"You're Old And Fat": 50 Medical Workers Who Said Something Completely Out Of Line

Note, I love this doctor he just doesn't mess around
Me: How do I prevent these back spasms from ever happening again, this is awful?
Doc: You're old and fat. You can't be younger so be less fat.

Thanks, doc.

Me: I’d like to be sterilized as I never want children

Him: I can’t do that unless your husband signs off

Me: I’m not married

Him: Oh then I really won’t do it. You’ll meet a guy who wants kids

Me: .. I don’t want kids

Him: But what if you meet someone who does?

Me: Then they are not for me?

Him: You are too young. You don’t know what you want. You’ll meet a guy who wants them and you’ll want to do that for him

Me: -_-.

I took my 9 year old daughter to see what was supposed to be a highly respected neurologist at the children's hospital for a consultation about her ADD. First he asked her if she'd ever kissed a boy, and what she would do if a boy tried to kiss her. Then when I mentioned that I was concerned about her thumb sucking, he said, "The boys will like that when she gets older". We did not continue seeing that doctor.

A few years later, a friend of mine saw the same doctor after her son was born with a cranial deformity. He called the baby a "little egghead" and said "don't worry mom, he won't be a mentally disabled". I think the guy should have been seeing a neurologist himself.

I am a very laidback, patient, happy type person, and continue to be in a relationship with my now-husband (then boyfriend) where we don’t bicker, or take things out on each other etc, we don’t generally lose our temper at each other - we do argue on rare occasion but it’s certainly not anything near a regular occurrence (maybe once a year). When I started a particular type of birth control that had been prescribed to help my adult acne, and I transformed into a raging storm of shouty negativity, it was VERY obvious that it wasn’t normal. I was losing it all day every day, and would explode into rage at the smallest thing. I reported this to my (male) doctor who initially refused to believe me, and then when I persisted, shrugged it off and said “well it MAY have this effect on people with a propensity towards that behaviour”. Basically saying the only reason I was losing my temper was because that was just the way I was.

I ditched the birth control and the doctor and have been much happier since.

I was 11 or 12 and got my finger shoved under a fire door in school. The door had to be opened and closed just to slide my finger out. When I was taken to the nurse in tears I was told "wow that must hurt, I didn't think you guys felt pain like that" . Im black.

I received a head injury at work 11 years ago, the Dr my employer sent me to said "don't worry, I'm sure your headaches will stop once you get your pay out", I was shocked. Still have headaches pretty much every single day since. Yep, you were wrong.

Not me, but a friend. She had just gone through a miscarriage after trying to conceive for a while. Since she was quite young, the doctor asked, "well, you didn't really want the baby, right?".

I have a long history of depression. I told my GP that i felt off, like nothing interested me anymore, but not depressed. He told me it was because "something was missing from my life, a child."

I do not want kids & have even discussed a tubal with my dr prior to this. Bloodwork showed my thyroid levels were very off. Medication immediately had me feeling normal again.

I had a very rare complication of the flu and my nerves were getting eaten away by my immune system. I could barely walk and was numb from the waist down. By the time I was transferred to a hospital that could treat me, it was close to midnight and the doctor that admitted me was very young. I was the first person he'd seen with this condition. He kept saying how cool it was to do a neuro exam on someone who wasn't an actor and when he would see how weak I was he'd be like "Oh wow, you really are weaker on that side, that's so interesting!".

To be fair, after twelve hours of everyone talking to me like I was going to die, I found it quite entertaining! It was unprofessional, but I appreciated his enthusiasm for learning.

ETA: Yes it was GBS and as of today (May 10, 2021) I am not dead! Thanks for checking though!

Me: I have bad balance, I keep walking into things and I get headaches.

Doctor: this happens to girls who are too skinny, how often do you exercise?

Me: about once a week and I eat like a horse.

Doctor: you’re fine just you’re going to the gym too much.

Few months later I was diagnosed with a serious neurological condition.

