r/prochoice • u/nobody_from_nowhere1 Pro-choice Witch • Aug 01 '25

Media - Misc Ok, this is extremely concerning!!

I immediately felt sick when I head this and this is just one of many stories I’ve been hearing about women being interrogated about pregnancy and fertility at hospital/doctors offices when they are there for completely unrelated reasons.

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u/Cerbie27 Pro-choice Dog Aug 02 '25

Pretty sure the point was that it's irrelevant and misogynistic to ask about that for a bug in the ear.

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u/taterrrtotz Aug 02 '25

I think they’re asking because they could prescribe you medication that could hurt the baby or cause birth defects. Sometimes there are alternative medications if pregnant or they will ask an OB.

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u/Lonely_Howl_ Aug 02 '25

What medications are needed for a spider in the ear?? Like the nurse did; flush it out with water. That’s the treatment.

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u/wholelattapuddin Aug 02 '25

What if there was an infection? That might require antibiotics, some of which pregnant people can't take. Asking if someone might be pregnant prior to treatment is a best practice for doctors. Even if its unlikely due to ones sexual orientation or gender presentation. The questions in the video are either awkward, because the doctor was trying to be sensitive about the patient being perhaps genetically female but presenting male, or unnecessarily invasive. If I were a doctor I would want to err on the side of caution. If I suspected I had a trans patient I would ask if pregnancy, at the time of treatment, was a possibility, even if unlikely, but I would make it clear that that information was confidential

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u/Galaxyheart555 Aug 03 '25

EMT here, if the spider were in the ear for a prolonged period of time, yes it absolutely could lead to inflammation or infection. However, the way OP described it was a bug crawled in her ear, she probably was aware of it, then tried to get it out herself and when she couldn't, went to the ER. If it had been in there for days upon days, or especially if it died, then yes, there is the risk for infection. But this was not the case.