Doctors, what's the worst thing you've seen for a patient that another doctor overlooked?

NEXT STORY: • What's The Most N*FW T...
We work extremely hard to serve you guys the highest quality story reading content. Each video takes a lot of effort when it comes to thinking of topics, ideation, editing, voice-acting, recording, etc. All the content in these videos are owned by us!
Our Work Process:
1. Come up with questions, research, script, come up with opinions/commentary, polish until ready for recording.
2. Record voice acting the stories/questions, sharing thoughts and opinions and performing it in a creative and transformative fashion for viewers to enjoy.
3. Record gameplay until there is enough interesting footage to use for the background
4. Throw the gameplay in the editing software and then begin typing up the captions, cutting/trimming the voice acting, adding SFX, color correction, removing/adding clips, etc.
5. Final review of the video, if video is not up to the quality desired for this channel. Either go back into the editing software, re-record some lines, change opinions/commentaries.

[@lady_mash23clark34]

My 1 year old niece. We were so angry. She hadn't had a wet diaper in 2 days and took her to the ER. They said she's fine and just keep watching. She rapidly deteriorated. Took her back about 30 hrs later. Turns out she had an E. Coli infection in her urinary tract. She has about 5% kidney function. Had to be put on dialysis. Watching her miserable only able to have a soaked sponge and no actual water. Her lips cracked and so tired and just begging for a drink. Almost lost the most amazing little soul from a misdiagnosis

[@armaggedon390]

I would commit a crime against the doctor.

[@ZentaBon]

American healthcare I bet too. Fucking expensive. Overworked and understaffed hospitals, labs, testing. Shitty quality. My mom had a grapefruit sized growth in her fucking uterus and it was dismissed repeatedly. Wait times were long.

[@Allanna-ku8ij]

I'd probably go to jail for punching the doctor in the mouth😑😋

[@blazethecat363]

hope you sued for malpractice. they nearly KILLED your daughter

[@markeitajenks7115]

That is not ok. I hope they got fired

[@ToastyNoneofyourbusiness]

Here's how to deal with a dismissive doctor: tell them to write down EXACTLY why they are dismissing you or refusing to test/treat you on the records. A smart doctor will have a sudden change of heart. A dumb one will have just made it very easy to sue them if the problem is actually serious

[@Just1Nora]

Yes! And make sure that they chart your protests if you feel something is off! They won't want to, because it can come back to bite them if there's something wrong with you that they dismissed. I had all 4 wisdom teeth, all were impacted, and all removed at once. After the surgery they asked the nurse about antibiotics, not ordered. They went back to the doctor multiple times as the nurse wheeled me out the door. The surgeon said, "Oh those aren't really necessary. We don't always write them." And sent us away, but they mentioned, as I had in my pre-op appointment, that I was chronically ill/prone to infections. The surgery was a few days before x-mas. Mom, an RN, called the on-call surgeon on Christmas day, concerned with the swelling, pain, and fever even with the meds, oh, and I was losing the ability to open my eye, and he snapped at her and scolded her for interrupting him watching his kids open their presents. Said, "Well, if you're that concerned, take her to the ER! But don't call me again." He hung up on her. She took me to the hospital, the bad one unfortunately, thinking it would be faster (distance is a bit less, but time is identical) and I've figured out that on that day, a major holiday so most people are going to take off, they had maybe one doctor and a few nurses holed up in a central location and they were sending...whoever the hell they had to rooms to write notes and ferret them back. NOT ONCE in the many hours I was there did anyone even LOOK IN MY MOUTH or touch me besides handing me a thermometer and a lab tech put an iv in my arm for the contrast, which is how I worked out that they probably legally weren't allowed to touch me. I was sent for a contrast CT which they decided had to be a sinus infection and my mom was handed a script and we were told to leave. The only problem was that I had had sinus surgery 6 mos prior, again, ignored. It dawned on me a few mos ago why it probably looked that way on films. The type of surgical procedure I had on that side is something known as a Caldwell-Luk procedure (radical antrostomy) and the surgeon goes in through the mouth, under the lip, and actually drills through the bone to access the sinus and debulk/remove tissue (this wasn't originally planned and I think my surgeon rushed), so when I had my wisdom teeth out the infection tracked along the vessels and right through the hole in the bone into my sinus. I could push on my baseball sized cheek and pus would come out of the incision in my mouth. Performed that trick in the ER, spitting pus into the sink. No sample taken. We were shoved out the door by 9 pm, on Christmas, with a prescription appropriate for a sinus infection, but absolutely garbage for oral infections. Saw my ENT two days later on emergency appointment and he scoped me, deemed it not sinus, and called the oral surgeon and "accidentally" left the door partway open while he called the oral surgeon, a mile down the road, and absolutely ripped him a new one and got me scheduled immediately for drain placement. Looking back, he had to have seen something and probably felt partly responsible as he drilled through the bone. He also cut the facial nerve that runs to the front quadrant of my mouth, leaving 1/4 of my teeth numb, and me unable to raise my upper lip on that side. Honestly, there are so many muscles in the face that I didn't even know that I couldn't raise my lip until my bff of practically my whole life, over 25 yrs, asked me if I could snarl on both sides, like the, "Can you raise only one eyebrow/roll your tongue/wink/etc," thing that kids ask each other. That was the first time I realized that I had any facial paralysis. The problem is that people sue physicians for doing dumb crap like that, so doctors keep quiet and cover each other's butts, change records, lose files or reports, etc if there IS malpractice because they don't want to lose their licenses. We should've sued. It is a friggin miracle that I didn't go septic and suffer permanent organ damage. I do have a kidney disease, but it's autoimmune, so that's me on me. 😅 I did suffer from sepsis due to a family doctor thinking a wound was too small to be a problem. Yup. Grade B doctoring at its finest! That time the ER (different hospital) put me in a makeshift closet room and left me there for six hours without even checking on me. Just me and myself watching the red streak climb my arm...yup. Midnight hand surgery. Fun! Oh, I learned that if a doctor says that they "called ahead" and a specialist will be waiting for you...they're lying. 100% a lie if you don't hear a phone call. Lying, falsifying records, etc. Whether your doctor graduated with As or Cs, they're still practicing. Be careful!

