There are a lot of wonderful doctors who genuinely care, but the stress they face every day, the bureaucracy and heavy workload, means that mistakes can happen.
All of this can lead doctors to say absurd, and sometimes, shocking things — like “it’s all in your head” or “you just need to lose some weight.”
It can even mean delayed or wrong diagnoses.
Netizens have shared the worst, the funniest, and absolutely ridiculous things they’ve heard their doctors tell them.
From a doctor misdiagnosing a birth defect as “anxiety” to a mistaken tumor scare, these mix-ups remind us that medicine is not so straight-forward.
#41
My pediatric neurologist told me at age 16 that for such a pretty girl I have ugly feet but if I cover them up I might be able to find a boyfriend. I had just come down with GBS and was trying to recover, so he was giving me his suggestions after he asked me what I planned on doing at the beach. Many years later I ran into him with my husband who asked him if he remembered what he said about me finding a boyfriend! He was in shock!
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11points
#42
A psychiatrist once took a phone call in the MIDDLE of our session and then proceeded to have an argument with a patient over the phone. After it was over when she hung up she asked me if I thought she was right. A few sessions later she told me my hair looks like french fries. And I didn't see her after that.
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11points
#43
Your breasts are uneven. Have you ever considered breast augmentation? I was 22. The same appointment he told me I was “moley”.
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10points
#44
He told me if i didn't get an abdominal cat scan (several thousand dollars cash pay) he wouldn't treat me. issue resolved by nurse practitioner for $23 including the cost of the office visit.
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10points
#45
Got told I had a “bad uterus” by my OB in college. That was literally his diagnosis based on one pelvic exam and listening to my symptoms. 10 years later I learned that is not a real thing.
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10points
#47
Back in 1981 I was suffering from panic attacks really bad and he told me get my life in order and I’d feel much better.
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8points
#48
I was pregnant with my daughter and the first test they gave me was negative and I told them that I felt like I was pregnant.. the doctor didn't necessarily say anything to me. It was what she did that really spoke to me... I went in 2 weeks later and said I really think that I'm pregnant and I can't stop throwing up and I don't know what to do... She gave me a urine test and I saw one of the psych nurses come in. I know who she is because I know her. Long story short the office walls are very thin and I could hear the doctor say that I need an evaluation because they think something is wrong with me mentally... They were going to have her come into the room and evaluate me... Well lo and behold after they got the test results they found out I really was pregnant and I had hypersense Gavin or however you spell it... And that was the day when I looked at her in the face and said that I heard her through the wall and I'm very upset that she didn't take me seriously and decided to work against me instead of help me get to the bottom of what was going on and I had to wait two extra weeks just to be told that I was pregnant... I then changed my doctors and left a very nice review for her..... Guess who's not a doctor anymore at that facility? Yep you guessed it because I wasn't the only one that she was doing that to.....
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8points
#49
While receiving an epidural, the anesthesiologist was having a hard time and taking forever. I asked nicely if she was almost done and she snapped back at me "women have babies everyday without an epidural.".
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8points
#50
When i was a healthy teenager and a pediatrician i saw for the first time told me that i was obese and should join her obesity support group. she then went on to talk about what a huge thyroid i had and called in her assistant to feel my thyroid. assistant seemed confused.
not a very helpful encounter for a teenager ngl.
not a very helpful encounter for a teenager ngl.
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7points
#52
"Though we can't say for certain, it's highly unlikely that you will ever regain feeling below your waist."
They sure were right!
They sure were right!
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3points
#53
"This woman should have been admitted to the ER 2 weeks ago, it's nothing short of a miracle she's even alive right now"
What the intake guy said to my family, about my mother, who actually was in fact in the ER/Hospital for the past few weeks, but they let her go because she was in "stable condition" and because she waited for all of us to be gone for the day.
Granted, he wasn't wrong, she was literally a skeleton by the time she died because she refused to eat or drink anything for about 2 months. Barely ate half a plate of food no matter what you offered her.
What the intake guy said to my family, about my mother, who actually was in fact in the ER/Hospital for the past few weeks, but they let her go because she was in "stable condition" and because she waited for all of us to be gone for the day.
Granted, he wasn't wrong, she was literally a skeleton by the time she died because she refused to eat or drink anything for about 2 months. Barely ate half a plate of food no matter what you offered her.
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3points