I went to the doctor's office for a checkup. This is the waiting room, typical for this part of Paris except that it was just renovated. There are cherubs in the cut-out above the fireplace. This was probably once someone's living room.
My doctor is a friend of mine and gave me a gown to wear when I took off my clothes. The first time I went to a doctor in France was a big shock. The doctor's office looked like an elegant private library in someone's house, and the doctor told me to take off my clothes. I looked around for a place to change, or a gown to put on, but there was nothing. You were supposed to strip in front of the doctor and then sit there naked answering questions about your medical history, comme si de rien n'était. The doctor laughed at me. "Here in France, we are not afraid of women's bodies!" he said.
I'm discovering your blog and I like it very much! :)
About the french doctors, I think the difference is the French have a "médecin de famille" who knows his patients well, though in Québec (where I have been living for many years), you don't meet the same person each time.
It's easier to get naked in front of "a family's friend", maybe? :)
Posted by: Olivier | 18 October 2005 at 18:31
I once had a very nice and sensitive Jewish Doctor in Midtown Manhattan who let me keep my t shirt on whilst examining me and he never stared at me during my required medical exam for visiting China. I think we both felt that I should have found a female doctor as a matter of gender privacy.
Did you know that the Jewish religion actually teaches against using your eyes to invade a person's privacy? What lovely refinement.
Posted by: Cleo | 29 March 2012 at 19:04