[@Just1Nora]

Also, call the medical board to report malpractice or inappropriate treatment. Things I didn't (used to) know about American healthcare!

[@fleurpouvior2967]

Doctors who misdiagnose to the point a patient dies, not ones who are trying, mind you, but the ones who dismiss symptoms and threaten to have people thrown out of the hospital for seeking treatment, should be legally required to dig the grave, and carry the coffin to it. Make then help wash and dress the body under supervision, and sew the jaw closed, so they have to physically face that the killed this person, on every level.

[@blazethecat363]

They should be charged with negligent Homicide imho

[@fleurpouvior2967]

@@blazethecat363 I agree, but I also think for most of them, physically facing the repercussions of their actions, And carrying that as a physical weight, would make them do better. People make mistakes, or have biases and bad days. But it doesn't mean they can't be different and do better. Once, and it's a mistake, a horrific, terrible unimaginable mistake. But if they're at multiple funerals, carrying a bunch of bodies, it becomes more than a number on a piece of paper and they are under the eyes of everyone.

[@breakingboardrooms1778]

Don't morticians just put a towel underneath the dead person's chin? I mean like, you'd think stitches would show?

[@fleurpouvior2967]

@@breakingboardrooms1778 sometimes they essentially staple the gums, but some places prefer other methods. There's a whole thing in ask a mortician that explains it far better than I can

[@AzureTheAvian]

@@breakingboardrooms1778No, they wire the jaw shut. Because rigor mortis causes people’s mouths to hang open in that “silent scream” expression.

[@roowyrm9576]

It pisses off, how many patients are ignored, or belittled just because they are "hysterical" or "overdramatic" women.

[@AshesAshes44]

There was an episode of the Golden Girls wherein Dorothy deals with dismissive doctors. I remember watching that and being amazed doctors could be wrong, and standing up for yourself was a good thing

[@grenade8572]

Wgen I was only a few monthes old, my mom brough me to the doctor because I had a cough she didn't like at all (she is a nurse). The doctor just told her she was a "worried, lil' mom". Actually, the cough turned in a bronchiolitis because I didn't recieve the care soon enough and, because of this, I ended permanently asthmatic. I was quite lucky that, a few days later, mom brough me immediately to the hospital, without asking her usual doctor. After that, he was really attentive to all my mom's concerns. Now, after decades of experience as a nurse, she knows exactly what to say to force the doctors to visit the patients when she suspects an emergency, even at night when doctors don't want to go out their beds.

[@nevaehhamilton3493]

Some of them need a wrongful death lawsuit because these overlooking incidents are maliciously egregious.

[@9_of_Swords]

My baby sister was turned away from the ER for being a "nervous 1st mother" when she was actively dying from the pregnancy. Mom took her elsewhere, both sister and niece survived. I went to an urgent care after 2 weeks of illness. Wasn't treated at all, told it was the flu, go sleep it off. A few days later I was in the ER with jaundice. Hello Mono! Spent 20 years trying to find a doctor to take my PCOS seriously. By the time I got my current doc I had also develoepd NAFLD, hypertension, gallstones, T2DM... which would all have been nipped in the bud had someone just listened.

[@zombiemombie666]

I’ve spent over a decade trying to get someone to listen to me about having hypothyroidism. Finally being listened, but I too have developed nafld and gallstones (so badly my gallbladder is almost bursting and inflamed). I dread to think what else has been going on.

[@sinny5404]

My aunt had a rare genetic condition essentially making heart attacks possible at any age to keep it short. She was unaware of this condition. She had an ambulance bring her to the hospital, the EMTs figured out really fast it was a heart attack. Her nurse, knew it was a heart attack. When the doctor came to check her out, he claimed it couldn't be a heart attack, she's too young (30s, not even too young at that point for a heart attack). He gave her medicine for anxiety (we didn't find out what medicine it was) thinking she was having an anxiety attack and everyone was being dramatic. Whatever medicine it was, made the heart attack worse and it killed her. She would have survived that heart attack without help. She would have been treated for it so less damage if he listened. There were many different ways she would have been fine, if not a bit messed up, but would have lived. He killed her. And no one could help her. He had control, and did the worse thing possible in that situation. And the worst part, the family didn't even attempt to sue, or even complain, because they are religious and believe in forgiveness. It was a bad day for everyone. Especially for her kids, who became orphans. And became foster kids. Because the same family that refused to pursue legal action, also refused to adopt them.

[@PringoOrSomething]

Wtf they’re is so much wrong with this situation

[@rabbit0664]

Damn. Really sorry about the loss and what happened. It's messed up at every part.

[@GiordanDiodato]

your family and that doctor are assholes

[@Lexiz2902]

I woke up around 3am one day in EXCRUCIATING pain. Vomiting and sobbing from it. My mother drove me to the ER. By the time they get me into a bed, I’m feeling a bit better and they discharge me calling it GERD. No tests or anything ran. Gave me some pepsid. Next day, around the same time, same exact symptoms. I was writing on the floor in pain. Brought back to the same hospital. New doctor this time. Asks some questions, presses on my stomach, and sends me up to ultrasound to confirm his diagnosis. He was right- gallstones. I was 19 and gallstones are very uncommon for someone that young. I was in surgery within 5 hours of arriving to the ER. That first doctor was a POS who dismissed me and forced me to go through a horrible pain episode all over again because she didn’t bother to test anything. If she had literally just pressed down on a certain area of my stomach, she would’ve acknowledged a positive Murphy’s sign- indicating cholecystitis. She didn’t bother touching me once.

