The Worst Thing a Doctor has Ever Said to Me

The text on a shampoo bottle reminded me of this doctor and I cannot stress enough how angry I am that this ever happened.

Years ago, I was struggling with an endless cycle of yeast and BV infections. If it wasn’t one, it was the other, and only very briefly would I not have either. I basically had weekly visits with my GP and he would do a pap every time to try and figure out what the hell was going on.

I thought he was a pretty good doctor, aside from what I now recognize are some pretty glaringly obvious red flags. He didn’t make me feel like it was all in my head, and did numerous tests to see if we could figure out the issue; he always had M&Ms and offered me some every appointment, eventually telling me that he bought them when he knew I had an appointment; I felt uncomfortable using clinical terms like “breast” or “unprotected sex,” and he would parrot back exactly the terms I used, such as “tits” and “rawdogging”; and on a phone call one afternoon when I didn’t have an appointment scheduled, he said the absolute worst thing anyone had, or has to this day, ever said to me.

He referred to me as, “Drippy”.

I would not accept if an acquaintance or casual friend called me that, I would not accept my best friend calling me that, and I would not accept my boyfriend of 4 years calling me that. But a doctor, a professional, thought it was totally appropriate to call me that in reference to my gynecological issues. What the fuck.

I found out later that he’d lost his license once for inappropriate misconduct with a minor, and had lost his job at the clinic I saw him at shortly after this incident and I reported him anyway because I figured it would make for a stronger case.

(Also, in case anyone else is dealing with something similar, about a year or so after the symptoms started, I found out that the frequent infections were coming from my IUD strings, as after I had it changed the infections immediately stopped and haven’t come back.)