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A North Canton woman has accused her gynecologist of spraying her internally with the same chemical that is used in drain cleaner.
"I was the victim of a pretty horrific experience at my gynecologist exam," said Laura, who asked that her last name not be used. Laura says she was undergoing what was supposed to be a routine gynecological exam called a colposcopy performed at her doctor's office at Paragon Health in Summit County.
It's not unusual for a doctor to use vinegar when examining a woman's private parts. Laura says her doctor used a spray bottle, much like the type you would use when ironing. According to a lawsuit, Laura says the word "vinegar" was marked on the side. The lawsuit names Paragon Health associate Dr. John Black and other unnamed employees as defendants.
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As it turns out, the solution wasn't diluted vinegar. Laura and her husband Paul say the solution contained the chemical potassium hydroxide, the same chemical that's used in drain cleaner to unclog drains and pipes.
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Black suspected something went terribly wrong, according to the lawsuit. He placed a tiny amount of the solution used on Laura into a cup. Medical records say the doctor "tasted it on the tip of his tongue which immediately started to burn."
Black is accused of saying "I'm breaking all the rules" and proceeding to irrigate the burn area with three bottles of saline solution. He also applied a cream inside her to numb the pain.
But there was another problem. The couple says the doctor wasn't wearing gloves.
"He puts an ungloved dirty finger inside her and rubs a numbing cream inside her. It's disgusting," Paul said.
Laura says she wasn't sure what was happening when the doctor told her "I hope you're not offended. I just want to let you know I've been married forever, and I don't have any diseases."
In a vacuum, I can give the doctor a little bit of a pass for bypassing gloves in a sense of urgency to soothe the pain. But adding in the rather creepy-sounding "I don't have any diseases" rather changes the dynamics of this to me. That's going from "I'm sorry about the pain but I'm trying to stop it as soon as possible" to "I'm going to feel around inside of you in a not very medical fashion and without gloves on." Of course, that's one side of the story, so those words and in that context is taken with a whole can of Morton's, but still....
And then there's the whole great big pile of how in the flaming FUCK did someone put pH 12 drain cleaner in a bottle labeled "vinegar?" That's just beyond weird. It's hard to see how that was an accident. Something funky is going on at this hospital.
I do think Paul is overreacting a little bit regarding the gloves thing, though:
"He puts an ungloved dirty finger inside her and rubs a numbing cream inside her. It's disgusting," Paul said.
Paul, dood, doctors wash their hands with some heavy-duty anti-bacterial soap like 986 times a day. His finger was not nearly so dirty as your wee-wee was when you stuck it inside your wife and got her pregnant. Get over it. It's entirely possible that sticking his fingers inside your wife was wrong and a form of sexual assault, but "dirty" isn't a problem here.