My Terrible Experience... As A Patient

I was about 13-14 when I had a pretty intense case of appendicitis. My mom took me to the hospital and the ER doctor 1. didn't do any kind of testing other than pushing on my stomach 2. kept dismissing me and my mom when we brought up concern about my appendix. The doctor insisted it was just period cramps and a hot bath + OTC pain meds would help. Being a young teen, I didn't argue with him, I just said "oh...it doesn't feel like cramps but if you insist" and I went home. That same night I collapsed and was rushed back to the hospital, only to discover my appendix had ruptured. I was in the OR within like 10 minutes of showing up. I don't think I've ever seen my mom as angry as she was because she literally could have lost her child to the negligence of a lazy doctor 🙃

I had a surgeon either caused or miss a big tear in my duodenum during a gal bladder removal that made me throw up blood. I went back the next day and they sent me home because they said I was "drug seeking". Then they fixed it after I started throwing up blood. When I went to my check up for the first surgery I found out they never even told the original surgeon!

My symptoms started at 17 years old. Massively hard and bloated tummy, searing waves of pain that brought on sweating. I kept leaving my college lecture to sit in the restroom to get some space while these episodes were happening. I felt very very Ill. I was told to “try and stay in class as this was an important part of my course.” When the lecture ended I managed very slowly to put one for in front of the other to walk the block home. I went to bed still in agony. My housemate called my mum, who came and took me to the doctor, who said we should go to hospital. I went to hospital, I stayed the night, in agony. I managed to get myself to the toilet because I’d started bleeding a lot. Someone came and asked if I was ok, I said I thought so but I didn’t know cos the pain was so bad. They left. I got back into bed. In the morning, the laundry staff came to strip the beds. Despite mine being full of thick gloopy blood, they just put the sheets in the cart and went to the next bed. My mum came, she asked how I was, the nurses said I was fine and probably on drugs and making it up!!! Nobody at that hospital examined me or offered me anything for the excruciating pain that made my vision go black. These “attacks” came and went over the next 25 years. Resulting in pain several times a day that felt like full electric shocks. I would flash this pain, anything I was holding would fly up in the air and I wasn’t always able to stay upright. I learned to walk every step carefully so as not to jolt my body when putting my heel down for each step I took. For twenty five years I couldn’t dance, run ride a bike… I’d been back to doctors again and again to ask them to look for ovarian troubles etc…. Nothing showed up on ultrasounds and I was turned away dozens of times from various clinics. One day, I went to a gynaecologist in a different country. They used an internal scan thingy which immediately showed a large tumour. It had nerves in it [hence the delicate way I had to walk]. I was in the operating theatre the following week for a hysterectomy to remove the growth that had been pushing on several other places causing terrible problems. Twenty five years of pain vanished after my op. Amazing. I thank that doctor so much. With the first appointment I had with him he found what was wrong, and fixed me.

My symptoms started at 13, severe hip and knee pain all my doctors (and family which made it even worse) said that is was growing pains and anxiety (I’m a girl) and I kept having these severe pains all the way till now. When I was 14 my new doctor wanted to send me to a specialist. My parents “did not want to spend money on teen angst” and so it took till I was 15 to actually go see the specialist(almost 8 months since my pediatrician said I should see the specialist) there my doctor looked me over did a physical exam and decided the best course of action was to get X-rays on my hips and knee, once he looked over the x-rays he diagnosed me with hip dysplasia and patella tendinitis. It took 2 years for me to get diagnosed and now I’m going to have to get hip replacement surgery and lots of PT. If my parents and previous doctors would of listened I could of gotten treated earlier. I am now 16 and my pain has only worsened (because hip dysplasia remind understanding it’s only curable with surgery) and if my pain worsens I’m going to have to use a wheel chair in order to not go through severe pain.

As a physical therapist, the amount of times I've had patients tell me that they don't know what surgery they had or what was injected in them is pretty scary...

I was 2 years old and wouldn't stop crying. My parents took me to an emergency in a well known reputed hospital. When we reached there, within 10-20 minutes the doctor decided I needed an emergency surgery asap for some problem with my stomach which was life threatening. He also added I was crying because of the pain from my stomach. So they made my parents sign the required documents for surgery and prepared everything for putting me into surgery. There were 4 students as well along with him. My parents felt suspicious of the whole thing and decided to not go with the surgery after consulting with another doctor over the phone. The doctors at the hospital were furious, called the cops and the cops made my parents sign papers that put the whole responsibility on my parents if something happened to me. Later I was diagnosed with an ear infection. Imagine getting surgery on the stomach for an ear infection. So remember what Dr Mike said, You have the right to accept or deny treatment. Not all doctors are good/capable.

I got run over by a drunk driver and needed a joint fusion in my foot. Doctor found out I have PTSD and refused to do the surgery and changed the tx plan to a different option with less research and support. When I said I wanted to be able to weigh my options, she said my PTSD made me incompetent and she would be choosing thr tx plan. Needless to say, I found a new doctor

Patient advocacy is extremely important. I’m so glad you brought it up. You have to be able to speak up on your own behalf especially when it has to do with your medical care.

