Ever have a doctor treat you like an idiot?

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I can name a couple of times.

A friend of mine has Cystic Fibrosis. Her on call doctor "informed" her of the symptoms of CF and how she should feel. When she corrected him, saying she felt xyzzy, he got shirty and avoided her for the duration of her hospital stay. Real professional.

Personally, I suffer from a number of neurological disorders and have a spectrum of symptoms. Sadly some are atypical and there was one doctor who couldn't wrap their heads around this. As far as they were concerned, if I didn't display the typical symptoms, I must be faking or not worth considering.

Annoying in both times.

 

[sasywtch]

I had one doctor who wouldn't let me finish a sentence nor listen to me. I immediately found another doctor the next day. My new doctor (now for 10 years) just called me on a Sunday to give me non urgent test results so I could get medicine the next day. Who I am having problems with, is the RN's at the hospital. They tend to talk down to my daughter constantly and I had it the other day. I pointed my finger in his face and told him that was a crappy thing to say (used a different word not appropriate for DIS). She has a bedsore, caused septic shock (her bp was 60/40). In ICU, nurse came to turn her. She said she wasn't feeling well, started gagging. He kept saying, I have to turn you, what is wrong. she said I don't feel good (still gagging). I asked her if she had to throw up. Nurse says "no wonder you have a bedsore that's not getting better" and walked out of the room. Today I had 3 trying to get my daughter from the lift into her wheelchair. Very obvious they had zero experience in this. (one mentioned she had none-none had any idea how to hook anything up). They kept doing it wrong and she was boating downward. One of them told her to scoot her butt over. (ummmm the girl is paralyzed, there is NO scooting her butt over on her own. I kept trying to tell them how to get her in there from the lift but, they knew better. After 10 minutes, they listened to me. Just admit you have no experience and since I do it at home, what's the best way. I have had some great nurses that have said that to me when they didn't know. These three today were actually yelling at my daughter as if she couldn't hear. Here's a tip. Just because someone is paralyzed doesn't mean they have a hearing problem. To be fair, I heard a nurse in another room talking to a very elderly gentleman. She was saying, do you want some ice to wet your whistle? It just put a smile on my face knowing that is such an old saying and it just appeared as she was talking to him like he was her grandpa.

 

[princesscinderella]

I had one doctor who wouldn't let me finish a sentence nor listen to me. I immediately found another doctor the next day. My new doctor (now for 10 years) just called me on a Sunday to give me non urgent test results so I could get medicine the next day. Who I am having problems with, is the RN's at the hospital. They tend to talk down to my daughter constantly and I had it the other day. I pointed my finger in his face and told him that was a crappy thing to say (used a different word not appropriate for DIS). She has a bedsore, caused septic shock (her bp was 60/40). In ICU, nurse came to turn her. She said she wasn't feeling well, started gagging. He kept saying, I have to turn you, what is wrong. she said I don't feel good (still gagging). I asked her if she had to throw up. Nurse says "no wonder you have a bedsore that's not getting better" and walked out of the room. Today I had 3 trying to get my daughter from the lift into her wheelchair. Very obvious they had zero experience in this. (one mentioned she had none-none had any idea how to hook anything up). They kept doing it wrong and she was boating downward. One of them told her to scoot her butt over. (ummmm the girl is paralyzed, there is NO scooting her butt over on her own. I kept trying to tell them how to get her in there from the lift but, they knew better. After 10 minutes, they listened to me. Just admit you have no experience and since I do it at home, what's the best way. I have had some great nurses that have said that to me when they didn't know. These three today were actually yelling at my daughter as if she couldn't hear. Here's a tip. Just because someone is paralyzed doesn't mean they have a hearing problem. To be fair, I heard a nurse in another room talking to a very elderly gentleman. She was saying, do you want some ice to wet your whistle? It just put a smile on my face knowing that is such an old saying and it just appeared as she was talking to him like he was her grandpa.

I’m sorry you are having such poor service by the RNs while your daughter is in the hospital. Maybe they are some of the 7600 nurses that were graduated out of nursing schools in SoFla that bought degrees with no actual training.

 

[MIGrandma]

Yes, a dermatologist rolled his eyes at me when I asked a question about the Mohs surgery he was going to be doing on my face. I refused to see him again after that.