[@TheGuindo]

the worst part about these kinds of stories is that most of the time the doctor who gave the original misdiagnosis never finds out they were wrong. most patients would rather focus on moving forward with treatment under the new doctor than spend their time calling up the old doctor's office to tell them exactly what they did wrong, which is understandable, but unfortunate.

[@nyadarkness]

at this point other doctor who diagnose it correctly should be legally required to go up against the doctor who misdiagnose themselves

[@GogiRegion]

I’ve had at least one doctor I can think of who dismissed symptoms and then another doctor completely changed my life by taking it seriously and within 3 months I was fine with medication. You inspire me to make sure that the next time it happens, I call up the dismissive doctor and make sure they know they’re wrong.

[@cyberra0180]

The word you can't think of in story 3 is "metastasize". Growing and spreading past the point of origin

[@gdtestqueen]

Lactating…yeah, that’s a big warning sign! Never have been pregnant and started lactating (small amounts). For five YEARS my family doc dismissed it as medication related. Finally got fed up and asked for more tests…mainly an MRI. Pituitary Adenoma, specifically Prolactinoma. Not deadly but if left unchecked could cause some bad issues. 8 years treatment now and it’s almost gone. Don’t ignore lactation people!

[@jijonbreaker]

That first one doesn't necessarily seem like a luck thing. The fact that they had a cancer in the region around their neck probably led to acute osteoporosis, which made them susceptible to breaking their neck. It definitely sucks that the person with the risk for that happening was the one who ended up in an ambulance crash though.

[@paulstelian97]

It's bad that it took a long time for the doc to even learn there was a crash in the first place. Stuff like this should be known immediately, even in "he'll likely be fine" situations.

[@pixxeldust]

I really, really, really hope the people who were left with chronic pain or other disabilities from their misdiagnosis were fairly compensated. Even more so of the families of people who passed away.

[@sierrastanley3109]

Started having seizures in highschool, main doctor said i was faking because "he never seen me have one before" got another doctor literally come into my room just to cuss the main doctor out after my mom went and got another doctor to come in who actually saw me have a seizure. Safe to say i never went back to main doctor and have no clue what he's doing now. Probably screwing over more patients.

[@Amber-zs1sg]

Patient and it just happened to me a few months ago. I had a bad fall onto my back and knew immediately I’d damaged something. I was able to power through the pain to get to the er. When I got there; a training doctor said I drove myself so I’d probably just strained something and wanted to have the nurse discharge me. He thought I was pain pill seeking or something. Luckily his classmate overheard and told his supervising doctor. Supervisor took over my case and sent me for mri/X-ray just in case. I had broken a bone in my spine and sprained another part of my back. Needless to say, supervisor was VERY impressed with my pain tolerance and not so much with his student. I had to wait for family to come for me (supervisor wasn’t letting me waltz around with broken back). I had front row seat to over an hour long chew out he gave student. It was a morning slow shift btw

[@GayCorvidae69]

Cudos to the kid who ratted him out for knwing better and getting you the doctor but that doctor was an ass in chewing that kid out in front of patinents, that is incredibly humiliating and unprofessional. Yes he would have made a huge mistake that could ahve left you paralyzed, but he is a student trying to learn from making mistakes, getting yelled at is not a way to learn

[@squishirox6sic6]

My younger sister was always complaining about abdominal pain when she was younger. This was a few years ago. They kept saying she was lying and was faking it so she didn't have to go to school. Around this time, I was studying anatomy and was in school for mortuary science so I semi knew how to read x-rays and stuff. So one of the times where I go with her to the hospital to get another x-ray reading because they wanted to prove that she was faking it and I saw something that was clearly abnormal on her x-ray. We brought it up to the doctor and then that's when they finally took her serious. Turns out she had to large cystic tumors growing near her uterus. She ended up having surgery to remove them. They said the tumors were around the size of a large mango and they had teeth and hair along with muscle fibers.

[@kelleywyskiel3478]

Wow

[@ChasingTea]

Teratomas? Holicrappoli :O

[@__idfk__]

A few years back, my grandma had developed a kidney stone. She'd had many before this and knew the symptoms, so she went to see her doctor. Got tests done, and she had a stone that was 25mm in diameter (the size of a US quarter coin)! But in the summary of the report, it said she didn't have a stone at all, which was all he read, so he told her she was fine and sent her home. A couple days later, she was obviously still having symptoms and went to the ER. She was rushed to another hospital for emergency surgery because she was on the border of kidney failure because of this huge stone. They had to put a tube through her back, into her kidney to remove the stone and drain the infection that was a result of the lack of treatment. The original hospital had to pay all of her bills and a settlement because of that major fuck up.

[@inacharlotte4393]

Oh wow I didn't expect to see a story so similar to my sister. She too was lactating and she never even had a baby. Doc blamed it on her squishing her breasts too often and stimulating them which ?? Wasn't even true and just a bizarre medical take. She got a second opinion and an MRI I believe and turns out she had a brain tumor as well (thankfully benign)

[@vaughnhaney7020]

Actually overstimulation CAN cause lactation. But if the patient says they don't think that's it, TEST FURTHER. My goodness.

[@MidnightFreefall]

Technically the nipples do have nerve endings that recognise the sensation of suckling to promote lactation, but yeah no. Bad doctor

[@marionanderson3441]

Galactorrhoea without a pregnancy or deliberate attempts to initiate lactation is very often a pituitary tumour. Enough that this should be the first thing checked.

[@mugglecatful]

Mom had a wheelchair (and the man in it) come down across her foot at work. Got sent to the local hospital for a workup. Was told it was just severe bruising and would take time to heal. 3 months later, the pain had subsided and then come raring back. Took her original scan to a new hospital and was scanned again. New doc says not only were all her metatarsals (mid foot) broken in the original scan, but they had healed wrong and she now had bones shards and bone spurs doing serious damage. Removed what they could but she developed CRPS, a pain disorder. Can't stand for long, can't sit in one position for long. If she overdoes it the foot swells up, turns orange and makes her consider at home amputation. She's been forcefully retired due to her disability and is now on a barrage of opioids.

