TeenHealthFX - Answers - Doctor Allowed To Look At My Private Area?

Visiting The Doctor / Question
Published: January 26, 2004

Dear TeenHealthFX,

I have this problem. When I was 11, I went to the doctor, lets call him Dr. Q, so Dr. Q told me to take off my pants and underwear, usually it was just pants and change into one of those doctors-robes type things. I was wondering why underwear, but he's a doctor he must know something. So I do that, and then he comes back in, checks my ears, and all of that normal stuff, then he tells me to lie down with my knees up, I did so, he told me to open up my legs. By then I was a bit hesitant, but I did so, and he look at my private area and then said something was ok. Was he allowed to do that? I was joking around with some of my friends, and we were talking about how much we hate it when doctors do that, and all my friends were like "wouldn't it be so weird if the doctor was a guy?" Now I want to ask them if its legal, but I'm afraid to be embarrassed. If you can please answer quickly, I'm getting a bit weirded out.

Signed: Doctor Allowed To Look At My Private Area?

Dear Doctor Allowed To Look At My Private Area?,

From what you have written, TeenHealthFX does not have enough information to say if what your doctor did was okay or not. Here are some questions to ask yourself and your parents (because we are assuming that one of them took you to the doctor):

What was the reason for the exam? Was it a general physical or was there a complaint about something specific in your genital region that would make an exam relevant?
Was the doctor respectful of you? This means, did he ask your permission to examine you? If he touched you, did he do this in a matter of fact way?

Talk to your parents about the doctor's visit (you can show them what you wrote to us to get the conversation started). Asking yourself and your parents will help you to clarify what happened and decide what, if anything, you should do.

In the future when you visit the doctor, you can request that a nurse be present in the room when your doctor examines you. Many doctors do this automatically when they are examining breasts or the genital area.

Signed: TeenHealthFX