Worst Medical Horror Stories On Reddit

Here's my worst one: I went to see a new doctor about medication for my depression and he laughed and asked me "haha what's his name?" Yeah no dude I wasn't there because of a breakup. I was happily married and had bloody actual clinically diagnosed depression.

I think I was 21 at the time, a junior in college. One day I woke up and found a lump on my breast. I scheduled an appointment with a doc (not my usual doc since I was away for college). When he walked in he acted very annoyed and the first thing he said was "You're too young for breast cancer. Have them schedule you for an ultrasound in a couple of weeks." No one even looked at the lump. Fast forward a week and the lump has grown. It was very red, painful, and even wearing a bra was too much. I went to urgent care. Turns out I had an infected ingrown hair that had gotten really really bad. They started me on antibiotics and by the time the ultrasound came around it was fine. I'll never forget the urgent care doctor, though. He was a funny little German man with a thick accent. He asked me if the other doctor had prescribed any antibiotics already. I told him he didn't even look at the lump. He immediately flew into an angry rant all in German. Then he stopped and said, "You don't speak German do you?" I said no. He nodded and said, "That's for the best. Now let's actually do something about this."

My ex called 911 and told them I was suicidal because he was mad at me for dumping him. I was committed and explained the situation, but I was told that I couldn't leave until after being evaluated by the doctor in the morning, despite the fact that I had to start work at a job that I had recently started an hour before the doctor would be in. I looked through my paperwork to see if there was anything I could do and discovered that some of my forms were printed on the other side of another patient's forms, which included her name, address, social security number, and the reasons for her admittance. I quickly memorized some of her information and went back to the office with one of the pages, which I dropped on his desk. I told him that I have the other pages, recited her information, and told him that if I'm not released that night, I would be reporting them for a HIPAA violation. They had me released within the hour, and I still reported them.

I had a hernia. I asked a doctor to examine it, and she refused to refer me to a surgeon (I'm in Canada - I'm not allowed to see a specialist until a GP refers me) because "no surgeon would be excited about fixing it." Years later, after the hernia had grown quite a bit, I got to see a surgeon. I told him the GP story and he immediately asked for the name of the first GP so he could report her.

1:00 In my struggle to stay healthy, I went from 'morbid obese', to 'obese', and eventually to 'overweight'. Still remember having my doctor walk in to the room, look up from the chart, and say "YAY!!! You're overweight!!!!"

My little sixteen year old sister had lost a lot of weight in a short time (severly underweight, and a telltale sign of cancer), threw up everything she ate, was dizzy, couldn't get out of bed or even walk without a walker. My father begged for an MRI, no luck. They diagnosed her with a diagnosis that basically said it was all in her head (because she was transgender and had gone through some little trauma). Physically nothing was wrong with her. She had a braintumor. They found out three weeks later when she turned blind and the mental health professionals where like no this is definitely not a mental problem. She died a year later. If they had started the right treatment earlier she probably also wouldn't have survived, but the quality of the life would have been significantly better, as she may not have become blind. My father begged for an MRI for months before she got the diagnosis. RIP Jaxz

When I was 16 I went to my pcp to talk about birth control because of really terrible chronic ovarian cysts. She gave me a huge lecture and said “If god wants you to get pregnant, who are you to block the path he has for you?” 😳😳😳 Needless to say, after that day I was no longer a patient of hers.

Went for a very expensive private neurologist after being dismissed by many doctors (mostly male). I had the means to pay for the appointment which is already more than most and I choose a female doctor knowing about gender bias. She made a quick examination and talking to my father instead of me decided I needed to make friends and learn to play a new instrument. Note: I had so much joint pain that most days I couldn’t properly hold a fork to eat. I left the clinic in tears and I still have anxiety crisis every time I have to visit a new doctor. I was later diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos, a rare genetic disease, mainly because I knew something was very wrong and kept advocating for myself.

My medical records were combined with my identical twins bc someone decided we were the same person since our last names and date of birth were the same. Took years to convince my insurance that I actually existed after this and the hospital wouldn’t even speak to me bc of HIPAA since I wasn’t a patient anymore since they combined our charts

My worst one: I was fourteen suffering with severe depression and having symptoms of psychosis. After a particularly violent instance of self harm, my parents took me to the ER for treatment and to find an inpatient bed somewhere. I somehow ended up in a room alone with two male doctors. They both loomed over the bed and told me that it was a shame I was hurting myself this way because I was "ruining a very attractive young body." I will never forget the absolute shame and disgust I felt in that moment. It still haunts me 20 years later. PS - I am now living a healthy, happy life and haven't self harmed in 17 years. So much love and support to anyone who might be struggling ❤

Since I was 13, I've always gotten sick horribly and very often (like if i got a cold I would feel bad for nearly two weeks). After seven years of going to doctors and them all telling me that I'm "just being overdramatic" I finally found a doctor who took a look at the issue seriously. Here we are nearly a year later and I've been diagnosed with a genetic autoimmune condition that has apparently been affecting my family for generations. I cannot stress the importance of finding a doctor who will listen and take you seriously. You know your body best so if something isn't right and you know for a fact it isn't, advocate for yourself.

My worst experience is when I got a vaginal mycosis for the first time around the age of 20. I did some research before consulting with a gynaecologist, to able to describe my symptoms clearly as I have never experienced that before. When I told him "maybe it could be mycosis", after being asked for the reason of the consultation, he went annoyed and said "how can you know it is?". I was a bit stunned, but moved on. After a very rushed check-up, he confirmed it was indeed mycosis and prescribed me a treatment. I went to a pharmacy nearby with the prescription, and the pharmacist looked at it with worried look, then she said "your gynaecologist prescribed corticosteroids cream to treat your vaginal mycosis, should I really give it to you?". I was ignorant and I asked her if it was a problem. She said yes, it would destroy my mucous instead of healing it. At that time, feminine anti-mycosis cream in France was not available over the counter, so I basically ended up with no treatment and had to see another gynaecologist, this time female. That truly scared me to consult with male gynaecologists, even though I know there are many great ones.

