Hey Pandas, Share Your Worst Experience With A Doctor

A few years ago, I had to undergo meniscus surgery on my right knee. I had shaved my leg beforehand, as requested. After receiving the spinal anesthesia, the surgeon told me that I should have shaved my leg. He was about to operate on the wrong knee. They had to move all the equipment to the other side.

I’m 31 at the clinic with a sinus infection or something. The doctor, a much older man, is a total creep. He keeps looking down my shirt and feeling around while listening to my breathing. He says I must have mono because it’s winter break. He ignores what I tell him about my symptoms and goes on about how it’s the kissing disease and my boyfriend must be cheating on me. I’m blunt about how wrong he is but he refused to give me any medicine and I leave.

I’m about to exit the lobby when he comes chasing me down with papers in his hand. He gasps, you’re 31, not 21. I just glare at him. He says my records show I had mono years ago so it can be that. I said, yeah I told you. He looks ill and a bit scared, and hands me a prescription for antibiotics. I just shook my head and said loudly ‘you’re disgusting ’. In hindsight I should have formally complained but I was so sick and tired I could barely think.

I got 2 that truly stand out:

1. had a concussion and a neck injury playing rugby in 2002, got ambulanced to his rooms with the head coach and my dad meeting us there. Mr Doctorman say to coach and dad "its late, i am going home. My son chose medicine, yours chose rugby, not my problem." never seen my dad that angry and the coach reminded he was legally bound to our school.

2. Prolly 2008ish, used a new dentist (husband/wife duo) during root canal procedure I feel and hear a sort of click. Husband walks out, brings in wife and non verbal conversation happens. She nods, I ask what's going on and he advises that its a "weird spot" but completes the root canal initial session and a second session 2 weeks later.

I suffered with abscesses for years until the pain was unbearable. New dentist takes a look and says the root canal was botched and it would be best to remove the tooth (the one between the front teeth and the incisor) and low and behold there is a drill bit sticking out the root and every time i bit with that tooth, the bit with push into my gum!

The "click" which I heard/felt was the drill bit breaking, the dentists chose to leave it in and say nothing.

As an asthma and COPD sufferer, I had pneumonia several times before, so I knew the signs. I went to the doctor and told him I had pneumonia. He went on a tirade lecturing me on people with a bit of a cold who waste his time and resources when we should have stayed home, rested and taken two aspirin. The lecture went on, it was belittling, and I was near tears. He was preparing to leave the room when I began coughing, hard and long. I spat a large amount of black phlegm into the trash can. He took a look and said, "Oh, you have pneumonia." I said, "That's how I started this conversation.".

Mine is from something I saw and it's not really the person being a bad doctor. I was at a community clinic and they were doing blood test for persons and the doctor, from her age I assume she was just out of university, was trying to draw blood and gosh, she probably stuck the woman's arm like 12 times and I can see on the lady's face she's really freaked out and she tries a few more times and thankfully at that point a nurse was like, here, let me help you and she got it in one go. I felt bad for both the doctor and the patient but I guess that's where years of practice comes in.

The doctor I saw for my sleep disorders had to retire because of health issues so I was I scheduled to a new one, and this guy acted like I was wasting his precious time from the second he walked in the room. He was so rude and dismissive and seemed convinced that I was falling asleep at the wheel every time I drove. Oh, and he wasn't allowed to prescribe Ambien. WTF??? So yeah, that was my one and only visit with that clown. I called the clinic to complain and got a new doctor who could actually get me the sleep meds I needed and got me a sleep study.

I was having some stomach issues and was sent to see a specialist. The chap was probably late 60s, but looked 109. Very posh English. Any hoo, I had to drop my trousers and saucy boxer shorts and then lay on the bench thing on my side, fetal position. He lubed up what felt like one of those old-fashioned fireplace bellows (the blow-y thing), shoved it into an area of mine that does not see sunshine, and then attempted to inflate my innards like I was a balloon, but one that he was angry with for some reason. At some stage a camera went up to have a look as well (reading this back now I'm starting to wonder if I should have asked to see some medical credentials first). It was a pretty uncomfortable situation, not just from a 'thing stuck up my b*m-hole' point of view, but also an awkward social situation. Anyway, as he finished* and pulled the comedy air-pump out of my chocolate star area, I turned and said what I thought was a brilliantly funny line: "What? No cuddle?". The silence was so horrifying that all the tumbleweeds rolled by in the background. I've probably never been funny and there was no-one there to witness it. Gutted.


