Uterus sonogram without consent: I need advice

[amanda99266.livejournal.com]

Hi, 

when I took a sonogram for digestive problems, I ended up getting my womb checked, I felt it was wrong but also confused and embarrased so I didn"t say anything.

What do you think?

Last year I took a sonogram for digestive problems (liver and gall bladder), a woman performed it on my upper abdomen, told me she was also looking at  my kidneys, I was fine with that, exam done.

This year I took the same exam with a different person: an older man, very efficient, the exam was done in a couple of minutes, he was moving the transducer around and taking pictures really fast. 

I told him I had gall bladder problems, he did the area, then my kidneys,  and lastly he said "problems with reproductive organs?..." and before I could answer, slid the "mouse" from my stomach to my uterus  and looked for a couple of seconds.

It happened so fast, I didn't say anything because I was asking myself  " is this normal?  should I be okay with that?" but I was really uncomfortable and I keep thinking about it.

My first question: is it normal practice when getting a sonogram to have more organs checked than what is prescribed?

My second question: how would you tell the person  that this is not okay with you and ask them to stop?

Comments

[holeinfoot.livejournal.com]

I guess the moral here is to ask exactly what they are going to do before you let them near you. This is a tactic that has worked really well for me in the past - although it has upset some consultants when I disagreed with what he thought he was going to do and walked out. Ultimately it's your body.

Now, I once had an ultrasound of my bladder and the woman was commenting on my ovaries (a follicle was rupturing so it was kind of nice to know that everything was working the way it should). I guess technically she maybe shouldn't have been looking but to be honest, it really didn't bother me. If she'd tried to do a pelvic exam or an internal scan then I would have had an issue but if someone wants a quick squint at my reproductive organs with an ultrasound I don't have a problem with it.

The issue here is finding out your comfort level. You now know that you are uncomfortable with unnecessary womb-scanning so, if you're ever in the situation where it might happen again, you make sure it doesn't happen. If there's a good reason for it happening then the doc/technician can discuss it with you then.

I personally don't let dentists go near my mouth without knowing exactly what they are planning and why. Last time I was there, the dentist defended his treatment decision by showing me my XRay and explaining what it meant. In general, health professionals (and car mechanics) like you taking an interest and are more than happy to show you what's going on and discuss it.

[holeinfoot.livejournal.com]

And also, if he was only looking at your gall bladder/liver then he shouldn't have been near your kidneys. It sounds like he was doing a general abdominal (all quadrants) exam.