Female OBGYN that I had never met, who was on call for my practice right after my water broke during my first pregnancy at 16weeks, over the phone as a consult while I was in the ER- “ I know this is a hard situation but unless you agree to a termination I won’t admit you to the hospital even for observation. You should just go home, make a decision, and then call the practice on Monday and tell us when you want to schedule a termination.” I was 23 years old. Thanksgiving weekend just me and my husband. I had just heard my baby’s heartbeat for the 2nd time ever, confirming he (after delivery I found out he was a boy) was still alive. And this “Doctor” told me that letting me stay in the hospital overnight was a waste of a bed because I wouldn’t agree to have a termination less than 2 hours after my water broke. I hadn’t even had time to process what was going on other than I was scared and grieving. She never once asked what I wanted or how I was feeling. She never explained what the risks were or what a termination even entailed. She also didn’t even ask if he still had a heartbeat. I will never forget her name for the rest of my life as she easily made one of the worst days of my life even more awful by not taking the time to treat me like a person instead of just a patient.

My mom and I had similar stories:

My pregnant mom went in to the doctor to get a regular exam done, he feels around her abdomen and asks how far along she was. She answers "5 months!" The doctor then laughs and says "Well don't start the nursery, you'll be getting a D&C long before you see a baby" Or something to that effect. She had miscarried her child around 2 months and her body never aborted the fetus, so she didn't know that she had lost her baby. She is still traumatized about the way the doctor broke the news to her.

My story:

Pregnant with my second baby, I had about 20 postive pregnancy tests and I was almost 11 weeks along, started bleeding so went to the ER. The doctor examines me, I get an ultrasound then we have to wait. Nearly 3 hours later he comes back and says "Good news! It was a positive pregnancy! But there is no heartbeat."

I had a very traumatic birth with my last baby. long story short, she was too big& coming out too fast and she took some parts out with her she wasn’t supposed to. I had to have emergency surgery while she was less than an hour old to stop the bleeding. the surgery ruined my uterus, and the doctor told me since I have a history of large babies/ fast deliveries this would definitely happen again and not to conceive again.

so I go to make an appt to get my tubes tied or removed. my husband drove me. that doctor refused to sign off on it because, her words, I was only 22& what if my husband& I divorced and I found a different man in my 30s? what if I woke up in my 30s or 40s when my babies were grown and wanted another? she thought I was too young to make such a decision and told us to have my husband get a vasectomy (which he offered to do but since I was the one getting pregnant I wanted the sterilization) I had to make a different appt with the original doctor from the hospital.

I’ve had a terrible back, with associated terrible back pain since my early teens.

My country(Australia), is essentially free medical care. I was visiting a physiotherapist/chiro for my pain recently. After the second visit he mentioned that we have a scheme for chronic pain that gives us 6 free visit to a pyshio/chiro as long as you see a general practitioner and he gives you a reference.

So off I hobbled to my regular GP. Again, seeing a GP here is free. Went in to his room, told him what I was after, and he said he’d need X-rays. Awesome, already had them done. And that they were already in our merged health system.

He looked at the X-rays and decides that my back is fine. And don’t need any physio or chiro work. I looked at him incredulously and asked to see the X-rays myself. He spun the screen around… sure enough, they were mine. And he didn’t see anything wrong.

Despite some pretty sever scoliosis and other twists and turns.

Walked out, went down the street the next block to a GP I’d never seen before, he takes a look and signs me off straight away and wishes me well.

My husband has an inverted cross tattooed on his back. 20ish years ago, seeing a doc for chronic back pain, he was told the pain he felt was probably his punishment for the tattoo.

I tore a muscle. The doctor said it wouldnt effect mobility and it was no worries. A couple of months later I asked if it could be attached, for cosmetic reasons.

He flippantly answered “oh no, its too late for that now. We wouldve had to have done that *the last time you were here*.” In a “I could not care less” tone. I was sat there, like, “ah. You mean when you told me it was all no worries, but didnt tell me it’d be very noticeable? Cool.. cool.”.

