Male Doctor Tells Person With Breast Tumour They Should Reconsider Surgery As ‘Your Future Husband Won’t Like It’

Social media users expressed their anger after hearing a story of a male doctor who told a patient to reconsider having surgery to remove a breast tumour because their ‘future husband wouldn’t like it’. 

TikTok user Paxton, who identifies as non-binary, shared their story in response to another user who asked for examples of the ‘most sexist thing a man has ever said to you’.

18-year-old Paxton recalled an encounter they’d had with their male surgeon after learning they had a tumour in their breast. Paxton didn’t go into detail about the tumour, but indicated that they’d decided to undergo surgery to have it removed.

Check out Paxton’s video below:

The TikToker explained that the doctor was examining their tumour when he told them to ‘reconsider’ having surgery because they had ‘really nice breasts’ and undergoing an operation would leave them scarred.

As if the implication that their breasts would not be ‘nice’ after surgery was not bad enough, the doctor then told Paxton that their ‘future husband wouldn’t like’ them to have scarred breasts.

Viewers were quick to express their outrage at the doctor’s comments after Paxton shared their story, with one writing: ‘What is it about doctors caring more about potential husbands than current patients.’

Another wrote: ‘So that was straight up sexually harassing a minor and he should be in jail and never allowed to practise again.’

In response to the latter comment, Paxton agreed that the doctor’s behaviour did equate to sexual harassment, but said that they decided not to report it at the time because they were ‘just a minor’ and because they were ‘extremely uncomfortable’ and ‘just didn’t know what to do’.

The TikToker went on to say that the doctor was ‘very old’ and they’d heard he was no longer working as a doctor, adding: ‘That’s the upside I guess, he won’t be making any comments like that towards anyone else but who knows how many people he said things like that to during his career.’

TikTokers continued to rally around Paxton as they discussed their decision not to report the doctor, with one saying that they didn’t blame Paxton as harassment is ‘so difficult and traumatising’.

They continued: ‘I hope you can heal from all that and that you are/will be tumor free.’

Paxton went on to say their story was an example of why they ‘don’t f*ck with male doctors’.

If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact Victim Support free on 08 08 16 89 111 available 24/7, every day of the year, including Christmas.