[@gdtestqueen]

Damn…I feel so sorry for her!! I hope at some point she gets relief. I’m in a power chair and those things weight around 200-350 lbs WITHOUT the person!! I’m very happy (and proud) to say that in 35 years of driving one, the only feet I have ever run over are my own (I hate footrests, so my fault). I’ve had multiple hairline fractures in my ankles and all my toes. Nothing anywhere near as bad as your mom suffered, though. Luckily I now have a chair with a specialized footplate that even I will use so haven’t done it in a while. There are so many wheelchair users out there who don’t know how to control the things or don’t care about who they hit. It’s horrible.

[@exlit_]

I have AMPs (a subtype of CRPS) i hope your mom the best in the rest of her life. CRPS is the WORST

[@FXM420]

I really hope these people get in touch with the doctors that misdiagnosed them to guilt trip tf outta them

[@JV-pu8kx]

Lawyer, too. Considering how devastating the misdiagnoses can be.

[@rainbowsparkles5304]

I’m the patient. I wrecked my kidneys a bit by taking so much ibuprofen for hip pain prior to total hip replacement (the CT scan of that hip’s ball joint looked like a squashed mushroom-and I was walking on it for nearly 2 years). It was during a readmission for dehydration, AKI & severe UTI after stent placement that a Abdominal/Pelvic CT caught the edge of a breast tumor. Was I told about this tumor by a doctor? No. I read about it ON MY OWN when checking out my patient portal & reading the results of that Abdominal CT. A mammogram (which found a second tumor), ultrasound,needle biopsy, & bilateral mastectomy (with lymph node involvement) later, I am now waiting to find out if I need chemo or can go straight to radiation. My point here is this: if no one tells you results of something (labs, scans, etc.), ASK. Then ask again.

[@blazethecat363]

ugh that is NOT okay. I hope that doctor got absolutely wrecked for it

[@rainbowsparkles5304]

@@blazethecat363 Nothing happened. I think because there was more than 1 doctor involved in my case, reviewing stuff with me got lost in the shuffle. I’d expect the hospitalist (doc in charge overall) should’ve done that kinda thing. The nurse seemed kinda shocked when I told her.

[@blazethecat363]

@@rainbowsparkles5304 wow. disgusting. I hope you report them to the medical board

[@kentario1610]

These stories make me dearly wish that somehow the people who made these mistakes found out about them to learn, the ones who wrote off people as drug seeking or paranoid about skin lumps or weird symptoms that don't ever leave.

[@katiecunningham5]

everyone please remember medical negligence is a crime and you can absolutely sue someone over this

[@TellyKNetic]

I was thirteen years old when I broke out in a weird patchy rash. The rash was on my left torso (it stopped exactly at my midline) and mostly under my ribs. The rash burned like a sunburn when I brushed it against anything. The first doctor I saw for this insisted that I had hives. I have never had hives before, but I knew people who did, so I knew what they looked like and that they generally itched, not burned. Additionally, I had not rolled around anywhere, changed laundry detergent, bought new clothes, or interacted with anything new that might cause a sudden outbreak. I explained all this to the doctor, who didn't have time for uppity thirteen-year-old girls and repeated that it was hives and they would go away soon. Mom wasn't happy with that doctor either, so we got an appointment with another doctor a few days later. He actually listened to me when I described my symptoms and actually looked at the rash. His diagnosis: Shingles. I had to take some anti-virus medication and was off school for a week, because apparently you can contract Chicken Pox from someone with Shingles.

[@yolandapedraza115]

I had been going to this doctor for a while now. Came in one day to get a refreral for a psychologist for depression. I got it. It was fine. Went in 2 weeks later with a bunch of physical symptoms, including having lost 20 pounds (literally lost 20 pounds in 14 days), and she said it was just a panic attack before sending me home. Well, we said fuck that and went to another clinic to get a second opinion where they actually took bloodwork and all that. They sent me home and we were okay. Fast forward another day or two, we get a call from the second clinic to take me to the ER. Turns out, i was going through DKA (aka definitely not a panic attack) and if I had not gone to the ER that day, I wouldve died from it (we didnt know I was diabetic until this moment). Yeah. We complained to the first clinic and the doctor got fired.

[@MMo11y]

My dad had a similar thing when he was a kid. His leg was swelling and having mobility issues and, when he told his doctor, the doctor was willing to listen and do some tests on it. They eventually found the problem and were able to fix it before it got worse. He always told me he was very lilucky to have a good doctor that listened to him.

[@FireflyFanatic3]

When my brother was about 8 he banged his head twice in one night and for months after that had persistent problems with his vision, as well as tinnitus and tingling in his tongue when he lay down. Sometimes he had lines through his vision, other times it would be blurry, other times completely gone in one eye. Whenever it for bad enough he couldn't see my parents would take him to A&E but by the time they'd got there his sight had usually returned. They always just inspected his eyes and said there were fine and to see an optometrist. Didn't matter how many times by parent's explained this was a problem that started after a head injury, they only cared about looking at his eyes. Anyway, after about 6-8 months of this, my sister and I had him on a spinning ride at the park. We abruptly stopped it, jerking him in the opposite direction and he stood up and announced his vision was back to normal suddenly. Never had a problem since. Occasionally I think how I might have permanently blinded my brother if I'd been spinning him in the other direction

[@mintman325]

I was born at 23 weeks, nearly 30 years ago. My parents had my sister who was only 1 at the time too. They made the effort to be with me every day my grandparents made an effort too. I was always surrounded by love. The tell me stories of a baby who was next to me named Bo Paul her parents were lawyers and no one was ever there for her. She wasn’t there when my dad showed up one day. She had died, when ever I think about her it makes me sad, and makes me incredibly thankful for what I have.

