Going to the doctors can be a nerve-wracking experience. With research showing that misdiagnosis and gender bias are very real issues, women have it particularly bad in health care. Now, an Ohio nurse is making women feel even more fearful about their experience after he went viral on social media with a creepy TikTok video.
Shared by TikTok user Scrubhacks (Lindsey), the video shows a male ICU nurse opening the package with a long tube inside it. It turns out, it’s a foley catheter, which is used to drain a person’s bladder in the hospital. But to make matters worse, it’s what this nurse does as he’s opening the catheter. His TikTok grossly states, “Inserting a Foley catheter on a Gen Z female patient” as he opens the package and licks his lips. Meanwhile, Gunna’s song WGFT plays in the background.
Of course, Lindsey is just as stunned as her audience. “I’m not sure why men in healthcare specifically ever think it’s appropriate to make fun of women’s body parts.” She does the mental gymnastics trying to figure out what he meant by this. Did he post it because Gen Z women are familiar with the song? And why is he licking his lips? Either way, Lindsey and so many others believe it’s incredibly inappropriate for a nurse to make a video like this.
Lindsey said that this isn’t the last video we’ll ever witness making women feel uncomfortable in a hospital setting. As she says, “Women already felt awkward going into the doctor. Mhm. Especially to spread our [expletive] wide for you.” Lindsey goes on to address this male nurse specifically: “You, as a man, don’t get the opportunity to make any jokes about our vaginas.” And the most important note she makes about this video is, “Videos like that discourage women from seeking healthcare.”
How Women Reacted to the Nurse’s Weird TikTok Video
Commenters were, by far, on Lindsey’s side when it came to this contempt for this video. One commenter even called out that the nurse who made the video works at Atrium Medical Center in Ohio, prompting the internet to leave reviews.
Another commenter pointed out, “His state board should see this video.” Others agreed with one commenter, who mentioned, “That’s so inappropriate, unprofessional, disrespectful.” In the same threat, a TikTok user shared that they’d be canceling their appointment, too.
One woman thanked Lindsey for spreading the video. “As a woman, that makes me feel so unsafe,” one woman wrote, and thanked Lindsey for spreading awareness.
“As HR in a major hospital system I would love to be assigned this investigation,” said one TikTok user in the comments. Based on the responses, many feel the nurse should face consequences, with some calling for his dismissal.
