“You Are Just Fat”: 65 Patients Who Couldn’t Believe The Treatment They Got In The ER

It was on the phone. I cried and vomited due to pain. I pointed out that the pain was only in my lower back and that I feared it might be a kidney stone.

The women on the phone discussed it with a doctor and concluded that it might be just be an early period and that I was too stressed about it. It was just some muscle ache or something.

Note that I do have very painful, nauseating periods with back pain. But never on just one side, never 4 days too early and never ever have I vomited due to it. I'm almost 30 years old, and this just did. not. feel. right. But I believed her.

I have cried, screamed and vomited all night long; meanwhile, my mom has tried to massage my back because, well, if it's just a muscle aching, that must work, right?

It did not.

It was just stress, so I just needed to calm down. I meditated as much as I could, but you can only meditate so much until you start vomiting again. And I blamed myself, because heck, it was just stress, right? I was deeply ashamed by how many weird sounds I made due to the pain.

The next day, my mom called a different doctor because this was way too much pain. Everyone at that clinic immediately agreed it sounded like a kidney stone, and I got proper painkillers and medication.

Let's just say that if you're not white and you're in pain, studies have been done that show staff are less likely to issue painkillers because often they think people of color are just trying to get [meds].

It's pretty [messed up].

My IUD had perforated the lining of my uterus and was stabbing me. My gyno couldn't see me so she told me to go to the ER. Once there it wasnt busy and I was brought back immediately. Nurses were wonderful and very sympathetic. The male ER doctor came in and barely greeted me before pulling my legs into stirrups and sitting between them. Then without any warning or pain management, he ripped the IUD out along with a large chunk of my uterine wall. I passed out from the pain. Ive passed kidney stones so big I coule see them and that is the first time I had ever passed out. When I woke up a few seconds later I started crying and he yelled at me for being overdramatic because "the uterus doesn't have nerves.".

Got told I had nothing wrong with me for 4 years after numerous trips to the ER because I couldn't catch my breath or stop coughing. Turns out I had lung cancer and being fat or asthmatic wasn't why I couldn't breath properly but because a lobe of my lung was blocked by a tumor. I am just very lucky it was a rare type of cancer caused by an even rarer underlying medical condition and the normally much more aggressive "normal" sort of lung cancers.

My lung collapsed and i knew it because it had happened before so I knew what it felt like. We'll the lady at the ER was quite irritated because "You're not a doctor. Don't give me a diagnosis." So she left me in the empty waiting room for hours until finally I got a chest x-ray. Suddenly 10 people are sprinting towards me to get me on a bed. Unfortunately there's no rooms available so they put me in a supply closet. The Dr on duty had never done a chest tube before so we waited around 4 hours for another Dr to finish surgery. Well he never showed up and the first Dr gave it a try. No pain meds, nothing. Just starts cutting into my side in this supply room. Blood on the floor. Complete disaster. He messed up the tube and I had to wait until morning to get a new one put in.

Not me, but my aunt, many years ago (about 30) woke with horrible stomach pain. Called my mother, who drove her to the emergency room.

They told her she was constipated and sent her home. She was mortified and wanted to go home. My mother said no way (she knew her and knew she was not a complainer or dramatist) and drove further to a better hospital's ER.

Her intestine was twisted and she needed to be rushed into emergency surgery. My mother hates when we say this but we all still credit her with saving my lovely aunt's life.

2 weeks postpartum I hemorrhaged at home-rushed to er-emergency dnc-apparently some afterbirth left inside. Recovering in ICU I woke after the surgery moaning(barely conscious)-old cranky nurse said “what are you crying about”). Spent a week in the hospital and required 6 blood transfusions-doctor said he didn’t know how I was still alive I lost so much blood.

Not me but my sister was immediately written off as medication seeking. She had an intestinal hernia. The hospital discharged her and she was back within days. Her surgery was delayed by at least a week because they didn’t diagnose her.

Not me, my wife. A little over a year ago she fell and managed to bruise her tailbone very badly. About a week later she noticed that there was a red area near the impact which seemed like it might be infected, so we went to urgent care. They diagnosed cellulitis and prescribed antibiotics.

The next day, despite having started the meds, it was much more swollen and painful, so we went to the ER. It was a smaller hospital and it was a weekday morning, so there weren't many people waiting in the ER, and she was seen by triage very quickly. The triage doctor took a look, said it was a pilonidal cyst, prescribed stronger antibiotics, and told her she could go home, but to come back if the antibiotics didn't help so he could drain it.

So we left, got the prescription filled, she took her new stronger antibiotics, and then took a nap.

When she woke up, it had evidently burst and started draining, and the room smelled like a decaying body. So back to the ER we went.

