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Patients of Reddit: What happened when a doctor or nurse accused you of "faking it" when you were actually in need of urgent medical care?
- My friend's dad went to the ER and the doctor said he was fine after minimal examination. Her dad insisted something was wrong and said he wouldn't leave until they ran some tests.
As he was being escorted out by security, he had a brain aneurysm and died.
Her family was awarded a pretty massive malpractice settlement, but they were absolutely devastated.
— broganisms
- I fell down a flight of stairs one time while working. Hit a nail on the way down and ripped my forearm open and was bleeding a good bit. Adrenaline had me going long enough for my girlfriend (a nurse at another hospital) to drive me there. I had a bloody paper towel on my arm and all the security guards and nurses assumed I was a junky that blew a vein. Finally all the hype wore off and I kinda passed out and woke up in a wheelchair in the exam room.
I don't know exactly what happened but my girlfriend was flipping shit on the workers. She said half of them assumed I was on drugs and the other half thought I was faking it to skip the line. I wasn't dying of blood loss or anything, I just got whoozy when I actually was able to see the meat in my arm for the first time. They all just watched me as I fell to the floor and busted my head on the floor. Even then they didn't do anything. My girlfriend who's not even half my size as I'm not a small guy at all had to pick me up and drag me into the wheelchair. Fuck that hospital.
— killdill91
- Not as a patient but as a parent of a patient.
My wife and I started to suspect that something was wrong with our son starting at age 2. He would run around all day and was an active little guy but never sweat. He also never appeared to get cold. We live in New England and he would often take his shirt off before going to sleep even in the winter months. These concerns were dismissed as a "toddlers are weird" sort of thing by his doctor.
We later noticed that he would stop and complain about his hands or feet hurting while playing or laying in bed. These were also dismissed. We were told that the pain in his feet could be because his feet are flat or because of growing pains. We were told that it could also be attention related. The doctor said that it's not uncommon for middle children to act out.
This continued for 4 years. My sister is a biologist and asked us if we ever got him checked for Fabry disease. I flat out asked the doctor if he could be tested and the doctor told us that there was no way this was Fabry and they weren't going to test a kid without any genetic history of the disorder (the disorder is genetic) and without a classic sign (one that often doesn't show up until adulthood, if it shows up at all).
We waited until our son was literally screaming in bed about his hands and feet feeling like they were on fire. We demanded to get him tested and he was diagnosed with Fabry. It's essentially a metabolic disorder caused by a missing enzyme. There are many issues associated with it but the main one is extreme neuropathic pain in the hands and feet. The pain can be be random but with my son it is normally because he overheated since he lacks the ability to sweat. He plays sports so we have to be careful. Over activity and fevers have to be watched out for since his body can't cool itself down. Pain can last anywhere from a couple of minutes to a couple of days.
The average age of diagnosis for this disorder is around 16 so it's not surprising that his doctor missed it. Most doctors do since it's a rare disorder. That was a little over a year ago and my son is doing well now. There is no cure but treatment allows him to live a relatively normal life just with some added pain. I couldn't imagine making him wait until his teens to get any relief.
— Shostakovich22
- I was in labor and because it was my first, they acted like I had no idea what was happening and kept denying what I was insisting. I was over 2 months early and handle pain so well, they acted like it was just in my head. Made me stand at the counter filling out paperwork, while I insisted I needed to push.
They decided to lay me down to check, " if I had even started dilating", and I promptly pushed him out. I was furious with how I was treated. I still am.
— Turd_Burgle_E
- My mother had a stroke at age 32. The doctors didn’t diagnose it properly for over 24 hours because they were convinced her symptoms must have been related to drugs since she was in good health and so young. My dad apparently tried to tell them that she has no history of drug use but they didn’t believe him. Now she’s permanently disabled because of how long it took for her to receive proper treatment.
— dammit_sammy
- Not me but my best friend nearly died of a kidney infection that her doctor brushed off as period cramps.
— mollieflower
- Not me, but my mother. She had called an ambulance because she had been experiencing chest pains, to which they basically told her she was crazy. About a month later, she passed away from a heart attack.
— Raindancerachael
- When I was in labor the hospital had my records wrong and showed I was due a month later. I was pissed especially since I was in labor and in a lot of pain. The lady kept arguing until she realized I was in labor. She must have heard all the shit my boyfriend, now husband, we're talking about her.
— graciepaint4
- Not my chilld, my brother. He was 11 and suddenly tired, and lethargic. He missed a lot of school, he hated missing school. My mom kept taking him in and they'd say it's the flu, or puberty, or mono, and it wouldn't ever get better.
