This is the story about what happened when I was required to have a screening physical exam in order to obtain a life insurance policy. Now that seems to be a rather mundane subject, but it turned out to be far more exciting than what I expected. First let me give a bit of background before we get into the details.
I had been working for a company for over ten years and had gained significant experience in a rather complex area involving the use of very technical laboratory equipment. I worked long hours with some excellent colleagues and had developed what I felt to be a particularly important group of tests that could be reliably performed for use in the medical and pharmaceutical industries. One of my coworkers was named Fran. She and I had collaborated for several years and had not only developed a sense of trust but also deep friendship while working on our projects. Unfortunately there were several other individuals in the company including a supervisor that felt our work was unimportant to the company despite our many years of dedicated effort. Indeed, when decisions were made about cutbacks, our program was cancelled.
When this string of events occurred, Fran and I ultimately left and decided to form our own small business to develop the technology for practical use. Fran and I were able to obtain a commercial loan but one of the bank's requirements included the need to purchase life insurance policies worth several million dollars to pay off the loan if one of us died. This seemed like a relatively benign problem, but was made a priority in order to allow the loan to proceed since the building and specialized machinery had already been ordered. Fran had taken care of making arrangements for the life insurance, so she told me that at some time we would need to fill out the forms and have an exam.
Fran and I had moved into some small office space adjacent to the area where our laboratory was being constructed. At the time, this consisted of relatively small offices, secretarial space and storage, and a conference room with a large table and sofa for discussions among the staff. While construction was going on, a restroom was located a distance away in an adjoining set of suites. It was a temporary situation while we were in the construction and development phases of the company.
At the time, I was not married. I had divorced about seven years earlier, and while I went out from time to time, it had been a while since I had an intimate relationship. Fran had been married for several years to a young attorney that traveled many days a week while he tried to climb the advancement ladder at his firm. I had known her actually longer than her husband had, and it sometimes seemed like we spent more time together than they did. I had heard that there were some problems in their marriage but had never wanted to really get into any involvement in a colleague's issues at home. Normally she wore relatively conservative business dress, but I had seen her occasionally in informal clothing including sweaters that had emphasized her beautiful shape. We had previously attended several out of town conferences together and we felt very comfortable socially, but there had never been any sexual or romantic involvement.
I was scheduled to be going out of town the next day for at least a week when Fran told me that she had been informed that we would need to have the insurance screening physical done in order for the loan to precede. She made it sound like a very brief and routine event. That day, Fran told me the insurance company would provide a physician's assistant or nurse practitioner to come to us to do the exam and collect some blood and urine specimens in order to expedite the process. When I reminded her that I would be leaving town the next day, she said that she would call to see if they could come sometime that day.
Later that day, Fran stuck her head into my office and said, "Dave, I need to clear this plan with you, but you need to understand how important it is that we get the exam done today. We need the exam in order to have the loan approved, and we will need the money from the loan very soon to pay for the equipment that will arrive next week."
"Okay, so what's the problem?"
Fran continued explaining while giving me a slightly sheepish look. "The only person they have available to give the exam this evening is a female nurse practitioner. Their company's policy is that the examiner is only allowed to perform the exam on someone of the same sex unless they have an assistant or spouse present during the exam acting as a chaperone. I told her that we were married and would both be getting the exam done in order to be able to make it work. I hope that you aren't too upset."
"Don't worry," I said. "We've known each other a long time. We will have already filled out the medical questionnaires. So what's the big deal if you are there when they take my blood pressure and draw some blood work?"
"Good. She will be coming at about 6 pm this evening after she gets off from work at her usual job. I think everyone else will have already gone home. My husband is out of town, so I don't really need to call anyone to tell them I will be late getting home. By the way, she said to be sure to drink plenty of water during the day and not eat any sweets for 4 hours before she arrives. – And be sure to remember that we are married."
Later that day the other employees went home leaving just Fran and me to wait for the nurse. Our dress during these times of development ranged from collared shirts and slacks to formal business dress depending upon who we were scheduled to meet during the day. I was dressed pretty informally but Fran was dressed in a business suit today. She was about thirty-two years old while I was now nearly forty. She always looked sharp but did not wear any inappropriate or flashy clothing. Fran seemed to have a slim yet very feminine figure but it was usually understated in everything that she wore. She had a pretty face with blondish brown hair and light blue eyes. Best of all, she had an absolutely killer smile.
When there was a knock at the door, Fran answered and invited the nurse into the outer office. Fran introduced herself as the vice president of the corporation, and me as her husband and president of the company. The nurse introduced herself as Megan and told us that she was a clinical nurse practitioner at the local women's clinic. She did some insurance physicals on the side to make some extra income. She was attractive and wore some dark blue scrubs that were just tight enough to show her figure. She entered the office pulling a small rolling suitcase that contained her equipment.
Fran thanked her for coming on short notice and also said that she appreciated doing both of the physicals at once. Megan was polite, and said that it probably saved her company from having to make two trips. She mentioned again that normally she would not perform an exam on an unchaperoned male because of company policy. She said however that she understood that there was a particular urgency for the exams to be done and it was allowable for us to agree to act as our own chaperones since we were a married couple.
"I will need to ask some questions and perform an exam which might cause privacy issues normally," she said, "but as long as you are both willing to accept that and sign the consent, then I will be happy to begin."
