Skip to content
Sign in

Consent, examinations, and what you can ask for

A chaperone, a woman clinician, a smaller speculum, a different day — all ordinary requests.

Lesson 2 of 4

12 min Text

What this lesson says

  • An examination requires your agreement and you can decline, defer, or stop it once started
  • Professional guidance says an intimate examination needs an explanation, consent, privacy and the offer of a chaperone
  • A chaperone is a member of staff; a companion is someone you bring — they are separate requests
  • Ask for a woman clinician when you book, not when you arrive
  • A gynaecological examination does not establish anything about your history

This is general education. It is not advice about your own situation, and it does not replace seeing a clinician.

Written lesson.
  1. 1. An examination needs your agreement. You can decline it, ask what it is for before deciding, ask for it at a later appointment, and ask the clinician to stop at any point once it has started. Declining does not end the consultation — she will tell you what cannot be assessed without it, and you decide from there.
  2. 2. Professional guidance on intimate examinations is consistent: an explanation of what it involves and why, the patient's agreement, privacy to undress, and the offer of a chaperone. Asking for any of those is asking for the standard, not for a favour.
  3. 3. A chaperone and a companion are different people. A chaperone is a member of staff present during the examination; a companion is somebody you brought. You can ask for either or both, and you can ask for a chaperone whatever the clinician's sex. Ask when you book as well as on the day, because finding a free member of staff in a busy department takes minutes.
  4. 4. You can also ask the opposite: for whoever came with you to wait outside for part of the visit. Telling the clinician at the start that you would like a few minutes alone is an ordinary request and the simplest control you have over what your family hears.
  5. 5. If you would rather be seen by a woman, ask when you book — and ask whether she is working at the time you are being offered. A yes to the first and a no to the second is the commonest way this goes wrong.
  6. 6. Two things that are worth knowing plainly. A gynaecological examination does not establish whether you have had sex; a clinician may ask, because some causes depend on the answer, but that is a question, not something the examination reveals. And if something in your history makes an examination frightening, you can say so without explaining it: "I find this very difficult, please go slowly and tell me before each step" is enough, and it changes how the examination is done.
  7. 7. Within an examination you can ask for a smaller speculum, more lubricant, to insert it yourself, to pause, or to try again another day. None of these is unusual.

All lessons in this course

  1. 1 What usually happens, and what usually does not 10 min
  2. 2 Consent, examinations, and what you can ask for 12 min Reading now
  3. 3 Saying the difficult thing, in a short appointment 10 min
  4. 4 Afterwards: what you understood, and what you did not 9 min

No lesson is locked. Ticks appear once you have an account, so that what you have read is yours and not this device's.