Marianne Keith, 52, went to the hospital with severe abdominal pain earlier this year, and her physician recommended she have a transvaginal ultrasound.
What ensued, Keith says, was nothing she could've predicted - an hour of brutal physical abuse that left her with internal injuries and recurring nightmares.
"It felt like I was being raped," she said in an interview.
"Like somebody was intentionally hurting me."
Keith has therefore sued the Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Ill., where she underwent the procedure, for medical battery.
She claims in the lawsuit that the technician "repeatedly jammed the probe in to various internal portions of [her] vagina, including her cervix," for an hour.
"After I left the hospital, I knew by how much pain I was in that something was done to me," she told the Huffington Post of her experience.
Keith says she suffered physical injuries to her vagina and cervix and continues to experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I have nightmares about being trapped and going through this procedure again," she said.
"I have so many triggers - watching television, and whenever a woman is hurt or raped or something happens on TV, I think about it again."
"My husband and I don't have any type of intimacy, because I don't want anybody touching me. I have physical things that are the matter with me, and I cant even go to the doctor anymore."
A spokesperson for the Advocate Condell Medical Center declined comment.
Transvaginal ultrasounds can be used for diagnostic purposes, as well as to check the fetal heartbeat in the early stages of a pregnancy.
They have made headlines in the past few years because several states have debated or passed legislation forcing women to undergo the procedure before getting abortion.
Keith said she has had the procedure done repeatedly in the past, while she was going through fertility treatments.
While none of her past experiences felt as abusive as the one she had in February, they were never pleasant.
"Even if it's done the way that it should be done," she said, "it's so intrusive."
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