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Reddit user Beyondthebloodmoon recently asked, “What’s the rudest thing a doctor has ever said to you?” Unfortunately, a looooot of people had horror stories about incredibly rude, snarky, and offensive doctors. Although many folks who work in healthcare are heroes who do a thankless job, there are still some people in the profession who let ego, bias, and other negative factors impact their work. Here are some of the most jaw-droppingly rude comments patients endured:
1. “A doctor told my mother and me that all teenage girls are either ’ov…
Reddit user Beyondthebloodmoon recently asked, “What’s the rudest thing a doctor has ever said to you?” Unfortunately, a looooot of people had horror stories about incredibly rude, snarky, and offensive doctors. Although many folks who work in healthcare are heroes who do a thankless job, there are still some people in the profession who let ego, bias, and other negative factors impact their work. Here are some of the most jaw-droppingly rude comments patients endured:
1. “A doctor told my mother and me that all teenage girls are either ‘over-dramatic, lazy, or desperate for attention,’ but I was just ‘an unfortunate combination of all three.’ Anyway, I was diagnosed with Lupus months later when I went to a specialist.”
2. “During a pap. ‘You’re really tight. Your boyfriend must enjoy that.’ I should have reported her.”
3. “I flatlined during surgery to tie my tubes. After CPR and those paddles, I woke up in the ICU with the procedure not done. A (newbie) nurse said that was ‘god’s way of telling me I should have kids.’ ‘By killing me?!’ I screamed and told her to fuck off and not ever come into my room again. Then, I ratted her out.”
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4. “An endocrinologist said to me: ‘I don’t deal with female hormones. You’ve wasted my time when I could’ve seen people who need me. I’d show you the door, but it’s the same way you came in,’ and then left. Turns out I had PCOS. My gynecologist handles it now.”
5. “’People live with pain all the time. Why are you so special?”
6. “I was 20 and went to my doctor to get on birth control because I started having sex with my boyfriend. She told me, ‘Your mother must be so disappointed.’ Never went back.”
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7. “I was maybe 10 or so, and had jacked up my knee pretty badly in a bike accident. I hadn’t hit my big growth spurt yet and was pretty chubby. Doc looked at me and said something along the lines of, ‘Well, kid, that’s going to leave a scar, but it’s not like you are model material.’”
8. “When I told my (female) OB-Gyn I was finished having children, she asked me, ‘Well, what if one of your boys dies? You’ll want to have another.’”
9. “‘Don’t come back until you’re screaming and dying on the floor,’ said the ER doctor who refused to admit me for severe abdominal pain and nausea at 12. She then went on about how girls are always so dramatic and faking things at that age. Fast forward six years, and I find out I have endometriosis. That was baby’s first flare-up.”
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10. “When I was 19 and on Accutane, my dermatologist asked me what I was using for birth control. I told him ‘abstinence.’ He said, ‘You know that means you can’t go to a frat party and get drunk and have sex with a stranger, right?’ Uh...right.”
11. “I was in my 20s and saw a lot of blood in the toilet after a bowel movement. I was mortified to have to see the doctor about this, but too scared not to. My regular doctor was on vacation, and someone else was filling in for him. When he enters the room, I tell him why I’m there and then say I’m really embarrassed. He says without skipping a beat, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t be embarrassed about this! What you SHOULD be embarrassed about is your weight.’”
12. “‘You’re too young to have heart problems. Come back when it gets worse.’ Went to a different doctor, and I have a Supraventricular tachycardia. May need heart surgery if it worsens, so thanks, doc.”
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13. “I have something that affects my stomach and digestive tract. The current working theory is Crohn’s Disease. The pain started when I was a teenager. The doctor told me that I couldn’t possibly be in that much pain. When I insisted, he said he would test to see if I was pregnant. I was 12, and he insisted that I must be pregnant to be in that much pain. I told him I was a virgin. His response, ‘I can’t help if you’re going to lie to me so that you can keep being a slut.’”
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14. “Told me I was pregnant when I wasn’t, as a joke.’ My partner at the time and I were trying for a baby for over two years. I overheard the doctor snicker to the nurse through the closed exam room door about how he would play a trick on me. I have no idea why he did that. I was there for a kidney infection, and I felt horrible already. I was young and hadn’t developed my backbone yet, so I left in tears.”
15. “I went to a walk-in clinic to have a mole checked out on my waist just above my hip. The doctor let me know it was harmless. I said it was itchy, and he mentioned a cream I could use, then said, ‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ I was like, um, yeah? He said, ‘Tonight, ask your boyfriend to rub this cream on it for you.’ 🤮”
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16. “‘I do have something I could prescribe that will save your life, but you can’t afford it. Come back when you can.’”
17. “Through tears, I told her that my depression was a factor in my difficulties managing my chronic medical condition. She replied, ‘I don’t know why you’re crying. Some people have it worse.’”
18. “‘Your pregnancy troubles are Eve’s fault. It is just women’s lot in life.’ This was said at nearly every complaint I mentioned. I had 24/7 heartburn. No medication offered. My gallbladder was removed three weeks post-birth. I had terrible back pains. They suggested I quit working at five months pregnant. No PT offered. My second pregnancy with another doctor was COMPLETELY different!”
