the worst thing a doc has said to you

[onholliday]

i haven't had a doc say anything bad to me but after the visit i requested records and he said he did procedures that records clearly state that he didn't.... hmmm

[citydragon]

Doctor: "Here's a prescription for something that will help your sleep problems"
Pharmacist: "Never mind the prescription, you can get the exact same thing OTC for half the price"

[salizander]

hey everyone- my jaw has been permanently on the floor reading all of your experiences! I have so many comments for each one of your stories that I don't even know where to begin! I'll just say thankyou so much for contributing to this thread. You are all very generous to share with me and each other. I appreciate it so much! Another thing a doc has told me "You have pain because you don't do anything." WTF? I can't DO anything because I have PAIN you insensative bastard!

[Sephrina]

I had very bad chest pains for 3 days & crackling in my chest. I tried walking to the bus stop 2 go to work - & collapsed. My friend took me to the hospital.

The hospital took an x-ray of my chest. My left lung was 75% collapsed !

The Doctor asked me if I had insurance I said "no"

He said "Well, I'm sorry - but I can't help you."

I said "Will it heal on it's own?"

He laughed & said "No, you need a chest tube" (surgery)

He was about to discharge me - when my friend (kinda an adopted mom) stepped up
to him & said "It doesn't matter that she doesn't have insurance. You are legally required to take care of her!"

( I had to have a chest tube inserted in my lung while I was awake )

I was about 22 at the time. A friend of mine brought me a great big teddy bear to help comfort me. I was holding onto it in the hospital bed. The surgeon walked in - looked at me and said

"What the hell are you doing ?!" I just looked at him in shock. He continued -

"You are an ADULT ! You are NOT a CHILD !"

"What are you doing lying there with a (sneering) teddy bear ?"

I said something like it was mine & I have a right to have it with me.

He told me to give it to him - that there were "real children" there with real problems that should have it.

The doctor still works at that hospital.

[riverstyx]

@teresita: oh peanut, i am so sorry. doctors r idiots. most. not all.

my good sis, after like 16th surgery to beat colorectal stage iv, which doctors said she would not survive, she did not loose the 47% of body weight u do. with her treatment and illness.

and, she and i were vegetarians. we rarely eat. she must eat to live. if she were skinny suddenly, as happened soon after the after captured episode, it means she is dying.

so, new doctor, quite obese, walks in. tells her, i mean minutes upon awakening from surgery, u must lose weight.

well, she had her intestines but for one foot of them, removed.

her body is filled with mesh, now recalled, and she is big on top.

what kind of horse's padukkah? it is one of two times she told a person off.

doctors learn none of manner in medical school. nothing.

happy news year?

oy.

don't let the idiots get u down. they r never worth it.

another doctor she had, in beginning, seeing the family history, asked if there was consanguinity in family. (i swear i would have thought it was a type of gallo wine me father drank.)

she laughed. of course my mother and father were not brother and sister. but she was asked if they were.

i already put up here, worst said to me. and, right now, am gonna have an ensure which my good sis brought me yesterday. for my christmas present.

but, damn, girl, i tell u, they r idiots.

and, @teresita, i am so sorry.

sorry for all u guys.

just argh.

I dont know if this would qualify as insensitive or just mortifying on my part but about25 yrs ago, I had swollen glands in the groin area and went to my doctor that I had all my life, he even delivered me. Well he had to check "down there" and do a rectal exam. Just as he did the rectal thing, he popped up and said "Happy New Year". I was already uncomfortable enough but I about died when he said that. It was the first business day after the new year but completely inappropriate.

Then years later, a different doc, my ob/gyn, after I was done having a hysterectomy and free of cancer, he said "I think now we need to focus on getting you down to a healthy weight" I never thought I was overweight. Im
5' 5" and 140lbs and wear a size 10. I was holding back tears because I heard "You're fat".

[teresita]

@riverstyx You are just the sweetest person. I know you are in the legal profession but seriously you could be a feel good counselor. I see how many hundreds of times you have uplifted someone here and your words are amazing. Thank you once again for your kindness. Oh and I eat healthy and never attempted to lose weight, if one gets too thin, you lose energy and look older faster. I choose to be what I am.