*I probably could have phrased this better.

This was last year. I(44f) was having troubles with my vision. For context, I wore glasses, but I noticed things getting blurry until almost everything was sorta opaque. Turns out I had cataracts. Unfortunately my doctor stopped doing surgeries, so I was sent to his partner, who I'd never visited. Go through all the tests, and confirm I need surgery. Ok let's do it. He asks me if I have any questions. Wouldn't anyone that young have questions? So I ask a few. He soon cuts me off, looking frustrated, and tells me he doesn't think he can help me. I'm legally blind at this point, and now have to find a new doctor. I did get my eyes fixed and now have better vision than before. Horrible position to be in, but it worked out in the end.

Got told for 10 years by my doctor me being exhausted is me just needing a good night's rest, or to read a certain book. The psychiatrist I went to dismissed me after a while and when I said I Was still exhausted he told me he hoped for me that would pass. When I finally saw a new doctor and told her ho exhausted I was all the time, she said harshly I should do some sport. At that point I could hardly walk till the end of my street. I went to another doctor last month and he told me in my case a doctor should immediately think about chronic fatigue syndrome. Sticking with this guy and getting myself checked at a specialized university for this and so far they told me my story is classic for chronic fatigue syndrome. Hope to have the official recognition by mail anytime now. Never give up and keep searching for a doctor who has your back

When I had my second c-section, they let a resident do a spinal on me instead of an epidural. It didn't work; only my legs got numb. But they didn't believe me when I said I could still feel, because my "abdominal skin was mottled" which somehow proved to them that it was numb, more than my words did. I felt like the character Mel Gibson played in Braveheart would have felt.

I needed 3 of my wisdom teeth taken out because they were impacted. I was 16. The surgeon was an older guy and looking back, he was probably old enough to be retired. He also removed my brother's wisdom teeth about 2 years prior and my brother had his split into 2 surgeries: one where they didn't give him enough anesthesia and I don't remember what the case was with the other. This is important.

Anyway, everything that I had to do before the surgery went well. At some point, I asked the oral surgeon what happened if I woke up while I was under general anesthesia. He told me that waking up under general anesthesia is impossible and I believed him. During my surgery, I opened my eyes. To my horror, I saw one of my teeth. Blood was dripping onto the drape over my body. I was horrified, disgusted and furious. I don't remember much after that, other than an assistant making me watch someone (I really have no clue who it was) give me a dose of a topical anesthetic. Before I fell back asleep, I heard the nurse anesthetist or the anesthesiologist say, "I told you we didn't give her enough anesthesia. This is just like what happened with her brother the first time."

That traumatized me and gave me an even stronger fear of male healthcare providers. Since then, I have seen male healthcare providers, but I'm always uneasy. I had trust issues with other dentists after that. I fortunately go to an amazing dental office. A fourth wisdom tooth never came in. It's now in my file that the experience happened. It was also explained to me that waking up under general anesthesia is rare.

I still get occasional flashbacks. For those wondering, I am in therapy. That was almost 15 years ago and I hope that I never wake up during a procedure or a surgery again.

Lastly: fück you, Dr. Barts. You're a special kind of ässhölë.

First time I went to see a shrink at age 17 and it was an Asian shrink and coincidentally I'm Asian myself. Dude, never gave me input after my first session talking about myself, instead he just wanted me to come back to talk to him on a regular basis so he could get paid big bucks to hear someone tell him stories that he'd never have to give input on. I never did go back nor to another shrink and now I'm 50. Did he ruin me for all shrinks or did he do me a favor by being a terrible shrink that I realized I wasn't in need to talk to one ever?

this happened several years ago. my employer had changed insurance and this was when HMOs came on board. that meant that my long time physician could no longer order certain tests and had to refer me to specialists who could.

i was currently in law enforcement and so had been working out a minimum of 4 days a week. i had begun to notice that i was having issues during my work outs as well as overall pain and fatigue. told my dr about the issues i was noticing and he did some standard testing. i was about 20-25 lbs overweight but he told me that my blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. was all in normal range so he didn't think it was anything that was triggered by the extra pounds. he also told me that since i had a lot of muscle that it could be the reason for the extra weight so not to worry about it. and that began a very long - i mean a couple of years - of traveling all over the state for specific tests. they looked for all sorts of things - from lupus to m.s. - and still nothing definitive showed up. eventually, i was referred to this dr located in beverly hills. upon first meeting him i got the impression that he felt examining me was some kind of imposition being placed upon him.

