In theory, going to the doctor should be one of the few times you can count on a professional and emotionally safe experience. But sadly, since doctors are also human beings prone to side-stepping tact and engaging in uncomfortable, and sometimes inappropriate joking, even a seemingly routine check-up can turn into a nightmare if you have a doctor with a loose mouth.
In a recent Reddit thread commenters shared the most hurtful things medical professionals have said to them, and these are bad enough a certified therapist might need to be called in to contextualize the trauma.
1. stooble got the worst kind of pep talk.
"I went to get a lump on my groin checked out, and had to remove my underpants. The doctor started a whole speech about "size isn't everything", which isn't what I went there for."
2. CurryMuncher_ was gaslit on paper.
"He asked me if I felt lonely. I said I don’t think of myself as lonely. He wrote down Lonely and underlined it."
3. Zoefschildpad was gaslit for being vitamin deficient.
"'It's all between your ears' after missing at least one, but probably two crippling vitamin deficiencies by not ordering the right test. It took me two and a half years of thinking I was lazy and pathetic before I went to another doctor and got diagnosed."
4. whyamisoawesome9 got shamed for their nerves.
"You can't be in that much pain. You must have more energy than that. Turns out the lining of my nerves was being destroyed. I was becoming paralysed, painfully."
5. carmelacorleone works with a technician from hell.
"Wasn't said to me, but someone I knew. I work at a hospital, so does my mother. We had a forty-three year old woman who had a very rare form of cancer that spread incredibly fast to just about everywhere in her body. From diagnosis to death was about twelve weeks. The medications and therapies and the general lack of mobility caused her to become swollen and obese. She was a terribly sweet lady. They took her down to Radiology for a scan and the technician made a bunch of really mean comments about her weight because she was too large for our machines so they had to arrange for a transfer to another hospital for her scans and then have her transferred back."
"The technician thought that because Miss Jeannie was dying and sick that she was deaf or didn't understand English any longer, and so while they were alone she made so many mean comments. Miss Jeannie waited until she was back in her room waiting for her transfer before she started crying. I'll never understand people who feel the need to make others feel less than or badly."
"edit: I don't know the whole story about this lady, just the few weeks I knew her when she was with us in hospital. I've seen pictures of her from as late as six months pre-diagnosis and she was just slight above average in height and weight. I imagine the inability to move and take care of herself contributed to her weight gain, but, since I'm not a doctor, I can't make any kind of diagnosis beyond my limited scope of time with her. And no, the tech still works for us, and is a woman."
6. Banzai51 was accused of being a drug seeker.
"'You're too young to have that pain, you're the textbook definition of drug seeking.' Then refused to do any further examinations of my feet, which I specifically came in for. No tests performed, just ran her hands over my feet."
"I was in my 20s and my feet started killing me during workouts/runs. Later in the mid-30s, saw a doc and he diagnosed me with plantar fasciitis, arthritis, heel spurs, and a few other things."
7. larrycorser got the worst Army treatment.
"Getting out of the army- you are 100% healthy. My medical record was about six inches thick. Went to a civilian doctor and they were astonished anyone would say that. I am rated 80% disabled."
8. chessshark got poop-shamed when they had cancer.
"Was having digestive issues I eventually learned were a result of my undiagnosed cancer.
Doctor suggested I should wipe better."
9. Lord_Stag came across an extremely withholding doctor.
"'I just don't know how you could be in so much pain being so young, I'm not going to be able to write you a prescription." My response was, "You're a dipshit; I came in because I was hurt at work, doing heavy construction." I never asked for a prescription in the first place, I had assumed I was vetting an xray to see if I had broken anything."
10. anoll69's mom works with a doctor with zero tact.
"Not me but my mom is a nurse. One of her patients got shot in the foot holding a door closed in a school shooting. He was back in the hospital because he got an infection after surgery. Doc walks in and goes “so I hope you learned your lesson about playing with guns”
Edit: The kid was super respectful “well Dr. you know that shooting at that local high school? Unfortunately I got shot during that” Happened in the US."
11. LEMON_PARTY_ANIMAL's doctor was mean out of the gate.
"When I had a kidney stone: Why did you come to the ER?? Why didn’t you take Tylenol or something? This is a waste of resources. He made me cry :("
12. Xerathi almost lost their daughter because of awful doctors.
"Wife took our 2 y/o daughter to the doctor because she was sick and her behaviour seemed to be changing. She couldn't eat or drink. Our local doctor said that's how kids are sometimes and just monitor her behaviour. As we were pretty sure there was something definitely wrong we kept seeing different doctors. Last one said we were acting hysterically and our behaviour were a problem. 5 days later our daughter seemed to had a seizure so we went to the hospital. Our daughter had a brain tumor and the doctor at the hospital said this should have been recognized sooner. He was astounded that we've seen 5 doctors all blaming us as parents to "just be acting up over nothing"."
