"Painful biopsy"

Today I went to Darent Valley Hospital in Kent, referred by GP under the 2 week referral period as I had had vaginal bleeding. I was examined internally by a Senior Registrar who was very thorough but gentle and I didn’t experience any pain, only slight discomfort when a scope was inserted.   The Registrar needed confirmation after a very thorough examination, and the Consultant was asked to come.

I felt immediately when they appeared that they were perhaps under pressure and annoyed at having to attend. Their manner was very abrupt. They told me that they would have to do a biopsy and take a small amount of tissue from the cervix.   They told me that it would be a little painful but would not last for long. I was not asked to sign a form to give permission for this procedure. I was not offered pain relief of any kind. The experience of the removal of tissue from such a sensitive internal area was no less than agony. I screamed during the biopsy, I have never felt pain like it although I have given birth twice, the pain was worse than that. My scream sounded unearthly to me, like an animal in terrible pain. Part of my inside was being cut without any anaesthetic.

I am 73 years old. I was not told how to take care, I. e. not to lift things etc afterwards. I found that out from a web site. I haven’t cried for years, but I cried when waiting for my husband to collect me from the hospital. The consultant in my view showed no duty of care in the way they treated me, no consideration in failing to offer a local anaesthetic. I felt I had endured an assault.