Does a Higher SES Give You More Respect from Health-Care Professionals?
Question by Abby: Does a Higher SES Give You More Respect from Health-Care Professionals?
I went to PP to get treated for an STD stemming form a sexual assault. I described the assault as follows: “He penetrated me with his finger after masturbating. About one month later, I started noticing small red bumps around my vaginal area.”
I just received a copy of my files and the clinician wrote “He fingered me and I got lumps.”
They quoted me inaccurately at various points in my record. It seems as though they always want to “dumb down” the medical terminology that I use.
I experience this phenomenon frequently when I receive assitance from government funded organizations. It seems as though they assume that everyone coming in there is “poor/ low-class”, therefore they would feel more comfortable using slang terminology. For example, when I explained to the clinician that I was concerned about the possibility of contracting HIV from the assault. She said “You don’t need to worry about that. That would only happen if he had like a bunch of C U M on his finger.”
Does she assume that I am poor, white-trash for going to Planned Parenthood so I would feel more comfortable using the word “***” than using respectful medical terminology?
Would a medical doctor ever use the word C U M around a man that comes into a private practice medical office, wearing a suit and tie? Does your SES afford you more respect from health-care professionals?
What are your thoughts?
Best answer:
Answer by Kristen B
I am a health care professional, and I am appalled at how you were treated. I only use those words after it is established that the client does not know correct terminology. A lot of times, this is the case. So many people have no idea about there own bodies, and some may not even understand how one gets pregnant. The problem: most workers in those clinics (not all, of course) are bottom-of-the barrel, last resort workers. They are less paid than hospital professionals and unfortunately this is the result. I am a nurse, and I have met so many nurses who are unbelievably ignorant. A nurse the other day asked me where the kidneys were. Sorry that you had to deal with those idiots. The person who you dealt with was probably the one who was white trash and it’s possible she didn’t understand the correct terms herself.
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