I'm really curious if any men have come forward with sexual trauma from VCUGs. This documentary focused on women's trauma, but the procedure is also done on boys, so I'd be very interested to hear their voices as well.

I had this procedure when I was very small, I'm not sure what age. For a long time I thought I made the memories up because my family just never talked about it again and I never saw anyone else who talked about having gone through this. When I found out this was a real procedure and that's what I went through, I just broke down in relief. So much shame and self hatred left me because I was no longer left wondering why I had these weird uncomfortable memories I couldn't talk to anyone about. Then I came to realize that the reason I got this procedure is because of recurrent UTIs... that were most likely caused by repeated CSA I went through. And then it made so much more sense why my mother shamed me for "needing" a procedure like this, she was one of my main abusers. I truly hope we start using alternatives as much as possible. No child deserves to go through this, especially those of us who only ended up getting the procedure from other CSA. It's disgusting how heavy the gaslighting is around this stuff. I cant use the restroom without dissociating. I will never let anyone tell me I must be remembering this wrong or that I'm overreacting.

The "be sure to smile" line gave me chills. "Be kind and polite to the person who is assualting you". That's literally what a groomer or abuser would say. I'm very fortunate that I've never had this procedure done, and I was making it through the documentary fine. But then they said that. These tests aren't just irresponsible, they're straight up evil. Thank you for speaking up about this.

I just so happen to come up on this documentary and was listening to it in the background when I really started to listen everything she said sounded familiar. I was born with my ureters out of place, it cause me a life time of problems, at 27 years old that is still the scariest test I have ever done, I have nightmares of it. Nothing in my life compares. I hated that test.

As a midwife I am glad to become aware of this test. I would imagine survivors of this test might choose out of hospital birth as an emotionally safer maternity option. Thank you 🙏 for sharing.

Hi, im not sure if im a victim of this, I camt remember most of my childhood. But my first memory was a dentist appointment where the pain meds didn't work at all bc of a disorder that I have. They told me that I was lying. I was strapped to a board and one of my teeth got pulled out. No pain meds. There is so much medical abuse and I don't know how it's still allowed to happen. From the troubled teen industry, to vcug's, ect

I was 3. It's my earliest memory. Crying with all these strangers just holding me down and staring at me and me not being able to urinate and it haunted me in my dreams too. I didn't even know what had happened until I asked mum and she told me I had a test. I don't remember the whole thing but my body and subconscious have never forgotten it

How could this be seen as harmless? MY GOD

OMG - thank you so much for explaining this. With so many MD friends, advocates, and the dad of daughters, I'm so sad that I didn't know about this!! I'm a former human sexuality educator, and a DV/ SA caseworker. I had NO idea about this. Thank you, thank you for telling!

I have 2 daughters and I’ve never heard of this but omg it sounds horrific kinda like gets getting an iud smh wtaf

Wow.... I'd never heard of this before! It's terrible!! Why are they still doing this? It's obvious this needs to stop 😡

Thank you for sharing this. It was done to me 40 years ago, and has poisoned many areas of my life. I still hate the medical profession.

Beautiful 😊😊

I had this done to me when I was 6. It's left me messed up, even 40+ years later. It was my first sexual experience, and I was so young I didn't even know what sex was!

This is a huge story waiting to be broken by the media. I say this as a former journalist living in a different part of the world. This is abuse of children on an industrial scale.

I would demand sedation!! Why would they not sedate? Male Dr’s? I refuse to see any male Drs, even my dentist is female..

I was 10 years old. I was screaming looked at my mom and begged. She told them to stop, they didn't. They finally did when my mom threatened to sue them. I'm thankful for that moment every day

I had no idea I still have trauma related to this until I struggled through watching it. I had multiple VCUG procedures as a child. Definitely damaged my relationship with my mother and is likely the reason I have high anxiety going to the doctor.