After a few weeks of this my mom brought him to the hospital again, and yelled at his doctors that something was seriously wrong with her son, and they needed to do their jobs and figure out what it was. It was leukemia. They called the next morning just before 2 am and said the tests came back, your son needs to come in now. Not in the morning, right now.
I can't imagine what happens to a parent in that moment, when you know it's bad because they call you in at 2am, but you don't know why. He was in treatment for just over a year, and was rediagnosed on his birthday. A few months later, he had a bone marrow transplant, and was able to come home pretty quickly.
There were complications from the transplant, called graft vs. host disease (like organ rejection, but the new cells try to reject you). It attacked his musculoskeletal system, causing stiffness and some dangerous situations. This Oct. will be 8 years since the transplant, and he's cancer free. That boy loves to use the cancer card now, but he definitely earned the right.
Edit: read that parents, not patients. Oh well.
Edit: this is now my most popular comment. Upstaged by the little bro. :P best wishes to everyone, especially those that are going through some hard times.
— AngerPancake
- Happened to my mom. They told her she was having an anxiety attack. She was having a heart attack.
— DeterministDiet
- To my doctor’s credit, we both kind of had a laugh at this one before the test results came back.
I went to my primary because I’d been experiencing hot flashes. Dr. Google couldn’t tell me what was wrong, and I knew it didn’t feel right.
“Well at least we know it isn’t menopause” my doctor joked. I laughed. What 23 year old woman spontaneously goes through menopause?
This one.
My doctor was very apologetic.
ETA: I’m on hormone therapy now and doing fine. Luckily didn’t end up with any crazy negative side effects, but could have if my doctor didn’t run a full workup just to be safe.
— TonyDanzer
- Changing it up just a little- my colleagues were convinced a girl was just faking a stomach ache. She was about 16 years old and it was exam season, a time when we would get many sudden 'tummy aches', 'fits', etc so I understood their skepticism but something didn't sit right with me.
I took her history myself, and sent her for an emergency ultrasound of her abdomen. Ectopic pregnancy. It was ready to rupture at any moment, so I shipped her over to obs/gyn to get surgery asap. She came out just fine but man oh man did I give my coworkers a hard time after that. Exam season or not, we need to be thorough.
Had another time when it was just me and one other doctor working admission. She'd dismissed a case of a little girl faking fatigue for attention. Thankfully I overheard her telling someone so I went to double check. The poor girl was having a carpopedal spasm, and was most definitely NOT faking her condition. Hooked her up to some calcium and sent her home with meds the next day.
I'm not trying to make it sound like I am perfect, but in our line of work we must always be a little paranoid.
— dudeimmadoc
- Was 12 years old and had a heart problem that was just starting to show. Arrythmea and palpatations, only happened when overexerting myself, go to cardiologist and was accused of faking it to get out of chores and soccer practice. By the time i'm 15 my heart is absolutely unreliable throughout the day, during an attack I would lose my sight and pass out. Same cardiologist still claimed I was faking it, kids just don't have heart conditions. 16 years old and my heart finally stops, luckily I passed out earlier at school and was in the nurses office when my heart stopped after another episode. Woke up in the hospital, and btw had a heart deformation that required surgery. My mother blew her lid according my doctor of wanting to see me dead. Went to his office and threw his degrees and awards off his wall at him and was screaming at him. Only reason she didn't sue was to prevent assault charges. Simple echocardiograph showed growth causing the electricity to pump my heart to go in circles. Wasn't fun having heart attack simulations nearly every day for 4 years.
Before anyone asks, was poor and that cardiologist was the only one on my mother's insurance.
— vertigo7__
- I wouldn’t really say they didn’t believe that I was in pain, but didn’t believe how much pain I was in.
In February 2016, I started getting side cramps. I went to the ER, they said I had a tiny ovarian cyst. Okay cool I’ve had those before.
In March 2016, I started my period and it continued until June. Between March and May I went to (at least) 7 doctor’s offices and ERs. I’ve had several ultrasounds and always had about 5-6 cysts spread between both of my ovaries. I was told I was too young, “you’re only 23, we don’t want to take the cysts out cause it could damage your ovaries or you could lose one or both if something goes wrong and what if you want to have kids one day.” And on one instance, “it’s a Saturday and we don’t feel like calling a surgeon in.” I was calling off work or leaving early at least once a week. I always had a portable heating pad on and taking pretty heavy pain pills.
In May 2016, I finally found a doctor who would do exploratory surgery on me. He pretty much opened me up, went “holy shit” and closed me back up. I then had to have a major surgery a couple weeks later because my left ovary had “eaten” the cysts and was attaching itself to my colon and an artery in my leg.
So I ended up losing my ovary anyway ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I did throw a “See You Later Ovulater” party before my big surgery which was a big hit.
— ginabeena