Bad experiences with medical professionals

[Madame deVenoge]

Arg. I did something bad today. I flaked out on my endocrinologist appointment. Why?

The first time I went there, last year, the nurse weighed me. Mind you, it was in the middle of a damn pandemic, where we were all not going to the gym, and also, I hadn’t been in the MyChart system for 10 years since I’d been going to a primary care doctor that used a different system. In the old MyChart, I was 116 lbs. That day, I weighed 140. I’m still nowhere near the “overweight” range of BMI, still very much “average”.

Not content with pointing out that my last charted weight was more than 20 lbs ago, the nurse didn’t even stop long enough for me to say, “that was 10 years ago when I was 10% body fat and running marathons”….no, she leapt right into, “could you be pregnant?”

I laughed it off, but it’s kind of a sore spot with me that I had a total hysterectomy six years ago. And that should have been part of the records that transferred over from my new primary care doc.

I haven’t gotten this pissed off since some OB/Gyn nurse accused me of being anorexic back in the day when I was running marathons and eating every pizza and cheesecake in sight. 

I know I’m being overly sensitive, but damn.

Have any of you had similar bad experiences, and how did you overcome it?

I switched OB/Gyns, back in the day, but it might be more difficult to find an endocrinologist who is in my health insurance AND also is in the MyChart system. Grrr.

[rotting sea cow]

I rarely go to the doctor as I'm quite healthy individual (there is something that it's bothering me right now, so I'd need to go soon). Usually I go for minor things and regular controls, I find that a mechanic would put more attention to a car than the doctors to me. Usually they write some recipes and order some exams and GTFO.

I had a good experience however with a dermatologist some years ago so I try to go annually for a regular checking and talk about general health. The only doctor I've seen in years who listens to you.

 

[Filippa Eilhart]

well, there was this time when a doctor gave me an uterine infection (worst pain of my life, and I've had actual surgery) while doing a test and didn't recognise me the next day when I went to the emergency clinic and he was the one on call. It probably also was the reason why one of my fallopian tubes had to be removed.

I can't say I overcame it in any way. He was not "my" doctor, he was just there.

[Spockydog]

When I was in hospital, recovering from heart surgery, my penis was nearly pulled off when the catheter somehow got stuck in the nurses clothing as she walked away from the bed.

 

[baxus]

Some 10 years ago, I injured tendons in my forearms. I pulled something, microfractures appeared and some fluid was released where it was not meant to be and it caused an inflammation and swelling in my forearms, and it hurt when I tried to straighten my arms.

After I finished with the doctor, I needed to fill up some paperwork. The nurse had a comment along the lines of "and you came for that? You could've handled that yourself" after which my zero tolerance for stupid comments kicked in and I told her that if we're to be our own doctors then we should probably fire all the doctors and nurses and rent all the hospitals for office space. She had no similar or otherwise smartass comments whenever I went to that doctor after that.

[Red Tiger]

Many years back I had a skin infection. My doctor misdiagnosed it as eczema and prescriped me medication that actually fed the infection. I used it for about 2 years, so you can imagine what THAT turned into. I went back to him, demanded that he send me to a dermatologist who gave me the right diagnosis and medication.

I switched doctors shortly thereafter. Of all the people I know who went to him, only 1 person stayed with him, mostly because that person disliked change.

[Luzifer's right hand]

During my time the Austrian army(conscription) the doctors there did not really believe me when I had a problem. It is kinda accepted that the only doctors that work there are unsuitable for other jobs which means I did not expect otherwise. But thankfully they sent me to real hospital for the proper diagnosis as they believed I was faking it and the REAL doctors there took care of it. The letter with the diagnosis I got was as insulting as possible in a professional environment. So I guess the proper doctors overcame the shitty doctors but not really as those doctors are still allowed to treat conscripts.

Years later a week after I got my tonsils removed the wound started bleeding. The ambulance to the hospital was crewed with two conscripts(civil service the alternative to the army) and they told me that this setup is actually illegal but pretty common because of staff shortages and that they are not allowed to do more than dressing wounds and driving as fast as possible. Very uplifting. In the hospital I learned that I went to the worst hospital for my tonsil removal(10% of post op bleeding instead of the usual 5%) and I should be glad that they were admitting today and not that other hospital. Lol...

