Patient privacy at the clinic

I was originally going to post this in the thread about praising doctors... but honestly, I figured it belonged here instead.

So, my doctor doesn't bother pulling her office blinds all the way down. It means anyone hanging out in the parking lot can see pretty much everything happening inside, especially when it’s dark out and the lights are on.
It’s just great—she’ll be like, "Okay, strip down to your waist," and suddenly half of Prečki is staring through the glass... 😲

I'm posting this under women's health because when we have to undress from the waist up, there's nothing blocking that window. Meanwhile, if the guys have to strip down from the waist down, nobody sees a thing... talk about a privacy gap.

I'm actually taking this quite seriously, but I'm stuck on what to even do about it.

☕

Carol Wilson14 said:I take this very seriously, but I honestly don't know what to do about it.

I’ve dealt with this awkwardness more times than I care to admit—both at private practices and with government-run facilities. Regardless of gender or the specific type of exam, patients have a right to privacy, yet many doctors—and those managing the clinics—seem to act as if it doesn't matter. That is a plain fact, and frankly, it really ought to change.

Not long ago, I was caught off guard in a place where I least expected it: the new maternity ward at the hospital in Phoenix. I was called into one of those small exam rooms by my gynecologist—who happened to be on call—and it turns out that anyone can just knock and swing the door open whenever they feel like it. They can walk right in and start questioning the doctor while the exam chair is positioned directly opposite the door, with a patient fully exposed. He opened the door to let me in first, only for me to find another woman already lying there mid-exam. And then, while we were waiting, ten different people just knocked like that.

Then there is the situation with Emergency Services and the local Community Health Center in my town. Everything is visible, even through the blinds. My biggest grievance is when I have to undress so a doctor can use a stethoscope, only to realize that right outside the window is a public park where people are smoking and a large waiting area—it’s quite the theatrical performance, except there's no curtain to hide behind 😠 !!!

I once took a friend to an appointment where she literally felt like she was being watched through glass. Of course, they had to undress her, but there was a massive crowd of people standing right outside the window waiting for their own loved ones.

So, yeah... that's about how much privacy we get. 🤮

Why isn't anyone asking for privacy?

It strikes me that certain doctors simply never give the matter a second thought. When I first walked into my current OBGYN’s office, his exam chair was positioned in such a way that everyone in the parking lot had a front-row seat to the entire procedure—especially once those bright lights were turned on... I absolutely refused to sit down until we had drawn the curtains (he hadn't even realized they needed to be closed, so we actually had to call over a nurse from the neighboring clinic, which was quite the spectacle), and the doctor apologized profusely, admitting he hadn't even considered the lack of screening. Since that day, those curtains have remained permanently drawn.

You really just have to speak up, because you are entitled to it; it truly seems to me that this is more a case of sheer oversight rather than any malicious intent.