Disclosure of pateint confidentiality

Cooper18

miss_independent wrote: »

Try the shelf next to your copy of The Female Eunuch lol. In all seriousness, now that I'm older I don't mind being asked to take a pregnancy test or "any chance you might be pregnant?". As a teenager, being treated really rudely and judgementally by a member of the NHS staff who actually said the words, "I think there is a good chance you are pregnant" AFTER me telling her I was not sexually active, I objected.

It is absolutely a matter or tact, and ABOVE all sensitivity for someone's confidentiality.

I have lost count of the number of times I have felt judged about my sexual activity by nurses, pharmacists and doctors from age 12 onwards. And I'm not a prude and I'm not ignorant as to why certain questions are asked but there is a way of asking them. And much care should be taken as to how public the setting is.

I'm sorry you have been treated like this, and made to feel that way. That shouldn't happen. It is not my place to judge anyone, it is my role to ensure that pregnancy is ruled out if necessary. In my department this happens in a private room, where the patient can be spoken to on her own. Preferably no mums and dads in the room, no partners. If the patient wants them there, fine - but in my experience a 14 year old will not be honest in front of mum....And have had a woman claim not to be sexually active in front of her husband only to turn out to be pregnant by someone else! That was a LONG day!

If necessary I can explain what standard is required, answer any questions the patient has. And generally these ladies are phoned before they attend so we can let them know they will be asked those questions, and have a test done. Better that than spring it on them!

LittleMax

skintchick wrote: »

That timescale doesn't ring true, sorry.

My experience of being pregnant (six pregnancies so far) is that you get a positive test around week 5/6. You call the Gp surgery and they won't book you for a booking in till 9 weeks in most areas.

You can;t book a scan till the hospital has your notes. They get these from the MW, who fills them in at your booking in.

I cannot see how your DD has a scan booked if she only got a positive test 3 days ago. If her scan is for 4 weeks' time that would make her around 8 weeks now.

Even if she had had a booking in, I can't see she's had time to get a positive test, phone the GP, book a MW appointment, get the notes to the hospital (which round here takes a full week), and then get a letter about a scan, whcih in itself would take a few days to process.

Sorry but I think she's known about this longer than she's telling you.

That is all your speculation and irrelevant to the question posed which was about making a complaint about the breach of confidentiality.

pigpen

skintchick wrote: »

That timescale doesn't ring true, sorry.

My experience of being pregnant (six pregnancies so far) is that you get a positive test around week 5/6. You call the Gp surgery and they won't book you for a booking in till 9 weeks in most areas.

You can;t book a scan till the hospital has your notes. They get these from the MW, who fills them in at your booking in.

I cannot see how your DD has a scan booked if she only got a positive test 3 days ago. If her scan is for 4 weeks' time that would make her around 8 weeks now.

Even if she had had a booking in, I can't see she's had time to get a positive test, phone the GP, book a MW appointment, get the notes to the hospital (which round here takes a full week), and then get a letter about a scan, whcih in itself would take a few days to process.

Sorry but I think she's known about this longer than she's telling you.

I think I was a few weeks late before I was brave enough to do a test with my first so I was probably about 7 or 8 weeks in which case the daughters story does sound right.. it isn't what the post was about though and if mum is choosing to believe and support her daughter I don't think anything else matters one jot.

miss_independent

Maybe BPAS where able to pull strings and get things pushed through quicker given OP's daughter's age, and (speculation here) the possiblity she was considering abortion?

This is assuming that she sought advice from BPAS straight away after discovering she was pregnant and before the letter arrived.

LittleMax

Cooper18 wrote: »

I'm sorry you have been treated like this, and made to feel that way. That shouldn't happen. It is not my place to judge anyone, it is my role to ensure that pregnancy is ruled out if necessary. In my department this happens in a private room, where the patient can be spoken to on her own. Preferably no mums and dads in the room, no partners. If the patient wants them there, fine - but in my experience a 14 year old will not be honest in front of mum....And have had a woman claim not to be sexually active in front of her husband only to turn out to be pregnant by someone else! That was a LONG day!

If necessary I can explain what standard is required, answer any questions the patient has. And generally these ladies are phoned before they attend so we can let them know they will be asked those questions, and have a test done. Better that than spring it on them!

I was hospitalised at 16 with severe stomach cramps and doctors were very careful to remove my Mum from the room before asking me when I last had sex. I answered, "I haven't" and can still picture the looks of incredulity on their faces as they exclaimed, "what never?" :eek: like I was some kind of a freak for being a 16 year old virgin. That was well over 20 years ago ... I'm sure they'd be even more convinced nowadays that I was lying. They would have done a pregnancy test anyway - so why make such a big deal out of the questioning?

Cooper18

LittleMax wrote: »

I was hospitalised at 16 with severe stomach cramps and doctors were very careful to remove my Mum from the room before asking me when I last had sex. I answered, "I haven't" and can still picture the looks of incredulity on their faces as they exclaimed, "what never?" :eek: like I was some kind of a freak for being a 16 year old virgin. That was well over 20 years ago ... I'm sure they'd be even more convinced nowadays that I was lying. They would have done a pregnancy test anyway - so why make such a big deal out of the questioning?

It's easier to ask the question then get into an explanation of the need for a test, plus I must (legally) ask it. I thought developing a poker face was lesson one when joining the NHS - don't looked shocked, horrified, skeptical etc etc at anything, be professional at all times. Seems some folks missed that lesson.

mountainofdebt

Well my first thought is, given this sounds like a standard appointment letter, that the daughter's dob has triggered a standard addressee format of sending the letter to the parents or guardian of... rather than this being a stupid error made by a person.

Of course the daughter needs to be the one to make the compliant....

Cooper18

mountainofdebt wrote: »

Well my first thought is, given this sounds like a standard appointment letter, that the daughter's dob has triggered a standard addressee format of sending the letter to the parents or guardian of... rather than this being a stupid error made by a person.

Of course the daughter needs to be the one to make the compliant....

Our system automatically addresses the letter to the patient - regardless of their age. To be honest we'd send it out to a 14 year old asking for confirmation of receipt (ring us) and if they want mum or dad to phone on their behalf then fine. I wouldn't send a letter to a 16 year old addressed to their parent unless I knew beforehand they weren't Gillick competent.

securityguy

skintchick wrote: »

Sorry but I think she's known about this longer than she's telling you.

So what? When she tells people that she's pregnant is entirely her decision. That's not a justification for the NHS to tell her mother for her.

SingleSue

Torry_Quine wrote: »

It should be standard before surgery that a pregnancy test is done on any woman of child-bearing age.

It would be a complete waste of time and money on me....I had a hysterectomy at age 31!**

**They obviously don't always read the notes, I still get asked if I could be pregnant.