I once went with a friend to the hospital after his throat swelled in the middle of the night. He was unable to talk when we showed up. We should have called an ambulance instead of walking there but we were both drunk and stoned. First I had to explain to them that he had no normal insurance card(teachers do not have them here and I only knew that because we had talked about it before) and when the resident on duty looked at his throat he let out "wow I have never seen anything like that!" which was not very uplifting for my friend. He woke the chief resident and things improved when he took charge.

 

1 hour ago, Filippa Eilhart said:

well, there was this time when a doctor gave me an uterine infection (worst pain of my life, and I've had actual surgery) while doing a test and didn't recognise me the next day when I went to the emergency clinic and he was the one on call. It probably also was the reason why one of my fallopian tubes had to be removed.

I can't say I overcame it in any way. He was not "my" doctor, he was just there.

A horrible thing that happened to you.

Some of the women in my life had some really bad experiences especially with GPs who think they are smarter than expert doctors in the relevant field. Most people usually think they exaggerate which adds insult to injury.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Luzifer's right hand

[Raja]

I'm sorry y'all have had so many bad experiences and I wish medical professionals were not absolute trash sometimes ( And I include myself in this!)

[Xray the Enforcer]

1 hour ago, Filippa Eilhart said:

well, there was this time when a doctor gave me an uterine infection (worst pain of my life, and I've had actual surgery) while doing a test and didn't recognise me the next day when I went to the emergency clinic and he was the one on call. It probably also was the reason why one of my fallopian tubes had to be removed.

I can't say I overcame it in any way. He was not "my" doctor, he was just there.

Jesus. I am so sorry. That's just absolutely shitty.

[BigFatCoward]

Both times I delivered my children at home (unplaned) the ambulance drivers made snidey remarks about me not wanting to cut the umbilical cord (along the lines of asking if I'm squeamish).

I've cleaned up dead and mangled bodies aplenty wanker, you do your job. 

Edit. My wife gets very pissed off when i say 'delivered', she delivered the babies, I caught them. 

Edited February 2, 2022 by BigFatCoward

[Fragile Bird]

30 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Both times I delivered my children at home (unplaned) the ambulance drivers made snidey remarks about me not wanting to cut the umbilical cord (along the lines of asking if I'm squeamish).

I've cleaned up dead and mangled bodies aplenty wanker, you do your job. 

Edit. My wife gets very pissed off when i say 'delivered', she delivered the babies, I caught them. 

We need that “wow” emoji!

[BigFatCoward]

18 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

How far away were you? Are we talking spin-bowler wicket-keeper, or fast-bowler wicket-keeper?

Close enough she could see the terror in my eyes.  

The best part was for the second one the 3 year old toddled Into the room as it happened, having been woken up by the noise, then helped by running around getting towels and wipes. 

[Rippounet]

When I was 18, I booked an appointment with a downtown dentist. I'd just arrived in town and was quietly impressed by how clean and orderly my new city was.
The dentist told me I needed a dental scaling, which is pretty much standard procedure here when you go see a dentist after a year or two. He then told me that I should just shout if he hurt me.
It very quickly hurt, and I very quickly started moaning (it's not easy to shout with a dentist's milling machine in your mouth), but instead of giving me a reprieve (as dentists usually do in this case), he just kept going and hurt me more.
For about a quarter of an hour I kept doing my best to get him to stop, continuously trying to scream while frantically trying to wave at the nurse, who actually held one of my hands in place at some point instead of telling her boss I was in pain. I couldn't quite do much more, because, again, I had a couple of tools in my mouth, and was terrified that if I tried to close my mouth or move my tongue, the rotating tool of terror would hurt my gums or my tongue badly.
After what felt like an eternity, the torture finally stopped. I spit out the blood in the bowl and leapt to the dentist with balled fists. I stopped within a few inches of him because I realized he looked neither sorry nor afraid, but amused. Glancing at the nurse, I realized she had a small grin. Their attitude confused me deeply, and this attitude allowed me to regain my senses. I knew that if I took a swing at the dentist, my entire future would be in jeopardy. It just wasn't worth it, so I swallowed my rage and left, swearing to myself to never go to that dentist again.