[@musicfan189]

8 different doctors diagnosed my mum with a variety of lung infections and prescribed a bunch of different antibiotics, over a period of 2 months... Meanwhile my 36-year-old mum was slowly getting weaker, to the point that a few steps left her winded and she could no longer get up the 15 steps to the first floor with her bedroom... Finally, she got to a point where she could barely speak because her breathing was so bad, so she called 911.. Plot twist though, she was a single mum, I was 8 years old and my sister was 5, and we had no one living close enough that they would be able to show up and stay with me and my sister before an ambulance arrived, and the ambulance would not take me and my sister along... So my mum told them to cancel the ambulance, and called my dad instead, who was a cabbie... He came and got us and took us to the hospital, where the doctor on duty spoke to my mum for a few minutes, took one look at the situation, and told us he would make our mum all better, so we should hug her and say bye for the weekend, and we could pick her up in a few days, and then he sent us on our way with our dad... I've later been told that the doctor chewed my mum out for waiting so long to go a hospital instead of a GP, because she was dying from an allergic reaction to our cat, and if she'd waited just a couple more days, her kids would not have been saying bye for a few days, but for forever, because he didn't think they'd have been able to save her then... So she spent the weekend in the ICU with 24 care and IV meds, and 20 years later I still have my mum and a deep-seated mistrust of doctors, because I no longer believe they will listen to me since they 'know better' about what might be wrong with me after en eternity in school...

[@GiordanDiodato]

Please don't think all doctors are the same. seriously it's a dangerous mentality to have.

[@musicfan189]

@@GiordanDiodato Oh, I am very aware that I need to work with doctors for the sake of my health... I don't think they're all the same... But it's not like they have a stamp on their forehead signalling if they're competent and trustworthy or not, and I would really prefer not to get caught out trusting the wrong doctor again... So now I'm asking all the questions, doing my own research to be better informed and able to discuss my health with them, and every single doctor I meet get told that story of 8 misdiagnosis almost costing me my mum, and if I don't get a reaction that makes sense to me (ie. An immediate understanding that they can't be dismissive with me and that they need to take the time to talk things through with me and answer my questions and concerns until I'm comfortable with whatever is going on), then I walk out and look for a different doctor... But walking out is not really an option if something is an emergency, so I will keep my distrust over the blind faith in authority that nearly cost my mum her life....

[@ajwinberg]

The story about the person with 5 wholes in their heart is scary. I know someone who was in a similar situation. Her baby would just scream constantly, and the doctors blew her off. She took her baby to a different ER only to find out that her baby had something wrong with her heart. They life flighted the baby to the nearest children's hospital, which was 3 hours away by car and the baby had emergency surgery upon arrival, which saved her life and helped relieve whatever pain she was feeling. This baby was a new born. It is crazy how often this kind of stuff happens, because doctor. Believe that is normal for babies. I had doctors tell me for months that there was nothing wrong with my son. He wasn't gaining weight like most babies but was in otherwise good health. The pediatrician made my husband and I feel like terrible parents because we didn't have a fat baby. He felt like we weren't feeding our son enough. It turned out that our son had spastic muscles which caused his muscles to work over time as if he was constantly lifting weights and despite being fed properly and even being fed more than a normal baby, he just wouldn't gain weight. He is a happy and chunky eight year old now. I'd like to say that he is health, but the spastic muscles were caused by a prenatal stroke. My son was officially diagnosed with having cerebral palsy at 18 months old. If you can't get answers, always get a second opinion.

[@peggyveith7211]

😊)

[@karenlloyd945]

I was a nurse working in the ER, we had a patient brought in from a clinic in another town for a surgical consult, possible appendicitis. She was in full blown labour! The dr who referred her hadn't bothered doing an exam. If he had, then maybe the baby would have survived.

[@monroerobbins7551]

For a year, I’ve had a super bad chest ache, super bad fatigue, I was miserable. I went to my doctor’s multiple times, and I had the same list of options said: asthma, possible infection, allergies. After a year, I finally started pushing harder and harder for some scans. Turns out I had caught histoplasmosis, which got trapped in a lymph node right next to my trachea. My lymph node was four times its normal size, and it was messing with me super bad, but now I’ve finally gotten some antifungals. What sucks is that histoplasmosis is super common, even with swollen lymph nodes, but my lymph node was just in the worst place, and they can’t even remove it, so they’re just trying to shrink it.

[@P.e.d.r.oficial]

“This man was prime unlucky we have a discord “😂

[@blackhagalaz]

Not nearly as bad as some of these stories but I had that happen to me. I was complaining about being sick at least once a month a few days at a time with a runny nose headaches and swollen sinuses. I told my doctor as much and she ran a blood test. That stated that I clearly had a nice infection in my body, but my doctor just said "Meh, some people just have small infections all the time", and because she knew of my depression she just told me to get more rest. I run around like this for 3 whole years, every so often asking her if it couldn't be something different. One day she wasn't there and I had the other doctor working with her. She-without hesitation- transfered me to a specialist. Turns out that I had a chronic sinusitis for the past 3 years, because I had a familily of polyps living in my sinuses. On top my Septum was extremely crooked. I decided on surgery. They took everything out that didn't belong there, broke and realigned my septum. Once it healed I could breathe through my nose for the first time in years and has a stronger sense of smell. The infections also went away and my voice became less nasal (before I did a killer Jannis impression from "Friends"). And all of this although I had a history of polyps, and had surgery for it at 8 years old already. My doctor just didn't take me seriously. And it was 3 years of being continuisly sick and exhausted.

