This is by far the worst experience I've ever had with Planned Parenthood, and pretty much the nail in the coffin for this place. The Burbank center is cramped and overcrowded, true, but the worst of it is when you get behind the magic door. After the standard 3-hour Planned Parenthood wait, I was bullied and patronized by the staff. I came in for antibiotics to treat a UTI. I'm in my early 30s, no stranger to this common phenomenon, but they treated me with smug contemptuousness. I was told to disrobe for a pelvic! When I stated that that was not what I was in for, she squinted her eyes and challenged me, trying to bully me into the procedure. When I said that would be uncomfortable with a UTI for one thing, she replied "HOW would that be uncomfortable?" as if I'm a recalcitrant child trying to weasel out of what's good for me. When I emphatically stated I was NOT going to get on the table for a pelvic, I know how UTIs go and I had peed in their little cup, she challenged me again. How could I be so sure? How do I know (anything about my own body?) She made me explain how I knew it was a UTI. (Because I pretty much always get them when I have sex after a long dry spell. OK, moral watchdog woman at PP Burbank?) Dismissive, rude, moralizing in attitude. This is Planned Parenthood Burbank.
I the end I was given 6 pills and told they may not work and it would take about a week to process my lab results to know what actually would work. If you've ever had a UTI or bladder infection, you know that waiting a week is RIDICULOUS. 2/3 of the way through the pills, the pain has not lessened in the slightest. If you've ever had a UTI, you know that the pain goes away certainly by halfway through the treatment. So it was clear it wasn't working.
I tried calling the center to communicate this and get something different but the number has been disconnected. I had to call the 800 number. Fine. When somene finally came on the line, she was bored and as dismissive of my situation as anyone in the clinic. She interrupted me to give me canned responses, again suggesting that I don't know anything about my own body. When I said (calmly!) that I felt she was being dismissive of me, she interrupted me again with "Hold" and transferred me to the clinic, where they repeated this whole thing over again, and I was curtly told I could go elsewhere. Where else? This is what's out there for women with no insurance.
I'm speechless at this treatment. Is it budget cuts? Is it a remnant of the sex-nagative Bush policies we lived under for so many years? In any case, if you have ANY other options, take them. Planned Parenthood is a last, desperate resort. read more