My daughter had repeated UTIs before age 5. Around 2012, I was told she needed a test to check for “kidney reflux” and the procedure was described, which I believe was a VCUG. I asked if she would be sedated and was told she would not. I absolutely refused to allow the test. After seeing this, I am so grateful for refusing-I am not even sure where I found the courage to be so adamantly against it-I just was. I am so sorry for every child who has experienced this. Thank you for this powerful documentary.

just got diagnosed with PTSD earlier this year, I still have nightmares. I tried to kick, push, bite, at one point I thought I won. they stopped. but only stopped to get more nurses to hold me down.

Children experience being pinned down and subjected to the forcible penetration of their intimate body parts as any human being would. As sexual assault. This is outrageous. Children need protection from any, and every, experience that would be considered a sexual violation if commited on an adult.

Thank you to everyone involved in lifting the lid on the life-altering harm and severe sexual trauma of this violating and terrorising procedure.

Thank you for exposing this medical horror. It is like the movie Sybil. The medical profession is being exposed for its utter failure to abide by its ethical and moral duty to keep vulnerable children safe from sexual harm. As human beings we share in the duty to protect our children. For professionals who work in radiology or pediatric urology, and for all those in the healthcare sector who are aware of this severely traumatising procedure, this is abuse of vulnerable children happening in plain sight. Known sexual harm. Inflicted on vulnerable children. In plain sight.

Life-altering sexual harm knowingly being inflicted on vulnerable defenceless children - this truth, FOR DECADES, brushed aside and buried by a profession which pledges to do no harm.

Yes the betrayal is so tragic, the relational damage on top of the the other impacts of childhood sexual abuse. What is the child to make of knowing the parent accepted for them the terror, pain, violation and severe sexual trauma of this procedure? 😭😭😭 It can profoundly damage the attachment. So unforgiveable that parents are kept in the dark, unaware that this the traumatic equivalent of "violent rape" when they are pushed to consent to this. Thank you for speaking out.

Yes it absolutely is barbaric. It is medical sexual assault.

Thank you for sharing this. Parents would just trust the "experts", but after this, we know.

Goodness, my daughter seemed traumatized just by having to have ointment put on irritation from too many bubble baths. I can only imagine what kind of horror this would be to a child. I had to have a catheter left in for a kindey stone once, and that made me feel weird and icky. Little children don't understand why these things are being done, even if you tell them. 🥺 What was described is almost exactly like some of the abuse done to the little girl Sybil in the story "Sybil".

I didn't have a vcug but a catheter was inserted to have a urethra widening procedure. I struggled and was held down by several nurses, the last thing I remember before I went blank was my mom leaving the room. I saw her face through the glass in the door as she shut the door behind her. I gave up struggling and my memory blacked out what happened next

I was molested by a neighbour for a while when I was about 5-6. I used to get what I know now was terrible Cystitis. I used to get it frequently and I remember the awful pain and peeing just drops of blood. I used to get in trouble by my teacher for needing to go to the toilet, I used to sit there and cry with pain. Doctor just prescribed a horrible clear medicine called Mist Pot Cit and little square sulphur tablets. I had so many attacks of cystitis but no one ever thought to examine me or ask me any questions. My Mother did not care, I felt I was more of an annoyance. I am a Mandated Reporter, and every time a little girl came in with Cystitis I wanted to report it. I did a few times.

I had this done post C-section where my bladder had been damaged. It was confusing and painful for me and I was an adult and compliant…I was ridiculed during the test for any reaction I made. It was extremely painful. Why they are doing this to little children is beyond me. I was told I needed another and I refused, so in stead I got a barium and contrast ct scan. There are other options.

I had mine when I was aged 4 years old. It wasn’t a tiny rubber tube but a rigid catheter. The preparation before and the procedure left me traumatised and bed wetting with torture dreams for years.

Speechless. Thank you for your courage in sharing your pain for awareness. 💔 I had mild VUR as a young child but am so fortunate to have not ever had this test.

This is absolutely horrible. We need to find a different way. I understand that the test can be important, and ultimately save lives, but there has to be another way. However, this way to perform the test is probably the cheapest for the insurance companies. There’s a lot wrong with the medical industry, and it’s only getting worse with time as humans become the product. Medical tyranny is a thing. Getting government out of healthcare is the first step to tackling these problems.

