Interesting article in the NY Times health section on the idea that women of a childbearing age are treated differently by the medical profession since there's always the lingering fear that any medical treatment may affect thier unborn child if they ARE pregnant.
I've run into that going to the doctor before with dialogues something like this:
me- *coughs horribly* hello
dr- when was the date of your last period? are you pregnant?
me- um... no, I just have this cough
dr- well, we have to make sure that you're not pregnant so that we don't have to worry that the medicine we may give you may harm the fetus.
me- what fetus? I'm not f*&^ing pregnant!
Seriously- what's wrong with doctors these days?!?