It was many years later that I discovered the explanation for all this, by reading an article on the internet.
At 18 my mom and I were as poor as one can be in France, so we were on a kind of "medicaid" program. France may have universal health program, but there's still an administrative difference between health coverage for the poor (who can't contribute to the program) and every one else (who contributes through their paycheck or has contributed before).
What I didn't know was that this "medicaid" meant that health professionals were reimbursed significantly later than in other cases, and even often had to send the papers several times before they could be paid.
So for that reason, some professionals, especially dentists, made sure that anyone on "medicaid" would never ever come to see them again. My 15 minutes of torture were only a way for the dentist to tell me that he didn't want a poor kid as a patient.
Just one of the many many unexpected ways in which being born poor sucks.

[Luzifer's right hand]

6 minutes ago, BigFatCoward said:

Close enough she could see the terror in my eyes.  

The best part was for the second one the 3 year old toddled Into the room as it happened, having been woken up by the noise, then helped by running around getting towels and wipes. 

An experience for the whole family!

[Tywin et al.]

Everyday at work. 

[rotting sea cow]

1 hour ago, Rippounet said:

What I didn't know was that this "medicaid" meant that health professionals were reimbursed significantly later than in other cases, and even often had to send the papers several times before they could be paid.

I believe that problem is still common in many socialized health care systems, which leads to behaviors like the one I described in my post where the doctor gives you 30 seconds to describe your health issues. The same doctor might behave differently with private patients.

 

 

[Gorn]

Root canal therapy without any anesthesia, when I was maybe 10-12. This was in post-war Bosnia, when everyone was dirt-poor and hospitals only had the basics, which did not include any anesthetics for this procedure. I don't blame the dentist, she did the best she could considering the situation.

Took me a long time to overcome the trauma and start visiting dentists after that.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Gorn

[HexMachina]

My local GP and the Child/Adolescent Mental Health team at my local hospital failed to properly diagnose me as having an eating disorder for over half a year despite some pretty clear signs (low mood, sever weight loss, irritability, downy hair over my body from malnourishment ) and my parents sending me back time and time again. They also missed it after I was rushed to hospital as an emergency late on night. While I was on the ward my case worker was there everyday speaking to other people on the ward and completely ignored Mr, not coming to see me until the day before I was discharged. When I was readmitted a few weeks later she also ignored me and only started looking for a bed in a more suitable/specialist hospital when my mam managed to catch her and confront her as she was trying to leave the ward. I never really got over that to be honest, and had a lot of resentment when I eventually had to come home and see her again on a regular basis. However i was able to direct that resentment to her as an individual  rather than the medical profession more generally. 

Aside from that I have had painful medical experiences at the dentist etc. but the actual medical professionals involved were very good at their job and did their best to keep me as comfortable as possible. It was just a painful procedure.

[Corvinus85]

I don't have any terrible experiences with a particular professional, but in recent years I've hated having to give blood for analyses, even though my doctor always insists it to be done as part of my checkup.

My veins in the elbow areas just aren't that large or maybe they're twisted. So the lab techs always play the guessing game, like it's Russian roulette but backwards, where each missed poke is bad. I'm not afraid of needles but it's incredibly irritating, even stressful at times. Whenever I see a young tech I silently groan because it takes an experienced one to get the blood going. I once got poked 4 times until they got it, and I've had a few bruises occasionally as a result. Once they had to do it on the back of the hand because they couldn't get it otherwise.

I asked several times if there is a way to scan my circulatory system to see if they can map my veins in the arms and maybe that could help get it easier, but got no answer or just shrugs.

[Maithanet]

I went to the a new doctor to look at my knee, and he was an elderly man who recommended that I go to google, type in knee pain, "and press click". 

 

(not as bad as the stories above, but still worth sharing).