[@YouTubeSupportSucks]

My best friend is stage 4 cancer because doctors ignored her pain and other symptoms for years. I imagine the doctor who listened and found the cancer would be mad

[@thestreamingone8885]

You want to know some horrible thing that a doctor overlooked for a friend of mine? Neuroendocrine cancer. His first doctor wrote him off as a pill seeking young man and disregarded his complaints of pain. His second doctor was much more understanding and she had him sent for testing. But that was after the first doctor repeatedly brushed him off and wasted valuable time that could have had things turn out differently. He's been gone for 3 years now, it will be 4 years in a few months. I will never not hold the utmost vitriolic hatred for that first doctor.

[@dryb3301]

A doctor here. I once caught a full blown appendicitis in a 12 year old that was missed the previous day by another doctor. It was a classic presentation with text boom symptoms and signs. I couldn't understand how anyone could miss that. Also people remember, if you go to multiple doctors for the same complain you have to mention the duration of symptoms and that you went to multiple doctors and which medications were given and which investigations were done. If not they'll start from the beginning and when they start to investigate for more serious and uncommon things you'll be seeing another doctor. If you are young some diseases are rare in young ages, so be mindful to give all the symptoms, DURATION of symptoms and number of previous visits for the same thing to your doctor.

[@fathermother8231]

This happened to my mom. 6 months she was suffering from Pneumonia and doctors kept writing her off stating she ‘was seeking pain meds.’ I watched them say this to her face one time. She had to go septic for hours and end up in the ER almost dead before anyone did a damn thing about it. She lived though, pulled through with sheer determination and the grace of God. Edit: I can’t spell

[@sweetcherry7759]

So so sooo many of these doctors need to be sued- the victims not taking legal action is why the Drs keep doing it, bc they know they can get away with it. 😤

[@mandiblackwell4668]

So I feel like I am a bit of an epitome of this, many doctors overlooked me many times which lead me to slowly become paralyzed from the waist down and nearly die from gangrene... I now just always seek a 2cd opinion if the doctors don't seem to have a good reasoning for their suspected diagnosis.

[@joshuawinters7644]

As A Guy Who's Appendix Burst Three Days Before I Noticed, I Feel The Person In Story 11's Pain, And Would Sue The Heck Out Of The Original Hospital

[@justlikethewizard]

I kept getting horribly ill - I'd have intense abdominal pain that actively made it hard to walk. The only thing that would help (and it did not help much) was to go sit in a shower with it turned up as hot as possible. I was so delirious I'd sleep in the tub in soaking wet clothes with a bucket. The pain in my stomach was so bad that sometimes I couldn't tell if it was actually my back hurting or not. I went to the emergency room three times. My mother is a nurse and suggested to get tested for gall stones. Was told it was bacterial, I'd be better soon. Started to turn yellow, went to ER again. Was again sent home. Went to a DIFFERENT ER and begged them to do an ultrasound for the gallstones. I didn't care how much it cost, I just needed to know. Lo and behold - gallstones. When my surgeon read the paperwork she was furious. She said I was extremely close to going septic, it was sheer luck that one of the stones shifted and stopped blocking the duct. I was close to dying and have never been more miserable in my life (no more gallbladder for me).

[@Pr0pheceye]

Story 5, same for my uncle. Military neglected his symptoms until he was stage 4 colon cancer and he died not too long after.

[@nuyabuisness7526]

Friend is an EMS for a children's hospital. He described children's breathing as an important sign to watch. They can breath faster keeping their vitals seeming normal then suddenly they'll stop as their diaphragm gives out from exhaustion.

[@copyj8187]

I was the patient and I've never really blamed the doctor because I was a kid when it happened and when I was finally old enough to understand everything, I knew there hadn't been much to go on. Basically, my mom brought me to my family doctor because I wasn't really eating. That was the only actual symptom he was given the first time. So because of that and because I am to this day a picky eater, he thought it was that and told my mom to give me fast food a bit more often for now because as much as it is unhealthy at least I would be getting some sustenance. All I remember from that first appointment was being really confused that my doctor was telling me to eat fast food. My mom brought me back later because there hadn't been change and what I remember from that appointment is the doctor apologizing for not seeing something was wrong and me being admitted to the hospital for tests. A night at the hospital to get the urine and stool samples later and it turns out I had a stomach parasite. I was on a liquid diet during that stay, only until the next morning because I'd had so much jello and popsicles that I was sick of them and begged them for some peanut butter on toast.

[@Philfluffer]

I had a sarcoma... grew from nothing to nearly stage 4 (metastatic cancer-where it spreads everywhere) over the period of 10 days. It was aggressive and the treatment was nearly as destructive as the cancer. That was 35 years ago, still battling the damage from the radiation.

[@chrismsmalley2626]

One of them first stories about the guy with the Sarcoma that got missed and had 10 more years to flourish? That 1st Dr DIDNT MAKE the couple wait 10 years before having it looked at again?? They could have gotten a 2nd opinion that day or that week or whenever? Nobody stopped them from seeing a different dr? They chose to wait 10 years before finally going to a different dermatologist? Anyway, when I was 11yo I was sick at home from school for a few days. I had started throwing up and had diarrhea really bad. We didn't have insurance, me and my mom, so we went to Emergency Care clinic and the Dr said I had stomach flu. No Xrays, MRI nothing. Not even blood work. She brought me home and set me up on the couch. A few more days go by and I became unresponsive so my mom rushed me to the ER... Dr " took one look " and they rushed me into the OR. My appendix had ruptured 2 weeks prior and my system was flooded with poison nasty stuff. I was a sickly child all my life and didn't really recover from illnesses until my senior year of HS. I grew 6 inches and gained 60lbs. I graduated in 1989. In 2013 my lungs collapsed and I drove myself to the ER and nearly died. I was sick for so long I burned out my immune system and ill never be well again and my Mom admitted to me I had developed Lyme Disease several times my first two years of HS... Lyme Disease is a known cause of Immune System problems later in life??? I was like WTH MOM?? she kept all my sicknesses secret from me saying it was food poisoning or an ulcer or migraines so bad I'd throw up and get nose bleeds for several hours? What else did she hide from me? I'm 52 now and she just got diagnosed with Lung Cancer I told her, " it's just a cold Mom. Just go back to work and be done with it " .... she didn't laugh..