I feel like this story sheds light on how vulnerable patients can be in situations like this, and unfortunately even if it is within our rights to accept or refuse a specific treatment, I feel like I’m not exactly qualified to do so? Also my anxiety is usually through the roof when I visit a doctor, which makes it even more difficult to say no to something, because my main instinct is to avoid confrontation.

Everything you described is exactly what it’s like to be a patient with chronic illness.

“I genuinely didn’t know what was happening” and he’s a DOCTOR , how terrible to have this kind of experience but i can’t say I’m not relieved that he has been on that side of the table.

I would give anything for there to be a Dr. Mike in every hospital and practice. I can’t imagine how many patients would feel safe and how many more issues would be resolved, I just love how open he is, and how observant he is. I’ve been in therapy for two years now, with PTSD from traumatic birth, and so many things could’ve been different for me if my doctors weren’t so cruel. There is a new doctor at my OBGYN now, and she is an angel. She’s literally saved my life, I am so thankful for her ❤️

"Intelligent men learn from their mistakes, wise men learn from the mistakes of others." Thank you Mike for giving us this perspective.

My dad passed away in 2016. I immediately lost so much weight, and became severely depressed. I started to have these uneasy feelings that are so hard to describe, but kind of like vertigo. I didn’t feel like I was moving with my body. I then, began to pass out regularly. I told my doctor and her response was “oh it’s just grief, here’s some antidepressants and anxiety meds.” I continued to lose weight, and dropped to a whopping 79 pounds at 21 years old. I was DYING in front of her eyes and she told me it was grief. Eventually, one cardiologist listened to me and transferred my case to Stanford University. Turns out, I was born with a genetic connective tissues disorder and had developed a condition called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or POTS, had extremely low potassium, had to get a potassium infusion at the ER, and my heart was in irregular rhythms with a high risk of going into cardiac arrest. The doctors told me I would’ve died within 2 weeks from how malnourished I had become despite me eating regularly. Safe to say, my doctor never questioned me again.

Something I loved about my Doctor is that when I was diagnosed with ADHD and sent to get medicine, is that he took the time to educate me. He took a marker and drew a diagram on the noisy crinkle paper on how my medications would affect me and their different release mechanisms. It made me feel way more comfortable and confident in using my meds!

The advice at the end boils down to: You as a consumer/patient have the right to make informed decisions. You can't make informed decisions if you don't understand what's the situation, the procedure the doctor wants to do, and why, and it is the job of the doctor to clearly explain those things to you. If they can't be bothered to explain, or if they're ignoring patients' concerns, I don't know if they ought to be treating patients.

For a period of several years I went to multiple doctors and practices to complain about leg pain. They all told me it was cos of my weight (I'm a little overweight but far from obese) and told me to exercise more, and ignored me when I said I can't cos of the pain. About 10 docs later, I moved houses and tried a new practice which had good reviews. Saw the new doc, and she was the FIRST doctor I saw to actually examine my legs. Turns out, one of my legs is shorter than the other, causing an uneven gait and extra wear on my joints and muscles, and causing the pain. Some special shoes later, I can now enjoy walking my dogs.

I never realized how truly crappy most of my doctors visits were until I started getting treatment at the Cancer Institute. As a cancer patient, in this particular hospital, everything is easy, explained well, doctors are easily available, etc. It's everything I expect medical care to be and I didn't realize how often that was not my experience prior to this.

I went to a psych hospital for depression and my doctor told me my parents weren't ready for me to come home, and I needed to be transferred to a different facility for a year. Before I went I saw my parents and they asked why I didn't want to come home... my doctor told them I didn't want to leave and that's why they didn't push to get me out. I was in that hospital for 3 months before I got out.

I’m sorry you had this experience Mike. Unfortunately this is the reality for many of us with chronic illnesses. A single bad doctor can destroy our lives or make us terribly sick. Sometimes multiple bad doctors going off the opinions of others, and riding on certain stereotypes. Women especially get this. I’ve had many negative experiences, but one more recently stands out. I had what ended up being osteomyelitis mismanaged for 3 months and I was told it was “all psychological”, only to go to a different hospital, have an actual scan, and by looking at some of the scans I’d had at the previous hospital; it was definitely a bone infection. 6 weeks on a PICC, surgery, a DVT, and another PICC infection later … I was on antibiotics for 8 months. Just as my colon is beginning to repopulate with bacteria … it has come back. Because of the way the doctors at the first hospital mismanaged the situation initially I have to manage this still a year later. I’m immune suppressed because of biologics for ankylosing spondylitis. None of the doctors at the first hospital took this seriously or understood what a lowered immune system meant. None could spell AS or the specific drug I’m on, none bothered to look it up even. I feel like they’re giving out medical degrees in cereal boxes sometimes … Very thankful to the amazing doctors who have been managing it since then though!! Great doctors that listen and work with people are the best. We don’t need people who are experts, just those who are humble and helpful with navigating health decisions. Enjoy your channel mate keep it up!