This happened to my father. My father had recently gotten surgery to remove his prostate, because there was cancer in it, and had started getting radiation treatments to eliminate any remaining cancers. After the treatments started, my father started feeling intense pain in his bladder. He started having trouble peeing, and eventually had to resort to catheterizing himself ever time he peed. Occasionally he wouldn’t be able to hold in his anymore, and would set himself. He complained to his doctor, the one who removed his prostate, about it multiple times, but the doctor didn’t believe. Eventually the doctor agreed to do exploratory surgery on my father but he found nothing. My father was still in great pain, but the doctor told my father that this was all in his head. My father, not satisfied with that answer, eventually got the doctor to do a second exploratory surgery. During that surgery it was discovered that a clip, from the machine the doctor used during the prostate surgery, popped off into my fathers bladder, and the doctor left it there without realizing. Then, because of the radiation treatments, the inside of my father’s bladder was effectively fried. It’s been about five years since then. My father still has to catheterize every time he goes to the bathroom. He’s constantly in pain, and can no longer work a proper job because of the damages to his bladder. Because of all the scar tissue built up in his bladder, my father is at risk of kidney failure. Luckily, a doctor we spoke to recently says he should be able to help my father, but it’s going to be a long road. The current plan is to permanently remove the scar tissue in his bladder, and then install a valve that will let him pee like a normal person again. We are also suing to doctor who did this to my father, although it’s been five years and progress is slow. My father is one of the best people I know, and deserved none of what’s happened him. Hopefully he’ll be able to get these surgeries done sooner rather than later, but it’s definitely going to take a while. Sorry if I got any term wrong, I don’t have that much medical knowledge.

My wife was recovering in the maternity ward after having our first baby.

When it came time to start nursing, we had a tough time latching. And even though it had just been a couple of days my wife was getting frustrated and emotional (hormones, it’s common). We asked a doctor and lactation consultant to help, and they diagnosed that our baby was tongue-tied and my wife’s nipples were too flat/inverted. Instead of offering to cut the frenulum, or some support or helpful tips, the doctor impatiently said “Well it just seems like you two are mismatched puzzle pieces” then walked out. My wife burst into tears. Her head wasn’t the same for weeks after that and she got some pretty bad postpartum depression. To the point where I was doing all the feeding with formula. To this day, my wife is resentful that she didn’t enjoy the first several weeks of motherhood and attributes it to that stupid comment that the doc didn’t even think twice about.

Our daughter turned out healthy as can be, but there are certain things you just shouldn’t say to a new mom.

I have raynauds phenomenon, which is basically an overreaction to the cold where my blood vessels in my extremities constrict too much.

I brought it up during a routine checkup when I was 17, saying that my hands go deathly white and numb in the cold. She told me it’s all in my head. I was 17 and stupid and wasn’t picking up what she was putting down, so I said “no, I can see it happen when I’m cold.” She cut me off and told me again it was all in my head and gave me a condescending look. She clearly just didn’t want to deal with it.

Also my mom had cancer that didn’t get caught until it was stage 4. It didn’t get caught until stage 4 because the doctors she explained her symptoms to would literally say things like “don’t worry, it’s not like it’s cancer or anything.”.

I was in my late 20s, and I am a woman. I went to an urgent care after I moved for a job. I needed to get a 30 day refill for an anti-depressant because I was having difficulty getting a doctor locally quickly. I was stressing out because I didn't want to slide backwards with my mood or go through withdrawal and my script was running out.

The doctor was friendly enough, asked how long I has been on the meds, asked where I moved from, what job brought me out here. I explained my situation, told him I had an appointment with a psychiatrist scheduled and needed just something to hold me over. Everything seemed fine. Then -

He laughed and said "well, I mean, it's not much of a difference if you had to go off the meds! That's just how women are! Crazy!! Hahaha!! Anyway, here's your script. Enjoy your job!"

He even teased me with the script itself. Jokingly tempting me with it.