[@jar00agr03]

I was seen by a dermatologist who had been in practice for over 25 years and had a medical student shadowing him. I had an open sore on my nose that would not completely heal and had been dealing with it for about a year. He looked at it and said I needed to stop picking at it and come back when it heals. I went back six months later after it still hadn’t healed and saw the NP who immediately recognized it was cancer. Pathology showed morpheaform basal cell cancer. I immediately scheduled with a plastic surgeon who recommended radiation instead of surgery because you can’t tell how widespread it is under the skin. It basically grows tentacles under the skin, even into the cartilage and bone. I also have a condition where sutures go through my tissue like butter. They couldn’t even close the biopsy site. The plastic surgeon set me up with radiation oncology. The dermatologist had scheduled me for a follow up in one week which I went to. Turns out I had been scheduled for the Mohs surgical procedure that day. I immediately said nope, not happening. In talking to the radiologist oncologist he had skin cancer misdiagnosed by the same doctor! Three years later I am still cancer free without any scars.

[@calamitouscalliope]

I already have horrible health anxiety hearing this is making me lose my trust in doctors

[@kevinnguyen3389]

I spent 4 years with undiagnosed arthritis because my family doctor refused to refer me to a specialist. It started with foot pain and eventually my whole body was feeling aches. He kept saying he didn't know what was going on and that a sports medicine doctor wouldn't be able to figure out what the issue is. It wasn't until my physiotherapist sending a note to my family doctor that he finally referred me. After a few tests with an orthopaedic surgeon, she got me to see a rheumatologist

[@Ariento]

Breast cancer is rough. One of my aunts was lucky to survive sans boobs, but one of my other aunts was not so lucky. Hell, until I had proof I hadn't inherited the breast cancer gene I was planning on getting a pre-emptive double mastectomy after seeing the first aunt's tough fight (second aunt had not yet developed cancer at that point in time). Thankfully my father (aunt 1's twin brother) doesn't share the gene, and my mother's side doesn't have it, so I only have normal odds of getting cancerous titties.

[@JimsAdventuresGB]

I had an eye test and the optometrist refereed for a kerataconus assessment A few weeks an optometrist in a hospital took many tests and scans and diagnosed me with kerataconus (where the cornea is mishapen) and shceduled me for corneal cross linking (a procedure where they essentially scrape a bit of the corea off and use eye drops and uv light to reshape the cornea) The surgeon (the same lady who diagnosed me) was ill with covid, so a new surgeon took over, he saw my scans and saw nothing, he wanted to re do them. We redid the tests and i didn't have kerataconus. I was misdiagnosed and if that surgeon didnt get ill, i would have had an unnecessary surgery that probably would have caused more issues

[@KaiyaNoki]

Breast cancer has a 90% survival rate. 10% is still a lot, you don't tell someone with breast cancer that that's one of the good ones.

[@ReallyBlueBoy]

My cardiologist once purposely ignored me and made me angry when I was telling her about pain I would have in my joints when I was out of breath DURING MY EVALUATION OF BP. Due to this, it went up during the test and skewed the results. Afterward? She told me “ you definitely have some sort of pressure disorder, but because of your elevated pressure due to anger, it looks normal on the test. “

[@eveieteatoo]

My first orthopedic doc refused to touch my knee, which was swollen and hurting and giving me so much trouble. I argued with him and begged for an mri because it felt so bad, and he said it was some vague muscle thing and had me to physical therapy. A couple weeks in the therapy made it worse and the therapist sent me back to the doc for it, only to get dismissed again for obesity. Went weeks in pain, and one night I felt a pain so overwhelming after a hot pop that I passed out. Knee and calf swelled twice the size, went to the ER and they didn’t even Xray or do any tests and sent me home. Weeks after that I went in for a second opinion, by then I was in pain when walking (and still working through all this btw, childcare of all things.) Second opinion was the partner of the first doc, and probably got an ear full about me and was scheptical. Did an MRI, found my knee cap was shifted over a bit and some cartilage that needed clean up. Didn’t explain the level of pain but set a surgery date for a common arthroscopy. A 1 hour surgery that took 5, because when they went in they found a chunk of cartilage had broken from my knee cap (that night of excruciating pain) and tore up my knee bits. Muscle did need to get cut to let the knee cap shift back into place. He checked in me every day for the first week, and I realized it’s probably because the first doc rolled the red carpet out for a lawsuit. I wish I had fought, but I just wanted to get better and he done. Over 6 months of physical therapy and permanent pain years later. All because the first doc assumed I was overreacting because I was over weight and had such a big pride complex he couldn’t do his job right.

[@iluvsomebananamilks3367]

The one where the friend was in pain for three years, three years man, and the doctors all dismissed it. And when she was scanned the cancer was already at stage four. That was foul on their behalf however the scariest part was how her organs were pushed and smushed. And when she broke her ribs the way they reacted....

[@TheColorHopeIsBlue]

My mom was 27 and she and my dad and my then-baby brother were visiting my mom’s parents in GA. She developed lower abdominal pain and unusual vaginal bleeding (not her period) but no symptoms of pregnancy. She went to a doctor who did nothing but make crude jokes about using “the biggest speculum” to examine her and utterly dismiss her pain and tell her she was being overly dramatic (and the assisting nurse said nothing and did nothing to comfort or defend her). She left that appointment in tears, and of course the pain only got worse. My dad drove her and my brother all night back to VA, dropped my brother off at their church’s nursery, then took her to the ER. These doctors actually listened and did a needle aspiration and found out she had a rupturing ectopic pregnancy in one of her Fallopian tubes (nowadays you typically get that diagnosed with transvaginal or abdominal ultrasound, but this was 1987). She was immediately taken up to the OR. The docs told my dad if he had stopped at any point the night before, she would have died. After that was over, my grandmother called up the first doctor and tore him a new one for how he treated my mom and for missing the diagnosis.

