Woman Felt Physically Ill After Unprofessional Appointment With Ultrasound Tech
Pregnancy is an incredibly vulnerable time. In addition to all of the physical changes happening in your body, there are the emotional and psychological challenges that come along with worrying about the child you’ve been tasked with caring for both inside and outside of the womb.
For that reason, it shouldn’t be too much to request that people talk to you nicely, especially the people who are responsible for your medical care. Sadly, that is not always the case. And it certainly wasn’t for a woman who recently wrote about her terrible experience with an ultrasound technician on Reddit.
The appointment was so bad that the mother-to-be left the appointment feeling physically ill.
The technician reminded this expectant mother that there could be "lots of things wrong" with her baby.
In the post on Reddit’s BabyBumps forum, the original poster wrote about her 20-week ultrasound. During this appointment, the technician checks for abnormalities in the fetus. The appointment, which happened about a month ago, was the second one for OP, who had been pregnant and had a child before. While her first experience was lovely, this one was anything but.
From the outset, the appointment seemed "off." The technician started by asking OP and her husband what they were expecting out of the appointment. When they told her they were hoping to learn whether or not they had a healthy baby, the technician said, “seeing on the ultrasound that everything checks the box will not mean you'll get a healthy baby, there could still be lots of things wrong.”
OP wrote that while she understands this is technically true, it’s not something she wanted to hear when she was already uneasy about what the ultrasound might reveal.
The tech told the woman she could still have an abortion.
As if that weren’t bad enough, the technician told OP and her husband that the baby she was carrying was technically still a fetus. And she could still have an abortion up until week 24.
“In the meantime my stress level is getting high,” wrote OP. “Who says that to a woman who is hoping for a baby and stressing because everyone around me had something wrong (miscarriages and one stillbirth because of birth defects that were detected on the 20wk ultrasound)?”
The woman said her partner attempted to redirect the conversation at this point, trying to make her feel better. But the ultrasound tech wasn’t done yet. As she placed the gel on the woman’s belly, she started sharing other information about patients she’d seen earlier in the day.
"Well, I hope you'll be the first good ultrasound of today! I only had bad ones today... But well, the last lady was 120kgs so yeah..." (rolls her eyes, and I think she is implying that it is the woman's fault for having a baby with a abnormality/defect??)”
OP threw up after she left the appointment.
Thankfully, OP's ultrasound was fine. But afterward, once she’d made it home, the stress of the experience hit her. She started vomiting — something she hadn’t done since week 16. She ended the post saying she will probably report this technician’s behavior to her midwife, who knows the tech.
Fellow Reddit users encouraged her to do so. They deemed this woman's behavior not only disturbing, but also extremely unprofessional, considering she spoke about the medical information of other patients.
“WTF,” another Reddit user wrote. “I would have a panic attack because of the way she acted. Definitely report her, there is absolutely no room for ultrasound techs who don't have the common sense to tread lightly and speak carefully.”
Other users played devil's advocate.
Some commenters offered excuses for why the technician may have spoken the way she did. Some suggested that she might have mentioned abortion because she still wanted to let this woman know that it was an option if she were considering it.
Another suggested that in speaking about the previous patient’s weight, she might not have been blaming her for the fetus’ abnormalities, but saying that the images were difficult to procure because the patient was overweight.
Discussing a patient’s weight — especially with an eye roll — is inappropriate, no matter what she might have meant by it.
"I was wondering if I was just too hormonal," OP wrote.
After more than 300 users commented, many echoing her sentiments, OP came back to thank the Reddit community.
“Edit: thanks for the reactions!” she wrote. “I was wondering if I was just too hormonal or something, but I'll definitely say something Monday to the midwife and make a formal complaint with her.”
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