I hear so many stories (especially from women I know) about doctors misdiagnosing them for months and years. Multiple docs, specialists, and still being ignored or dismissed, before finally finding someone who does the right tests to figure out what’s actually wrong. What bothers me the most is this: all those docs and specialists who misdiagnosed them for all those years will never find out they were wrong. There’s no feedback mechanism to alert them that they misdiagnosed this case. How are they supposed to learn from their mistakes and improve their care if they don’t know they made a mistake in the first place?

Ill never forget when I was in labor and a male OB came in who I didn’t know bc my doctor was delivering a baby. He was insistent on doing a check to see how dialated I was. I told him I was very uncomfortable with cervical exams from males from past trauma and he was OFFENDED. He was like “I’m a doctor. You’re going to have to wait an hour at least if you want a female or you could just let me do it”. I was crying at that point and told him I would wait. He left the room with such an attitude, I ended up filing a complaint against him and he wasn’t allowed in my room again.

I can pinpoint the real start of my ED cycle to something an NHS nurse said. I had struggled with my weight my whole life due to mental and physical illness. This one time, I was weighed at a standard checkup. I was overweight but very proud at having lost over 2st in recent months. The nurse practically spat the words "you're overweight". I smiled and said "I know, but I've worked really hard lately, and I've lost X." She responded with the nastiest tone and with a lonnng gaze up and down me, "mhm. Well you're still overweight. You need to lsoe more." To say that I cried after leaving that room is an understatement. I had never been more ashamed of myself in my whole life, and it still makes me emotional today. I've carried various severe EDs for years now, and I'm still terrified of making appointments in case they weigh me and judge me the same way.

Over a decade ago I was in surgery and, unbeknownst to me, the surgeon struggled with substance abuse. A camera was forced through my aorta and up into my heart. It was horrible. I bled out and a 45 minute surgery went on for about 18 hours, followed by six weeks in a coma and months of physical therapy. I’ve still never gone back to my old work. It was awful.

I was admitted for heart issues. I suddenly started shaking uncontrollably and my heart monitor went off and the nurses rushed in. One nurse yelled at me to stop shaking. I couldn’t. A doctor came in and asked why I was shaking. The nurse rudely said that she didn’t know and that I was refusing to stop. The doctor was concerned. Made them take a bp reading. It was so low the monitor couldn’t read it. The doctor yelled at the nurse that that was why I was shaking, something was clearly wrong. Turns out I had an undiagnosed kidney infection and had gone into septic shock.

When I was a teenager I got contact lenses and the novelty made me pay attention and I noticed that something was off with one of my eyes. I couldn't exactly describe it. I went to my ophtalmologist and he did a lot of test, including a retinal scan, and said it was just a corneal abrasion that would heal on its own. I came back a couple of times becase I still felt something was wrong, and on the last visit the doctor took my mom to the side and told her "what she needs is a psychiatrist. This is just attention seeking." Luckly for me my mom took me to another doctor for a second opinion. I had to have emergency surgeryto fix an advanced retinal detachment.The surgeon couldn't undertand how the other doctor missed it because it was pretty bad. But my worst experiences with doctors were when I was a relative to the patient, in both cases my parents. The first, my mom had an accident and was declared brain dead on the ER. While we were waiting I left my 80 year old father alone for like 10 min. He was in a bad state and had told the doctors that I was to be the one to make decisions and up to that point the doctors had all spoken to me. But one neurosurgeon waited until he was alone to speak to him to recommend some miracle surgery. When I came back I could see the stars in my dad's eyes, he was so hopeful this was going to save her. I talked to the surgeon because it seemed weird, and he finally admited it was a surgery to remove bone fragments from my mom's brain, and that it would make no difference to her. She still would be brain dead. I guess he just wanted the experience or the money. I'll never forget the look in my dad's face when I explained to him there was no hope. I broke his heart again and it was totally unnecessary. Then with my dad. He woke up with severe abdominal pain. After hours of waiting on the ER a resident barely looked at him and said "he's dehydrated," asked a nurse to give him IV fluids and sent him home. I guess he just looked at some old man who wasn't complaining (he was pretty stoic) and assumed there was nothing wrong. I asked him and other doctors to at least examine him and they all ignored me. A nurse told me to go the staff room where the chief was and make a scene (I guess the doctors ignored her too). The chief came and diagnosed him with a ruptured colon, he needed emergency surgery. The guy called all the residents and screamed at them. Apparently it wasn't the first time they dismised a patient because of their age.

Here’s mine: I’ve been described as having a “nervous stomach” for most of my life… disregarding the time where I couldn’t eat, my worsening pain, etc. Slowly, I got better, and could disregard my “nervous stomach.” Then, after about three good years, I suddenly went downhill, and FAST. Guess who turned out to have severe Crohn’s disease, most likely through my entire life, almost got hospitalized and nearly got surgery (though I still might tbh).

I’m gonna use your “if I tell you nothing serious is going on, is this still bothering you” method when talking to my doctor from now on. It’s not just pain, either. At this point, my doctor telling me my persistent fatigue, lethargy, and brain fog (among other nonspecific chronic symptoms) is “nothing serious” is FRUSTRATING, not reassuring. It’s keeping me from living my life and making it hard to keep up with my job. I want to know why, and I want to fix it.