 

[loves to dive]

I had a lump in my breast that I had already had a biopsy on. The Radiologist told me she had gotten everything out. It wasn't anything serious just a benign cyst. OBGYN sent me to a surgeon anyway. I did my research before going and could find no medical reason to have surgery. I talked to the surgeon and he insisted I must have surgery. I asked him why. He said (and I'm quoting) "because I said so". Seriously, that didn't work with my parents, why would it work when someone wanted to put me to sleep and cut me? Nope, I said and walked out. Later, my OBGYN admitted to me that they always recommended it so a patient wouldn't sue if at some point later they got cancer and that for that particular cyst it really wasn't necessary. When I went back for a follow up with the Radiologist she got furious. "I told them I got absolutely everything out when I did the biopsy, there was no reason for surgery".

Lately, my primary care doctor and staff have been sort of talking down to me because I've reached the age you are considered senior. Started happening as soon as I got Medicare. Yes, I'm 65, yes I have gray hair, which I've had since I was 23 and just used to dye it. That doesn't mean in the course of one year from turning 64 to 65 I lost every brain cell I've ever had and can no longer function on my own.

 

[RogueX]

I had hyperemesis gravidarum when I was pregnant and my OB/GYN assured me that despite the weight I was losing, my inability to eat, and barely able to drink more than a few sips of water, everything was fine. He was a resident and the preceptor, who never once saw me, decided everything was perfectly fine.

I knew it wasn't. I was in the ER several times a week for dehydration, at one point I had to be checked to make sure I didn't have a miscarriage, and the weight kept falling off.

The final straw was when the doctor insisted that I didn't need nutritional support. I had seen a surgeon later that day to discuss getting my gallbladder removed and she was furious that they were not providing me nutritional support. Apparently after I left, she called the OB/GYN and made her thoughts known because I was admitted to the hospital that night and a week later a feeding tube was placed in my chest.

My daughter was born 6 weeks early via emergency c-section and when they got her out, the doctor remarked how low the fluid level was.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Yup, my gynecologist made me out to be a delusional idiot for wanting to be prescribed birth control pills. Gave me the whole "sOMEDAY yOU'LL wANT kIDS" speech despite wanting them for my menstrual cramp symptoms.

 

[Moliphino]

Yup, my gynecologist made me out to be a delusional idiot for wanting to be prescribed birth control pills. Gave me the whole "sOMEDAY yOU'LL wANT kIDS" speech despite wanting them for my menstrual cramp symptoms.

Which is especially weird because birth control pills aren't even permanent. You can still have kids later.

 

[dez1978]

I feel like this is a mostly female issue. Rarely do you hear men complain about Drs not listening to them or treating them like idiots or telling them to lose weight as the answer for every complaint.

I needed a uterine biopsy and asked if I would be given any pain meds. Told it was just mild cramping and take advil and tylenol before hand. Ummmm no. it was not mild cramping. I could not drive home afterwards.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

A long time ago after my first child was born, my breasts became incredibly painful. When I asked my GYN about this during his exam, the crabby old man told me to, "get a bra." I was too young to do anything but sit there, humiliated. I never went back to him, but I've also never forgotten it.

He's lucky he didn't encounter me these days.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Which is especially weird because birth control pills aren't even permanent. You can still have kids later.

Exactly. It was very frustrating since I didn't even want them for that reason and yet I received an unwarranted speech anyway. I swapped gynecologists after that.

 

[MGMmjl]

I had some lower back pain that started on Sunday morning, and I went to my primary care physician on Monday morning. He did X-rays and blood work in his office that looked good, but he also wanted me to get a CT scan with and without contrast to see if I had a kidney stone or had an issue with my appendix. He also said it could be my gallbladder, but likely not due to the location of the pain.

I went to an imaging center to get the CT scan done, but my insurance was having a systemwide issue with authorization of procedures, so I couldn't get it done there. My doctor told me to go to the ER to get the CT scan done as he wanted the results quickly. The ER doctor didn't necessarily treat me like an idiot, but he only wanted to do the CT scan without contrast. I showed him the orders from my primary care doctor, and he was like, "Well, it can't be the gallbladder because it's higher than where you're describing the pain. I don't know what he was thinking." My primary care doctor is very thorough, so he just wanted to rule everything out. After all that, the CT scan thankfully showed no issues with the appendix or gallbladder, and no kidney stone. The ER doctor was nice to me, but I didn't care for his attitude toward my primary care doctor. I thought maybe they had a past, but from the way the ER doctor talked at the end of my visit, he had never heard of my primary care doctor.

 

[prairie_girl]

I feel like this is a mostly female issue. Rarely do you hear men complain about Drs not listening to them or treating them like idiots or telling them to lose weight as the answer for every complaint.

I needed a uterine biopsy and asked if I would be given any pain meds. Told it was just mild cramping and take advil and tylenol before hand. Ummmm no. it was not mild cramping. I could not drive home afterwards.

This is very true! We never hear of men having these issues, and it needs to change!

