Doctor Unprofessionally Examines Without Consent Upon Seeing A Specific Feature On Patient’s Face

A patient’s routine earwax removal turned awkward when the doctor, after completing the procedure, fixated on their barely visible cleft lip scar from childhood surgeries. She insisted on examining the lip and nose work up close, marveling at the results despite the visit being solely for ears.

When the patient objected and reminded her the appointment had no connection to the old condition, the doctor persisted with requests to look further. The patient finally stood firm, called the behavior dehumanizing, gathered their things, and left the room while the doctor accused them of disrespect.

Redditor firmly stops doctor from examining unrelated cleft lip surgery during earwax appointment.

This ENT’s behavior wasn’t about helping, it was about satisfying her own fascination with a condition that had nothing to do with the appointment. The Redditor gave her multiple chances to back off, yet she persisted, even after being told “no” repeatedly.

What’s striking is how common this experience seems to be for people with visible conditions. Many Redditors shared similar stories of doctors turning routine visits into impromptu lectures on their scars or surgeries, treating patients like living textbooks instead of people.

The key issue here is consent: medical professionals are trained to respect boundaries, yet this doctor ignored them, then flipped the script by accusing the patient of rudeness.

This behavior highlights a broader problem in healthcare: the power imbalance between doctor and patient can make it easy for curiosity to override respect.

Phenomenological research in medicine shows that when providers treat the patient’s body as an object of focus unrelated to the current complaint, it often leads to experiences of objectification, alienation, and reduced agency.

A 2020 paper by Māra Grīnfelde in Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy describes how this dynamic “leads to the objectification of the patient as a disease entity and imparts feelings of alienation and loss of agency on the part of the patient,” which can discourage seeking care.

The American Medical Association’s Code of Medical Ethics reinforces the necessity of consent, stating: “Informed consent to medical treatment is fundamental in both ethics and law.”

This principle makes clear why the Redditor’s firm boundary was appropriate, they were protecting their autonomy against an uninvited examination that had no medical relevance to the appointment.

That statement perfectly captures why the Redditor’s reaction was justified. They weren’t being dramatic, they were enforcing a boundary that should never have been tested.

The good news? Most doctors handle these situations with professionalism, and many patients find that calmly stating their discomfort usually stops the behavior.

But when it doesn’t, walking away or filing a complaint is a perfectly reasonable next step. The Redditor did exactly that, and in doing so, reminded everyone that patients are people first, not case studies.

Here’s what Redditors had to say:

Some people strongly support OP as NTA, emphasizing that consent is essential and the doctor’s persistence was unprofessional and disrespectful.

Some people declare NTA and criticize the doctor’s behavior as dehumanizing, suggesting a formal complaint due to the serious boundary violation.

Some people acknowledge doctors’ curiosity for educational purposes but stress the importance of respectful approach and consent.

Some people declare NTA while expressing empathy for OP’s repeated negative experiences with medical professionals.

Do you think the Redditor was right to walk out, or should they have stayed and given the doctor one more chance to apologize? Have you ever had a medical professional get overly curious about something unrelated to your visit? Drop your thoughts below, we’re all ears.