so, i go in, disrobe and get into the little gown and begin a day long of examination, MRI, blood work...the works. it was also a day where the pain i had been experiencing was showing its nasty side so i was looking forward to going back to my hotel and just resting. i was behind the little curtain while the dr was at the desk - i guess making notes of the results of the testing - and he proceeds to tell me that upon the initial review of the results he couldn't see anything wrong. so, in his opinion, i was 'just 4 F'. i asked what that meant. he said it was a term drs use to describe a patient that was 'female, 40, fertile, and fat'. and, he said it in such a dismissive way that i just snapped.

at the time he said this i had managed to get my panties, bra and unbuttoned shirt on as well as my unzipped skirt. i whipped back the curtain and asked him what he meant by that. he then told me that he sees 'hundreds of women' who start reporting mysterious aches and pains around the time they start going through a kind of mid-life crisis due to the onset of peri-menopause and that condition sometimes makes a woman put on a few pounds and they start getting depressed about entering the next transition of their life: aging gracefully. therefore, in his opinion, all the aches, pain and swelling were most probably in my head and i just needed a little pampering from my husband.

his words pissed me off so badly that i was speechless. when i finally was able to say something i told him that what i was experiencing was not 'all in my head' and that his chair side manner left a lot to be desired. i grabbed my shoes and purse and walked out the door.

i never will forget the look of the guy that was in the elevator when the doors opened for me to get on. here i was with an unbuttoned shirt, unzipped skirt, pantyhose draped over my arm and holding my shoes in my hand. and, yes, i did get that all straightened out (except for the pantyhose) by the time the elevator reached the lobby.

once back at my hotel, i called my dr to leave a message regarding this dr's visit. when i saw my dr next he apologized that i went through that. a few weeks later i got hurt on the job (law enforcement) and had to have surgery on both my knees. that was when the orthopedic surgeon got a real time view of my bones and discovered evidence of a degenerative disease that was hard to pick up with standard testing and was difficult to see in x rays in its early stages. with that information being given to my dr he was able begin treatment that couldn't cure it but possibly slow it down and make me more comfortable.

i have had a few other bad experiences with medical professionals but none of them came close to this particular doctor's behavior and attitude.

Does the "Timeless Children" arch from Doctor Who counts? It was pretty bad, almost ruined the series for me :-)
Jokes aside, I normally have good interactions with doctors. But I have a second hand bad one from my mom - she once went to see a doctor for her facial paralysis (she had a stroke). She was making good progress, and this doctor decided to try electrode therapy. First two or so sessions went well, but on the next session the doctor forgot her and the electrodes for way longer than it was supposed to be, and only did something when my mom started to complain about pain (it turns out that by then it is too late). Now she has nerve damage due to this, and she refuses to let me know which doctor it was (not sure if she thinks I'm still 20 and about to solve it with my fists).
All in all, I try to research doctors the best I can, and once I meet them I am upfront about everything - we do the same for our cars at the mechanic, why not for our bodies? If a doctor listen to me I keep them, if they start dismissing me, I look for a new doctor. We live in our bodies 24/7, and the new thing I'm feeling might be nothing, but you d**n well be sure to at least hear me out first, doc!

Before they changed the booking system it would take me a month of calling at 8am when the phone lines open to get an appointment. I would call at 8am sharp, get put in a queue and by the time I got to speak to someone, all appointments for the day had gone. I raised a complaint with the practise manager as I was getting nowhere and it was frustrating

Now they changed it to a form that comes online at 7.30am. Fill out the form and it gets triaged, since this new system is in place, I have always been seen within 2 days (mostly same day). Note: anyone who cannot fill out the form can still call and the staff will do the form for them.

Our Govt recently changed prescriptions from 3 monthly to 12 monthly.
A GP in news said many patients with chronic conditions needed regular reviews by a doctor or nurse.

"Just to leave someone for 12 months to have their diabetes deteriorate may well lead to more emergency department visits and hospital admissions."

wow.
I think it might be more I won't get a regular fee every 3 months.
Mum was Type 3c diabetic. Not 1, not 2.
She had been on Lantus for nearly 30 years.

As she aged, lost weight and her lifestyle changed, Lantus was not a good fit for her anymore. Sugars way too high during day when she was eating. And not eating much. And then at night, sugars dropping to the point of bad hypos (low sugar) often. By hypo I mean she needed reviving, either ambulance or Glucagon kit by us.

