Going to the doctor can be daunting and unpleasant—especially if you have a doctor with bad bedside manner.
When asked, “What is the most unprofessional thing a doctor has said to you?” the internet shared the unbelievably unprofessional interactions that maybe should’ve gotten their doctors put under review.
You won’t believe what they said:
“You cheated on your husband!”
“(My doctor said) that either I cheated or my husband did because (the cervical pain I was having) was always chlamydia.
“It was an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured and resulted in emergency life-saving surgery. But thanks for listening. My personal obstetrician happened to be at the hospital that night and came to tell me the news herself, giving him the angriest look I’ve ever seen in a professional setting.”
“Someday, you’ll be someone else’s problem”
“I took my then four-year-old daughter to a pediatric gastroenterologist. First, he said she was just being dramatic.
“Then he said, “Well, she’ll get married someday and be someone else’s problem.” That was 25 years ago, and it still shocks me! Turned out she had a partial bowel obstruction.
“I just looked him up, and he’s still practicing.”
“What do you have to be anxious about?”
One individual described that a doctor once told her, “You’re 27. I don’t know what you have to be anxious about.”
Another added, “When I described my anxiety and depression, the doctor said, ‘But you aren’t overweight and over thirty!’ Jokes on her. I am now!”
“Well, yeah. You’re fat.”
“I went to the doctor and complained that I’d been short of breath, wheezing, and my lung capacity felt like a marble. He laughed for a ridiculous amount of time, then said, ‘Well, yeah. You’re fat.’
“I had double pneumonia.”
“Just ignore it. The pain will go away”
“‘That’s normal in your line of work. Just ignore it. The pain will go away.’
“I went in for shoulder pain, as my left shoulder was killing me after loading trucks all day. This was ongoing for weeks before I went to get it checked.
“(The doctor) didn’t examine my shoulder. Didn’t have any x-rays done, CAT scans done, MRIs done, nothing. Didn’t even have me take my shirt off.
“Turns out that I had a torn rotator cuff.”
“You’re just on your period”
“I was throwing up everything for months. (I) would get these random waves of nausea and have to run out of classes and stuff.
“Finally went to a doctor, who told me I was probably just on my period. I had already told him it had been going on for four months.
“Like yes, I’ve been on my period for four months straight and didn’t notice. What a joke.”
Shocked, a different person added, “Not to mention continuous menstruation for four months is ALSO a massive problem.”
“I don’t have time to talk about your health issue”
“He said this in an exasperated tone when I explained why I scheduled the appointment. This was after entering the room 45 minutes after my appointment time and after he’d spent 20 minutes or so in the hallway outside the door talking football with the patient he saw just before me.”
“Wow! That’s an awfully big word!”
“I went into urgent care with mastitis. I’d had it twice before, and it’s very obvious to self-diagnose. The guy wasn’t a doctor yet but was doing some practice at the urgent care.
“When I told him I had mastitis, he looked at me and said, ‘Wow! That’s an awfully big word! Where’d you learn that?!’
“I was 30. If I hadn’t been very sick at that moment, I might have kicked him in the teeth.”
“Well, if he really is the father”
“(During my) first pregnancy, my husband came to all my appointments with me. Twice, the doctor said, ‘and, if he really is the father…’
“Found a new doctor after that.”
“You’re too young”
“‘It can’t be colon cancer because you’re too young.’ My brother got cancer at (my) exact age, which she knew.”
Offering some insight, a different person added, “The really (messed) up thing about this is that it’s standard procedure to monitor for colon cancer based on family history.
“Generally, guidelines recommend if a first-degree family member had colon cancer before they were elderly, (other family members) should start getting screened at an age 10 years younger than when the family member was diagnosed. That doctor straight-up ignored national treatment guidelines.”
“Children get tummy aches”
“My older sister had unbearable gastrointestinal issues for years growing up. The pediatrician told our parents that ‘children get tummy aches’ and to try peppermint Altoids.
“She ended up having emergency surgery where they had to remove her entire large intestine because it was necrotic and had tumors. Permanent colostomy by the time she was 14.”
The doctor shared secrets
“(This wasn’t) said to me but said about me. I found out from my friend, who went to the same doctor, that he told her things about my last appointment. What about doctor-patient confidentiality?”
This got people angry, who said things such as, “I hope you reported him to the medical board. That is a major ethical violation.”
This article was written and syndicated by What the Fab.
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Elise Armitage is an entrepreneur and founder of What The Fab, a travel + lifestyle blog based in California. At the beginning of 2019, Elise left her corporate job at Google to chase her dreams: being an entrepreneur and helping women find fabulous in the everyday. Since then, she’s launched her SEO course Six-Figure SEO, where she teaches bloggers how to create a passive revenue stream from their website using SEO. Featured in publications like Forbes, Elle, HerMoney, and Real Simple, Elise is a firm believer that you can be of both substance and style.