[Hash]

OH MAN,how long you got? infact the process would be alot quicker if i just mentioned the sensible things they had said,infact that would shorten the list quite considerably!

How about "cannabis can't possibly help you,it works on a different system,bah"

"i know you have addmitted using in the last 3 wks but i cant give you your script without a urine test".... But surely the test is to assess whether i have used,i just told you i did ?.... "yes but without a test i cant do anything,its just the beurocracy"

!!!

I could go on and on and quite often do,but ill spare you the rest,im sure you all have your own lol

[DancingWriter]

Doctors have said plenty of terrible things to me.

One refused to give me anything but ibuprofen for a severely sprained ankle and called me a drug addict because I told him I didn't think Motrin would work for the pain.

Another doctor constantly harped on my weight in the days prior to my surgery to have my gallbladder removed. He kept saying things like, "You're so big" or "You're so obese." I'm not THAT fat and it was very insulting.

Oh, and then don't forget the nurses in the hospital who tried to ignore the doctor's orders and not give me my Dilaudid IVs when needed.

[jabone747]

I've had plenty of ignorant doctors.

My old Psychiatrist got into an argument with me when I told her I wanted to stop taking Concerta. She said it isn't stimulating and would have nothing to do with why I was having trouble sleeping; although I was seeing her for sleep issues at the time. She also tried to put me on anything stronger than Gabapentin for sleep unless I absolutely pleaded that Gabapentin did nothing even at 2000mgs. Ah well, I don't see her now.

Or the walk in doctor who told me Flurazepam was the date rape drug although I told him to look it up to see it was just a light benzo with a long half-life. He ended up giving me 30 30mg Temazepams though.

My old GP used to tell me SSRIs were the best cures for insomnia.

Or my coworker who had screws removed from his ankle a week ago. After the surgery they sent him home in a cab and told him to take Ibuprofen for the pain. He finally ended up getting Tramadol three days later after pleading.

Ah..one could go on and on..

[Jhon]

I got a few myself

1.I disslocated my thumb playing football, it hurt so bad initially i saw green stars and almost passed out. So I go to the doctor the next day my hand was all bruised and swollen and I couldnt move the thumb at all.I told him what happened he looked at the thumb for a split second and told me to go home and put ice on it! Thats it nothing else he didnt even touch it too see if it was broken or anything.just put ice on it! lol

2.This one really pissed me off. My mom disslocated her shoulder really bad and I drove her to the hospital.They kept her waiting in the ER for an hour before she got a bed and there wasnt anybody even there! This was at maybe 6am, the nurse said she had to wait because they needed to clean the room...how long does it take to clean a room? Anyways before she got in the RN at the front desk came to take a look at her

Mom: I disslocated my shoulder
RN: How do you know?
Mom:Im a nurse!
RN:Theres nothing wrong with your shoulder

Her shoulder was disslocated so bad you could see it drooping down! The doctor in the ER pocked his head out of a door across the room and said "her shoulders disslocated". The doctor could tell from across the room and the RN couldnt tell standing right there touching it. What an idiot. I just wanted to slap her.

[united]

Lucky me- I work in the Medical Field. You can check ANY doc out on the Board of Medical Examiners for the state they are licensed in. It will tell you where they went to school, residency, and if they ever got in any trouble.
I check all my docs out - I'm a bit biased with the grads from Cornell Weill but under duress I'll take the other ones that graduated here in the US---- only because I can check the school. nothing wrong with foreign docs.

[jholden40]

Not to me, but my mother: a doc telling her that the lump in her breast was just fatty tissue and nothing to worry about. Seeing another doc at the same practice, who agreed with the first, and said she was being over-anxious. Three weeks later, still anxious, my mother requesting a mammogram - to which the doc agreed: 'just to put your mind at rest ...'

A week later: the results coming back indicating that the fatty tissue was, in fact, a tumour Fortunately, it was caught earlier enough and mum remains alive and well. After the op she went back to the practice to pick up some meds. She bumped into one of the docs who, after asking how she was, commented that 'you must be glad you went for the scan'!! She was speechless ...

