice doctor and pay his asking price - which would still be a pittance compared to US prices. Free health care in Spain by the way, is extended to anyone in Spain, even tourists and travelers, as long as they have proof of med insurance in their own country.

If you are looking for a sort of intimate/sexually tinted exam though, no matter in which country, try and find a good play doctor. Regular docs will probably turn you down in a polite way.

Whats the best way to get an exam in Europe if you are an American? Are there places you can pay for a physical?

In Europe you can make check-ups in specialized centers. I give you an example, in a center in Germany the costs for a check-up are from 1300 € (with sonography) to 3300 € (with full body MRT).

Mellow, are most of your physical exams performed in a hospital?