There the doctor numbed her up so he could irrigate it, and I distinctly remember him saying once he started "Huh. It's not usually black.", referring to the fluid that was draining from the wound. After he was finished, he told her she was good to go home and it would be fine. By this point, we were tired of the back and forth (we live an hour from the hospital), so we asked if there were any tests that could be run just in case. He reluctantly agreed to have her sent up for imaging, but assured us that things were fine, and we could go home afterwards, that they would call us if there was anything concerning.

Luckily, we didn't trust him and decided to hang around the ER waiting for the imaging results. By this time, the ER had gotten much busier, but despite the rest of the waiting room being full, there was a bubble about 10 feet in diameter around us where no one would sit, the smell was that bad.

While waiting, shift change occurred, and after clocking out the ER doc saw us in the waiting room, and came and sat down, relaxing and leaning back with his hands behind his head, to once again tell us that he was sure that everything was fine, and we should just go home. We again didn't take his advice.

Maybe an hour later the night shift ER doc came out because he wanted to take a look. According to him, imaging had flagged her for follow-up, but what they were saying didn't match the notes from the day-shift doctor at all, so he wanted to take a look himself. Once he did, kept exclaiming how it didn't look anything like the other doctor had described, and immediately called for a bed and a surgical consult.

Because it wasn't a pilonidal cyst, it was a necrotizing bacterial infection. Two surgeries and months of wound care later, my wife is cleared of the infection. If we had gone home, it's possible that the delay would have led to her [passing]. Oh, and she also has FSHD muscular dystrophy, and the trauma and enforced bed-rest during recovery basically finished off her leg muscles, so she'll be in a wheelchair the rest of her life.

I went in with extreme pain in my upper right side and they walked in and immediately asked me what fix im trying to get.

i burst into tears and just sobbed that i didnt want anything i just wanted to know what was wrong with me while they went "ughh, i guess ill order you an xray, if you will go home quietly when its clear"

turns out my gallbladder was about to explode cuz it was "riddled with stones", and i was in surgery within 20 minutes of the completion of the xray.

every woman in my moms side of the family has had gallbladder issues for generations (we're also native american, and apparently that makes a difference for gallbladder stats) and i was told afterwards that it was probably a genetic prdisposition and i was probably developing the stones ever since childhood.

Be Indigenous in Canada attempting to access healthcare. "Have you drank today?".

I had a kidney stone and was throwing up from the pain. Couldn’t even remember my social security number when they tried to make me sit down to get checked in. I have a long history of kidney stones and knew exactly what it was.

They treated me [badly]. Barely any pain meds. Wouldn’t let me pace by my hospital bed. Generally had very rude and dismissive attitudes.

Then I got a CT scan. Night and day when they saw that not only was I passing a 5mm stone but I had 10 more stones between both my kidneys.

When I was five I broke my arm falling off the monkey bars. The ER nurse took that personally and was so pissed about it. She was taking the x ray and I was trying to tell her something but she said to be quiet and be still. OK.

Anyway she xrayed the wrong arm.

I went to the ER because I was sure I had appendicitis. It took 5 hours to see a doctor. I was writhing in pain on the floor the whole time.

The people running the front desk were convinced it was just kidney stones and nothing to be worried about. By the time I got to the front of the line, the pain had lessened.

They told me to go home because I want insured and that coming back would be expensive. I almost did not my girlfriend begged me to stay.

I go back to the doctor and he's completely convinced it's just kidney stones too and that I'm wasting my time back there. We had to insist he did a scan to check for appendicitis.

He comes back after the results. He says I have a raging case of appendicitis that was rupturing and I'd have to go in for emergency surgery. Didn't apologize at all for being hesitant to even check.

Yes and it is still traumatic for me 25 years later. I went to the ER with horrific pain when I moved or breathed. It felt like someone was literally sliding knives between my ribs with the slightest movement. I was crying and hyperventilating at times because I couldnt take a full breath due to the pain.

The nurse had a “whatever” attitude and said the doctor would be in eventually. I was sitting upright on the gurney at that time. Several hours passed and no one came in… it was the very early hours of the morning and I tried to lay back on the gurney, but once I reached a 45° angle I got “stuck” because the pain was too intense to lay all the way back or straighten back up. I sat in that position with no back support for what felt like hours - and I was crying out for help/nurse hoping someone could lift the back of the bed or help me move. It was so so painful. I am normally very quiet and shy, especially in those situations, so for me to cry for the nurse meant serious agony.