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19. “‘Oh, your face is so pimpled.’ That’s why I am here, sir, to treat it. But it was so rude.”
20. “I was concerned about my hormones potentially being out of whack, and the gynecologist, no joke, said I just needed to get some dick. I was so taken aback that I didn’t even say anything. One of my biggest regrets.”
21. “I went in for a sprained ankle. He glanced at the chart and said, ‘Try not being dramatic.’ It was fractured in two places.”
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22. “I was 19, just had a baby, and it was my six-week checkup. ‘You can open your legs wider. We all know how you got here.’”
23. “I experienced a burst fallopian tube from an ectopic pregnancy and underwent emergency surgery to remove the non-viable pregnancy and ruptured tube. I was placed in the labor and delivery ward to recover. The attending doctor in the morning told me I would have been a terrible mother because I didn’t know I was pregnant (ectopics aren’t viable and don’t have the ‘regular’ pregnancy symptoms). I clearly didn’t know my body or the ‘symptoms to watch for’ until it was ‘too late to save the baby.’ I told him to get the fuck out of my room and reported him. You can’t be on the labor and delivery ward saying shit like this to people.”
24. “When I went to get an IUD at age 22, as I was in a new but committed relationship, the OB/GYN refused because I had been with two other people within the year. She said I was obviously promiscuous and she wouldn’t support what would obviously lead to me spreading STIs around. She was a peach.”
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25. “My son’s pediatrician was originally from Russia. At one appointment, he stopped what he was writing and told me I had a lazy eye. I don’t. ‘But don’t worry. That’s considered attractive in some countries.’ Then he smiled and went back to writing a prescription for my son. That was the last time we went to him.”
26. “When I was 16-17, I was lying on my back and my male pediatrician said, ‘I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you realize your breasts fall into your armpits?’ I was self-conscious that I had ‘armpit boobs’ for years, but then I realized, wait a minute, I was lying on my back. That’s just how gravity and boobs work.”
27. “Random doctor, when I was in the ER with an undiagnosed illness, said, ‘Says here you have PTSD. How’d you get that?’ I replied, ‘By being around too many asshole doctors.’ The nurse laughed. He left.”
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28. “Oh gosh. Where to begin. I was approved to be sterilized by my GP. The surgeon said no because I could meet a man one day who wanted kids. I was already married. He was fully supportive of the choice. So I said, ‘To be clear, you’re telling me no because of the feelings of a man I’ve never met, who may or may not even exist?’ She denied that, and when I asked her to clarify because that’s exactly how it sounded to me, she had nothing. Just shitty pursed lips and a recommendation for an IUD. During IUD insertion, I was told there would be a bit of discomfort and a slight pinch. It was actually agonizing and took longer than usual. She said, ‘Your cervix is really deep, and you have a narrow vaginal canal.’ That doesn’t even make sense. It was narrow because it wasn’t relaxed. Didn’t appreciate that she blamed her difficulties on my vagina.”
29. “I have a chronic cough, mainly at night. My mum took me to the doctor, who told her I was doing it for attention. At night. In my sleep. Turns out I have GERD, and lying down flat made it worse. No idea I had GERD because my parents were also told that I was too young for heartburn and that I just needed to eat slower.”
30. “This is what my male doctor said to me after I lost 12 kg in less than two months because of severe stomach pain, vomiting, and nausea: ‘Oh, you were too heavy anyway, and it’s difficult to find out the cause of stomach pain in women.’”
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31. “I had a male doctor tell me I’d avoid migraines if I smiled more. Not kidding.”
32. “I was 13 or 14 and at the point where my mom wasn’t in the room with me anymore during my physicals. After my exam, the doctor told me I was at the age where I should start wearing makeup. I was so shocked. I remember thinking that had absolutely nothing to do with my health. Why is the doctor talking about that? And the doctor was a woman.”
33. “Gynecologist. During a transvaginal ultrasound, which he was performing rather...roughly, I pointed out to him that it was hurting me, and he replied: ‘Well, you’re not a virgin, so why are you complaining?’”
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34. “That I wouldn’t get sick so often if I wore dresses instead of pants.”
35. “When I went for anxiety as a teenager, I took a friend with me because, y’know, anxiety. The first thing the doctor said was, ‘What? Need someone to hold your hand?’ I did not go back (until years later, when I got a competent GP who listened).”
36. “I lost weight due to depression. My older male doctor said, ‘If you continue to lose weight like this, I’ll marry you!’ Never went back. I did get my depression under control with a different doctor and therapy, but alas, I gained the weight back.”
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37. “I didn’t schedule a follow-up for IBS because my partner ruptured his knee, had surgery, was home for three months, and within a year, I broke my leg, had multiple surgeries, and was home for three months. She was in a rotten mood when I got there, and when she asked where I left off after the initial blood test, I explained. She looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘You know, if you can’t book a simple follow-up, you won’t be a good mother.’ Never saw that bitch again.”
38. And: “She was doing a full-body exam and giggled at a physical abnormality. I wrote her up on Yelp and never went back.”
Has a medical professional ever said something rude or out of line to you? What happened? Tell us in the comments or share anonymously using this form.
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