Sexual Abuse Charges

I just watched a news report about the sexual abuse charges being lodged against a doctor who treated the US gymnastics team. The charges don't surprise me, nor does the fact that it has taken a long time for the young women to come forward. I am an old, post-menopausal woman now but even in the last few years I have suffered from unwelcome attention when in a medical setting. 

In Utah, doctors are supposed to have a female attendant if they have a female patient. Most doctors ignore this, or if they pay attention to the law it is in a passing fashion. I recently left my previous dermatologist after a few odd incidents. The last one was when I was sitting on the plinth (you know, the exam table) waiting for an exam of two odd spots on my upper chest. The doctor came over, looked at where my hands are, and then after determining that one hand was sitting over the edge of the plinth, walked up and leaned his entire body against mine. He had already judged where my hand was so he knew that his genitals would be pressed against my hand. I don't doubt that he already knew that the plinth was just the right height for this to occur. I sat there while he was examining my chest trying to decide what to do. I wanted to grab the testicles and squeeze but for all I knew that was his desired response. He had my hand pinned hard enough that simply pulling my hand back would probably have been a thrill for him.

I didn't yell at him, I didn't report him. At the time the assault was so repulsive that I didn't even want to think about it. I did tell my husband as soon as I got home and I did call my primary care doctor and tell her, assuming that the medical community should know. The unfortunate outcome of my encounter was that shortly after that visit, I looked at my chest and realized that I needed the spots looked at again and quickly. So I had to go back to the same man who was quite abusive. "You should have told me about these spots. Now I have to perform surgery." He probably did end up excising the suspicious spots thoroughly but he sure wasn't happy about it. Now I have a two inch scar and a memory of the doctor throwing down his surgical gloves and blaming everything on me. I also have a new dermatologist.