13. CasenW got straight up shamed for their skin.
"I went to get an earache checked and the first thing the doctor said was 'Yeah so I’m gonna put you on some medicine for the ear but we’ve gotta do something about your face, your acne is absolutely terrible.' Thanks doc."
14. GuyfromMemphis received horrible news in a horrible way from a horrible doctor.
"I woke up in the hospital and heard a nurse running out saying “he’s awake”. The Dr. comes into the room and tells me to move my toes. I ask them where I am and what’s going on, he just gets more insistent that I “move your toes”. I asked again where I was and that was going on , he almost yells at me “ move your toes”. I said I am moving my toes, and immediately he says “you will never walk again.” That’s how I found out I was a paraplegic at 21 years old. I had been in a single car wreck and was thrown 70-80 feet from the car and my vertebrae was dislocated and laying next to another one. I don’t remember the car wreck but that exchange with the Dr. Is burned into my brain, and that was 31 years ago."
"Edit 1: Damn this blew up. Thank you to you all for your comments. I had a seatbelt on but went off a small hill next to the interstate after clipping an end of the guardrail. Flipped the car down the hill and seat and seatbelt gave way under the pressure and I went out the driver door window. My back collapsed around the door sill and dislocated one vertebra next to the one below it. I’m a big guy 6’4” and 235 at the time and the force was too much for the seat structure. I found out all these details over the next few weeks while I was in rehab."
15. JackReacharounnd was told they were hallucinating.
"I did a video chat service to talk to a doctor for 15 minutes. I told her my symptoms and thoughts since we were low on time. I had been very sick for weeks, possible urinary tract infection and respiratory infection. Also gave my other ideas from my symptoms. She told me I had Valley Fever and told me all about it over chat and we got cut off at 15 minutes."
"I got her final email which should have a prescription in it and was told she actually thought I had Somatic Symptom Disorder aka that I was making all of this up and was perfectly fine. Her prescription was for a fucking psychologist!! She told me in detail about my possible valley fever even though I said I hadn't been to the areas she said it was prevalent."
"I made an appointment with my normal doctor and had a few tests ran. Had a respiratory infection and a freaking KIDNEY infection!! 10 or so days of meds and I was fine.
My gosh I was so angry at that quack."
16. ur_tears_r_tasty was told they were a dramatic teen girl.
"When I was 16 and dealing with partial deafness: "Sometimes being a teenage girl is hard, but it's hard to parent them too so there's no need to exaggerate things to make things harder for your parents. Knock it off, there's nothing wrong with you."
Two tumors, 9 surgeries, and a CSF leak later, yes doctor. There really was something wrong."
17. Jollyville's dentist was a villain from Zoolander.
"I started going to a dentist that had come highly recommended by a few different people. When I asked him about the possibility of straightening my front teeth, he said “Well, you’ll never be on the cover of Vogue, but I think we can help you out”.
I stopped going to him a few appointments later when he got mad at me for telling him that the filling he did months ago still really hurt."
18. Devornine got fat-shamed for having a cyst.
"I had gained a lot of weight around my mid section a few years back, and my periods stopped. I was scared, young, and thought I was pregnant, but the tests came back negative. I went to a doctor to have myself checked out and she did some basic tests before telling me.
"There is nothing wrong with you, you're just fat"
"I already had some body confidence issues, but hearing it from my doctor, when I was trying really hard to get in shape, really hurt, I worked hard to lose weight, but my belly wouldn't shrink, I was starting to feel really sick, and went back to the doctor, who again told me it was that I was just fat. I was crushed."
"A year later I went to the hospital for something unrelated, and it was discovered that I had a giant Ovarian Cyst, about the size of a newborn. It was throwing off my hormones, making me gain weight, among many other issues. I have since lost weight and am feeling super confident now, but that doctor really messed me up for a long time."
19. IronicJeremyIrons was literally prescribed a baby.
"My doctor suggesting that I have a baby because my nether regions were too tight and causing discomfort during sex.
Yes, shit a screaming ham and see if that increases my pleasure"
20. howmuchmethistoomuch was mocked for having stretch marks.
"When I was 21 I went to the doctor for a checkup. The doctor asks me to lift my shirt and I do. He immediately says "egh" and makes a look of disgust on his face. I was an idiot and was gaining weight too quickly, due to this I had stretch marks. I've lost the weight and am normal weight now but I still can't shake that moment. This was 8 years ago."
21. HappyGiraffe had a nurse who truly couldn't read the room.
"I'm sure it's not that bad"
The intake nurse at the in patient psychiatric unit I was checking myself into after a suicide attempt following as sexual assault."