Needless to say, she found herself a new doc/medical centre.

It's the kind of thing that happens far too often, I'm afraid

[teresita]

@Jhon I too dislocated my thumb over 30 yrs ago and was told ice and gave a prescrition for motrin (advil was not otc back then) still to this day I have pain issue with that thumb and at least he should have immobilized it but it was just a hum drum issue. Anyone who has injured a thumb knows the pain involved because the thumb is a vital piece of the hand, it affects everything. I could not get my pants zipped, buttons buttoned and many other day to day things we take for granted

[naughtysmurf]

I was sent home from the hospital after a cesarean section and told to take tylenol.Good times...

[unique]

Personally over the years I have found GYN's to be the worst-Its always nothing until it's something-Not all of them of course but too many-
One time I went to the ER with a kidney infection-the doc said I had the flu and tried to send me home-I refused to leave and he told me that my symptoms weren't "right" -Long story short he did the test and had the guts to apologize-He said "we doctors sometimes forget a patient knows their body best"---While far from my worst experience it was the most important one. It's all to easy to let the "all knowing doc" tell us what's wrong/not when we know different.

[Kexessa]

We stopped paying for health insurance years ago. It's cheaper to put that money into an account then waste it on health insurance. So we pay all medical expenses out of pocket. Of course doctors freak when they see the 'no health insurance' box checked. And my employment as "Poet". Anyway.

When I was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia, Husband wanted me to get a second opinion. I went to a totally new cardiologist who had never seen me, seen any test results or anything.

After him telling me it was a leaky heart valve, (which I already knew - I wanted to confirm surgery) I asked him how long before I would require surgery to repair it.

He said, "With your socio-economic background, we don't do things like that. Don't worry about it, it just happens, you'll be fine." He didn't even prescribe any medication!

Apparently not having private health insurance makes you a scumbag.

I was outraged, and younger and more timid than I am now. If this happened today, there would have to be a "PR Kexessa Relief Fund" to raise money for my bail on the assault and battery charges.

I went back to my original doctor, he put me on a heart med that is used off label for heart arrhythmia and I've been fine since. He still says nothing has gotten worse and surgery still isn't needed. And my heart beats regular.

[Kat0711]

hmmmm where to start.. OH YEA... the ortho doc that slapped my exrays up and said "yea, you have bad hips, displasia, nothing to be done but total hip replacements"... turned around and walked out of the room saying nothing more... I never went back to him, got another opinion which just confirmed his findings but in a more humane way and suggested pain management for the arthritis and bursitis that was starting in both my hips.... just one example of the JackA$$'s I have dealt with over the years!


Have a Great Day Everyone!

Kat

[Jhon]

@teresita I had the same issues and since then its disslocated many more times to the point where now when it happens it dosent even hurt anymore, my palm just gets bit bruised and thats that. I guess if i ever need to get out of handcuffs...

[sbg]

Went to a neurologist to try to properly diagnose the cause of severe back pain that seemed neuropathic in nature. Was trying to get to the root cause so that it could be treated properly rather than just throwing pain meds at it . He asked what I wanted him to do and stated that I had chronic neck and back pain ,I should be in pain management, learn to live with it , and there was nothing he could help me with.

[Sephrina]

That's just crazy. You either need thyroid treatment or you don't. I've been on oroxine for 30 odd years (had it removed) and while it can take a ridiculously long time for some doc's to recognise the problem, there are some basic blood tests to see what your thyroid is doing. No wonder you were almost comatose.

My best is paramedics giving my elderly late stage COPD mother Narcan. She was on low dose Oxycontin for shingle pain. I called an ambulance because she was suddenly breathless, they gave her the usual going over, she calmed down and I said I'd see her up at the hospital. I got there to find her completely off her head, raving and desperate. No one told me what they'd done (we found out days later from another nurse) but the docs and nurses at the time all kept saying how difficult she was and she was probably dying.

I understand why narcan is used - but can say from personal experience - this is NOT a med u want administered if not absolutely needed. It's like being ripped out of your body - litteraly.