I battled to see a specialist and was constantly refused. The NP at our practice was good and when I showed her mums test results I kept, agreed with me. This was tests 5 - 6 times a day, every day.
It showed the sugars bouncing from 27 at highest, to 2 or less at lowest.
Highly dangerous.
Mum experienced "wobbliness" and feeling ill when they were high also.
We finally got to see a diabetic nurse,
She looked at mums Hba1c which is an AVERAGE over a period of months.

And said they were fine and mum just had a few "spikes"
Continual seriously high and dropping to seriously low daily is not a spike I argued.
They wanted to take her off insulin altogether and give her metformin.
They insisted mum was type 2 and this nurse had never heard of type 3.
I argued back. Mum became diabetic after a gallbladder op, which she was told, had affected her pancreas as well and had been put on insulin then. Metformin was tried much later by a different GP and failed to control her sugars, and she was put back to Lantus.
Mum was seeing a different practice by this time.

Finally they approved a change to a different insulin - protophane.
This has a peak affect earlier on in day and drops to little or no affect after 18 hrs roughly.
Lantus by comparison has a continual steady affect over 24 hrs.

The nurse practioner prescribed the protophane and mums condition and sugars improved immensely. I continued the test tracking for a time and took thse in for them to see.

Later mum ended up in hospital and co-incidentally we saw the diabetic specilaist. I commented to him about this refusal to see her and fight over the insulin.
He said oh you have strong views and wuldn';t comment more except to say there was no evidence of any infection (Gall bladder issue back when).

Just - wow.
Maybe they could have scanned her to see, she had no gall bladder? I guess maybe notes were lost from the other hospital which I doubt, but really, to ignore her sugars like that. because she was old.

I note also the diabetic diet in the hospital consisted of carbs, carbs and carbs. Few veg and mostly - carbs.
No wonder so many type 2 s are confused and suffer the effects of constant high sugar levels.
The insistence on only relying on Hba1c readings and the misinformation about diet.


And this from the "specialist"

In the service some years ago I went to the base clinic where most of the doctors are new and doing their residency. I had a high fever and trouble swallowing and they said it was "bronchitis"?? and gave me a medicine that caused me to break out in red splotches all over my body. Confusion reigned so they then decided that I either had spinal meningitis or second stage syphilis which they told me in front of a waiting room full of other patients. I was given a spinal tap and was referred to a dermatologist at the Air Force Academy hospital to figure out my red splotches.

Ten foot inside the Academy hospital door I passed out and woke up in the ER. The doctors there determined that I was having a d**g reaction causing the splotches. They asked what the bandaid on my back was and when I told them I had a spinal tap about an hour previous they completely freaked out. My high fever wasn't caused by bronchitis, meningitis or syphilis, it was correctly diagnosed as pericarditis and I was immediately put on prednisone and immersed in ice baths to break my fever. The fact they accidently sent me to a more competent hospital to see a dermatologist is the only thing that ended up saved my life.

The doc and I were having a great conversation all the while I was getting a vasectomy. At one point the doc complained that one of his colleagues told him he was the most reactionary, right-winger he had ever known. The doc said, "I always thought I was a pretty liberal guy. What do you think, am I liberal or what?" I said "gee-zuss doc! You got me by the b*a*l*l*s! What can I say?"

Just remembered one that happened recently. I was having pain in my neck and shoulder. Went to a spine specialist. X-rays and MRI were done. I'm not a medical professional, but it didn't look okay. Notes on the package I got said bulging disc, and some decay in another disc. So I see the specialist and go over my images. He says from what I've described, and what he's seeing, the pain isn't in my neck and can't help me. Found a different doctor and I have surgery scheduled for next month.

For reference: I am a 'bigger' person, but still relatively healthy.

After surgery to get my gallbladder removed, I told my doctor that my stomach hurt really bad, and all I got in response was "Too bad, that's how the world works."

Another time, same doctor, during a check-up started talking about needles and blood work (I have severe doctor trauma and PTSD from the hospital around both of those things) and I started crying immediately. All my doctor said was "Oops." and kept talking about it.

I've also never had a normal checkup (ie: ears, eyes, mouth, heart rate, general health) with that doctor because all she ever focused on was my weight and how 'severely' overweight I was.

Not that bad in comparison to others, but at the time I was a literal child. (baby - 15 years old)