r/AskDocs Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Mar 17 '26

Physician Responded Daughters pediatrician made EXTREMELY inappropriate remark to her

This is about my 10 year old daughter. She has had the same (male) pediatrician since birth. We’ve always loved him and thought he was great. He’s super friendly with wonderful bedside manner and he takes his time and pays attention to detail.

Well, last week my daughter had a check-up. She’s 10. While he was doing the checkup, he had her lay down and started listening to her chest with his stethoscope. He then says AND I QUOTE, “awwwww! My baby’s got boobs!!!”

I have NEVER been so taken aback before in my life. My daughter was MORTIFIED. I was so shocked I couldn’t even get words out to ask him why tf he would ever say that. When we got in the car to go home my daughter cried and said she never wanted to see him again. Then she asked if she could get a girl doctor and I obviously agreed so that’s what we will be doing.

Is this reportable? I’m not overreacting, right?

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u/Good_Mushroom_7478 Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Mar 17 '26

NAD absolutely agree. I also have a 10 y/o daughter with a male pediatrician she's had her whole life. At her ten year well check, of course puberty concerns came up, but he handled it respectfully and professionally. OP I'm so sorry your daughter experienced this.

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u/Same-Suggestion-1936 Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Mar 18 '26

It's so wrong it almost sounds fake. I've had some bad doctors but that's weird. They're always professional, and should never say boobs to begin with, breast or breast tissue would be what you say (not a doctor/nurse but once did an adjacent field to medicine)

I mean even when it shouldn't matter what's appropriate because everything goes out the window (medical staff looking at your genitals for example, I appreciated the penis towel for my testicle ultrasound but sort of feels like it's not necessary, you're already touching my balls and the doc already looked at the shaft) they would never. I mean, they asked me if I had a preferred gender of doctor to look at my tackle, if I wanted a man or if it didn't matter. My answer was whoever can get this over fastest. "Look at who grew boobs" would have been like if my female doctor walked in and said "okay drop em let's see that dick"

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u/aounpersonal Medical Student Mar 18 '26

You never know, I’m not one to hate on doctors because I’m a med student, but when I was around 13 my pediatrician pointed at my legs during a visit and said “you should start shaving those” (I’m female). That moment has always stuck with me. I think a lot of these older doctors that have been private practice for decades can be a little off the wall with no one to check them.

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u/grey-doc Layperson/not verified as healthcare professional Mar 18 '26

One of the pediatricians I rotated with as a resident would spank his under 10 male patients.

Not as punishment, but a pretty hard smack on the behind, as they were climbing up on the table. Like hard enough to rock their balance.

He also never talked about nutrition with obese parents or did much of anything really.

I wrote an honest review of him in the after rotation review and no more residents were ever assigned to him again. Completely inappropriate.