I had a biopsy, like you, a few years ago and I wasn’t even advised to take Tylenol or Advil. I have a high tolerance for pain but it was very painful.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

1. had a "hospitalist" try to bully my mother and her friend into taking my dying father home from the hospital because he was "wasting" a bed. My mother refused, she was exhausted and the reason he was in the hospital to begin with is that a mistake had been made during his dialysis treatment. When I woke up enough to realize what was going on, he said that they obviously weren't understanding him because of his accent. I told him we understood him just fine and to get out and send someone in that could actually be helpful. My father got to stay where he was until he passed.

2. had a nurse tell me my son was faking and "putting on a show" when he refused to walk while in the hospital with pneumonia (his dr agreed with her . Got him transferred to another hospital where he was immediately put in icu.

3. My OBGYN asked me was I sure I wanted my tubes tied, "no more babies, ever..." I was 39 years old and 8 months into a pregnancy that had been absolutely miserable. I think I was old enough to make that decision for myself.

 

[Notreallyaustralian]

I can name a couple of times.

A friend of mine has Cystic Fibrosis. Her on call doctor "informed" her of the symptoms of CF and how she should feel. When she corrected him, saying she felt xyzzy, he got shirty and avoided her for the duration of her hospital stay. Real professional.

Personally, I suffer from a number of neurological disorders and have a spectrum of symptoms. Sadly some are atypical and there was one doctor who couldn't wrap their heads around this. As far as they were concerned, if I didn't display the typical symptoms, I must be faking or not worth considering.

Annoying in both times.

Do you remember the book or movie Alex the Life of a Child where the child with Cystic Fibrosis had a lung collapse and the doctor refused to believe her. Your post reminded me of this!!

Like you, I have neurological issues too and had a horrible time with a neurology practice. It's a LONG story. Basically my EEG came out abnormal. But they gave me the wrong instructions on recording my symptoms, and when they asked me about symptoms, I guess I was too vague or too weird. They had wanted me to do a video EEG, and I refused because of the extra cost, the loss of privacy, and the fact that my maybe-seizures were myoclonus and hard to see. But it was like because they couldn't see the seizures for themselves, they wouldn't give me a definite diagnosis. (As I say though...it's much more complicated than that. But not wanting to turn this into a novel)

 

[Lilias]

I turned down an HPV vaccine (I was very low risk and needles scare me, lol) when I was liiike 19 or 20 years old, and my Gyno at the time gave me a really horrible lecture about how I actually was HIGH risk because my then-boyfriend-now-husband-of-11-years, who was in the Navy at the time, was 1000% cheating on me with just hordes of women and I needed to protect myself. She went into detail about how he was just partying it up and cheating on me constantly.

I also had the opposite happen, where I had breast pain and I was worried I had breast cancer, and they took me seriously and got me a mammogram even though I'm not high risk or "old enough" for regular screenings yet. All good, no cancer, just inflamed rib joints, ha.

 

[Notreallyaustralian]

Yes, a dermatologist rolled his eyes at me when I asked a question about the Mohs surgery he was going to be doing on my face. I refused to see him again after that.

Holy crap. Sorry.

 

[Notreallyaustralian]

I turned down an HPV vaccine (I was very low risk and needles scare me, lol) when I was liiike 19 or 20 years old, and my Gyno at the time gave me a really horrible lecture about how I actually was HIGH risk because my then-boyfriend-now-husband-of-11-years, who was in the Navy at the time, was 1000% cheating on me with just hordes of women and I needed to protect myself. She went into detail about how he was just partying it up and cheating on me constantly.

I also had the opposite happen, where I had breast pain and I was worried I had breast cancer, and they took me seriously and got me a mammogram even though I'm not high risk or "old enough" for regular screenings yet. All good, no cancer, just inflamed rib joints, ha.

That doctor sounds really messed up. Kind of sadistic. And condescending.

 

[Lilias]

That doctor sounds really messed up. Kind of sadistic. And condescending.

She was all of those things and more! I was very uncomfortable and kept being like "Uhh yeah he's not like that, we're not like that, we just play World of Warcraft and leave Skype up at all hours of the day so I don't really see where he'd get the opportunity" and she was like NO HE'S DOING IT TRUST ME YOU HAVE TO GET THIS SHOT. It was insane

 

[tvguy]

Not really, but I am at the point that I am considering changing Primary Care Doctor.
I feel just fine, but my blood work the past two years has shown things outside what is considered "normal".
Lots of tests, referrals to 7 specialists, 3 biopsies later a decline in kidney function is being blamed on my blood pressure medicine. 4 of the specialists have cleared me of any issues in their areas of practice. My primary care physician just seems shocked at that.