She came back in several hours later and gave me 2 tylenol. I asked if the doctor was coming and she said no and told me to leave. That was maybe 6am. I called my PCP as soon as they opened at 8 and he was FURIOUS. Within 2 minutes he diagnosed me with pleurisy and gave me a non narcotic that relieved the pain and inflammation. He said they thought I was medicine seeking (again, the irony that a non narcotic was prescribed). I wish I could remember how much my hospital bill was for them to “treat me” like [garbage]. 25 years later and I am still upset.

Got released from a 2-3 day hospital stay and my arm where the IV was hurt so bad I could barely move it. See my personal doctor and didn't communicate just how bad it hurt and based on everything she thought it was phlebitis, an infected vein from the IV. Started the antibiotics but pain just got worse. Consulted a family friend who told me to go to the ER and request an ultrasound because it may be a clot.

Got to the ER and was in so much pain my voice was shaky because I was holding back tears and trying not to scream. The doctor took a quick look, agreed it was phlebitis, lectured me on how it couldn't be a blood clot because the brachial vein wasn't a deep vein, therefore I couldn't have a blood clot, aka deep vein thrombosis, and tried to send me on.

I held steady and pushed for an ultrasound, which he said would be a waste of my time. I said great, waste my time. He huffed off to put the order in. By the time the rad tech got me it was time for the radiologist to leave for the night, but she basically ran to track him down to read my results. The look on the doctor's face as he read the results and the explanation from the radiologist that the impacted vein was, in fact, considered whatever it is "deep vein" means was priceless.

The most satisfying part was the chart from the radiologist. It basically read "physician dx'd patient with phlebitis. Patient insisted on ultrasound to rule out DVT. Patient had DVT."

I was 14. My appendix was rupturing. They were convinced I was lying about a pregnancy or a STD. I’d never [slept with anyone]. They took my mother away and counseled me. They ran a pregnancy test/std screening and spent hours to do a gynecology exam and ultrasound. My white blood cell count was through the roof but no STD so “yeah”? They decided it was an ovarian cyst and sent me home. My mother desperate drove me to the hospital the town over and they did immediate surgery on my rupturing appendix. I spent a week in hospital. Lucky to be alive.

My sister has IBS, and during some flare ups, she can get really dehydrated. She went to the ER because she fainted at work, and they told her that she was being too dramatic, and should just drink some Gatorade. She explained that she'd had diarrhea for more than a month, and was eating nothing but rice and applesauce. The doctor made a joke about it being a great diet plan, because she'd lost 30 pounds in 3 weeks. Then prescribed an anti-diarrhea medication that is not meant for IBS patients because it causes more inflammation. When she finally got a referral to a gastroenterologist, he ran blood panels and she was profoundly malnourished because she hadn't been able to digest anything properly for almost two months.

She also had doctors ignore her pelvic pain and tell her it was period cramps. It took her 2 years to get a doctor to order an ultrasound, by which point she looked pregnant. She had a four pound fibroid in her uterus and needed to have a hysterectomy.

Anytime you go to the ER in truly terrible pain. The ER doctors make it so humiliating. It’s awful to have to beg for help and that’s what happens. And some emergency rooms are worse than others. There’s a small local hospital I’ve been to when I thought it was OK to not go to our university hospital. They have been the kindest and show that they really do care. But the hospital where my oncologist and other major doctors are is always horrible. It’s dehumanizing actually. Not taking a patient severe pain seriously can actually be life-threatening or cause really serious issues. Especially if you already have a chronic or terminal illness.

I had Cyclosporiasis. It’s terrible and fairly rare so it’s tracked by the CDC. The CDC called me once a quarter for a year tracking my symptoms and weight.

Anyhow. I went to a small, local ER worried I was going to be somehow permanently affected by whatever was causing how terrible I felt. I seriously thought I was going to need some type of surgery that evening.

To make it worse? The RN was awful. She spoke down to me numerous times and insinuated that I was faking it. (Not something you can really fake, btw.) The doctor would ask me a question and she would answer on my behalf in a manner that lead the doctor to believe my symptoms were less severe. She was neglectful the entire time I was under her care and at one point asked me how educated I was. I was in my Masters program.

A few days later the test came back from my PCP positive for Cyclosporiasis. I immediately wrote to the hospital board (the hospital has a very serious, positive, reputation so I knew it would be seen addressed somehow) describing in detail how rude and condescending this woman was.

I included an image my positive test in the letter, as my PCP falls under their hospital so the record was visible to them, regardless.

About a year later I started working for that same hospital. I went into the universal email contacts and tried to email her just to see if her name populated. It did not. I asked a friend from security in an innocent and unsuspecting manner if she was gone. She had been let go pretty promptly after my email and was not happy about it.

Turns out she was horrid all around, and my detailed yet scathing letter was the final straw.