As a medical student in the UK, we are taught that we need full exposure to examine a patient's abdomen, which was what your Dr did. However, we are mindful that patients can find it embarrassingly intimate and so would never (I hope!) unzip/unbutton a patient even a child, but would ask them to do it themselves so that we could examine the entire abdomen. I know I have never and will never do this, with the possible exception of a small child (who is unable to undo their trousers) in the presence of their guardian, and even then I would tell them what I needed to do and make sure they assented before I did it.

I'm sorry that you were treated this way. I think you have a right to feel violated as that is how you experienced the situation. I only hope that this Dr would feel horrified that examining you in this way lead to you feeling like this and avoiding Drs in the future. Fortunately communication skills and examination techniques have moved on since then, but unfortunately there will always be a few who neglect to put themselves in their patient's shoes.

Take care, and find a good Dr who you can trust not to treat you in this way - you deserve good medical care as much as the next person

*Willow*