Oh my god, what is wrong with these doctors? Do they think that because what they're doing technically isn't r@pe, that it won't... effect the child, psychologically, the same way? I don't understand the disconnect here. This is the same as CSA. I'm infuriated. I never had a VCUG, but I do have a great deal of medical trauma. Honestly, this did help validate alot of my medical traumas, knowing that a "normal" procedure would have the same psychological impact as a violent r@pe. I hope that doctors who are aware of the psychological effects and keep performing this procedure lose their license and be prosecuted. This is evil.

I can't even watch this. that is why it is so important.

Xray tech here! I had to do the X-rays (fluoroscopy) for this exam. I feel sick to my stomach to even think about this again. I went to school for my X-ray liscence from 2006-2008. It was a huge painful procedure to watch for reflux into the ureters and kidneys. I felt so badly for the kids! Of course they would cry! We needed to sedate them. I don't care what the dr's say. I know a lot about kidney disease as Lateran in my life I got kidney disease. I also had a lot of UTI's as a kid, probably due to being neglected and abused. I cant watch the video, because I still have flashbacks. All the dr's and nurses acted like it was normal. If there is a valve problem, there is usually a stent placed in the ureter. For those who don't know what a vcug feels like, imagine having your bladder filled up so much with saline that your going to burst, and its so painful, but you cant pee it out. Its panic inducinceing! Hearing these kids now, validates that all of this could have been avoided. Ind everyone sees your private parts. and holds you down, while your getting filled with saline. And It is so hard for the X-ray tech to get the blowback flash going up your ureters, IF you have a problem. It's like half a second to get that image. So many times I wanted to yell stop!

They also claim that a hysteroscopy of where they do a biopsy of your womb cells doesn't hurt either, and that's a LIE!! They basically insert a metal hollow tube in you PAST the CERVIX and INTO YOUR UTERUS. Then they pass another tool with a SCALPEL on the end of it and PUSH IT ALL UP AND AROUND INSIDE YOU WITH NO ANESTHETIC GIVEN. They do it to search for cancer, but I ended up just signing the "consent form" WITHOUT being told how BAD the PAIN WOULD BE. And this was at 40 years old!! 😢😢😢😢

Thank you Shelby. I have been trying to Comment, but somehow my post is not coming through. For now - much appreciation for what you are doing. Please find a way to get this info more widely disseminated. Will follow-up later, with a few suggestions. Best regards.

I personally had this procedure done when I was about 19 with my mom with me. The staff was very caring & helped me relax with my mom. I forgot what it was called until now. It didn’t really help diagnose my bladder issues at the time. It was over a decade ago and my bladder issues come and go rarely on occasions with stress but are fine now. I couldn’t imagine a child going through that procedure. I’m lucky to not have had a negative experience during my procedure even though I grasp more of the complexity of the procedure years later.

This was very informative information, and it made me realize that every child affected by this unnecessary procedure deserves better, I see these medical staff as paid child predators wearing a white coat and mask, they are no different than any registered offender out there, they can be jailed as well.

Thank you so much for getting the word out there!

Hi! I was inspired by your shorts, would it be all right if i wrote a book detailing my exact experiences with it and crediting your videos as being the catalyst for my final pursuit in understanding that trauma?

Agreed i think it should be illegal for regular catheterization too not just the vcug part. I know i felt like an svu vic after i had mine so basically i say ive been raped twice by medical ppl

Great message there, hopefully we can put an end to this, kids deserve better.

Mine wasnt the vcug just straight catheterization but i still see it as if i was raped.

Will be watching on 11/1/2024, keep up the awesome work.

All power to those speaking out about the harms of this violating and severely traumatising test.

Thank you for bringing this to public awareness. Children deserve to be protected from sexual trauma!

This is such an important documentary that every parent needs to see. The medical community must be held to account for the ethical and moral failure to protect children from the known harm and severe sexual and medical trauma of this barbaric test.