[@Unknown-kitsune]

Story 18 really hits hard for me, especially because I also have a benign thing on my tongue, and now I'm a bit scared

[@CyanicusTwice]

My mother when she was in her late 40's noticed some changes to her body which were consistent with the menopause so she decided to get it checked out. The doctor called her stupid and said that you only got the menopause in your 60's. A few months later, and this unusual change had persisted and she knew something was going on so decided to get a second opinion from a different clinic. Yep early menopause. Also cancer. If that first doctor had got it right, the cancer would not have been found until it was too late (it had spread to another organ) and mum would likely have chalked the cancer symptoms as the menopause.

[@slc1161]

ICU/ER nurse. 50 year old gentleman came in to my unit after cardiac arrest. He’d had a heart attack a week earlier and had 4 stents placed. Stents are like mesh to hold open a narrow or blocked portion of an artery bringing blood to his heart. Turns out the doctor who had placed them at another hospital did not deploy them correctly and they were collapsed in the vessels, acting like blood clots. He died later that night. I really tried to get his wife to do an autopsy. She would not. I couldn’t tell her directly what had caused his problem because it’s accusing someone of malpractice without more evidence as well. Just recently, my pain doctor did a procedure on the wrong side of my head. I was to have my right side done, then my left two weeks later. He did the right twice. I discovered it the morning after when the anesthetic had worn off. Two good things happened though. The center, with my input, changed their patient time out process to make sure the site mark isn’t covered up. And the extra procedure helped reduce the pain on the right side.

[@listener709]

Weird proyectile vomit is one of the triad for raise in the intercraneal pressure

[@roowyrm9576]

So many women get brushed off by doctors, symptoms dismissed as hysteria etc. I'm dealing with this at the moment.

[@pyroclastic8924]

my mom has dysautonomia: sometimes her autonomous nervous system just doesn't work, so she'll pass out, can't walk very far, wakes up in the middle of the night feeling painfully nauseous, can't thermoregulate, has brain fog on rainy days and can't focus, a ton of other things. we spent 9 years looking for help and no one could. said it was a potassium deficiency. in the last two years her wife figured out what it was and then the argument wasn't "help us, what's wrong with her," but "we know what this is, we know how to treat it, please prescribe the medication we need." still took 2 years.

[@deebee192]

I wonder what the original derm from story 3 when they found out they were responsible for the patients cancer getting so bad. Doctors that misdiagnose should be sent to retrain.

[@MINRoadkill]

Absolutely. I swear misdiagnosis is so common these days, it’s getting really bad

[@scott931]

My best friend... Diagnosed with bursitis in their hip...given steroids. Actually was Stage 4 colon cancer. They died three months later. Myself... Went to the ER with chest pain.... I was told it was just indigestion, and go home n take pepcid. Two weeks later...went to a different ER. They did a heart Cath. My LAD (Widowmaker) was NINETY-NINE percent block. That doctor could not understand why I was still alive.

[@OrianaBats]

My cousin. Two years with an undiagnosed broken foot. She had a fall at work, and broke it. The doctors just told her she needed to lose weight and it would go away. For me, I fell on my own neck at gym class when I was 13. Couldn't keep my head straight because I felt it weighed a ton, lack of balance for a few hours, every single movement was horrible pain. The doctor that saw me held my head, made it turn to all directions and said I was fine. No x-ray, no nothing. Cue 6 years later (all this time with difficulty doing certain movements, carrying heavier things, not being able to turn my head that much in certain directions), I finally have an x-ray at the request of a chiropractor. The spine area on my neck was, well, not looking very straight. I'm close to being 30 now and it still affects how much I can lift and how fast/what sort of movements I can perform. On bad days, I can't even put a jacket on without pain.

[@krourou2]

Not a doctor, but while visiting her aunt just this past Christmas, my mom came down with shingles on her head. The first ER missed it; they heard "migraine" - she has hemiplegic migraines (but never any pain with them) - and jumped to the conclusion it was migraines. Due to that, she took a shower and ended up _spreading it to her eye,_ which only made the pain so much worse. I haven't seen that woman cry in pain _once_ before this, and I'm nearly 30. It took trip to a different hospital to figure it out, _and_ that it was now in her eye, which could potentially cause permanent damage to her vision.

[@dark-heika2609]

Got one right up this question's alley, though thankfully in a good way. My dad was feeling very dizzy almost constantly. Our regular doctor advised he get an MRI because she was concerned about the possibility of a brain tumor. We are all, needless to say, incredibly worried for him... right up until he got a second opinion from another doctor. One who actually bothered to check his ears. Y'know, that thing doctors generally do as part of that basic examination they give you at the start of the appointment. Turns out, he had an earwax buildup that was messing up his inner ear. He was advised to take some steamy showers to help melt away the buildup, then sent home. Needless to say, we no longer see the first doctor.

[@michelleharris1537]

I was born with a misshaped head. When I was about 15 months old my mom asked the pediatrician about my misshaped head. He dismissed her concern and said I would grow out of it. 3 1/2 years later when I was a few weeks shy of turning 6, I happened to be with my mom when she took one of my brothers to a family doctor. He saw me and noticed my misshaped head. I had a condition called craniosynostosis which is when a baby’s skull fuses too early and my head was in a cone like shape. As I got older it would have caused brain damage because my brain wouldn’t be able to grow since my skull had already fused and couldn’t get bigger. The family doctor just happened to have done his residency with a surgeon who did the surgery to correct this birth defect and he immediately recognized my condition. At the age of 6 I had to have all the bones in my head broken and reshaped, and here 40 years later I have never had any issues. Had my mom not taken me with her to the appointment who knows how long or if someone would have figured out there was a problem before my brain was impacted.

[@GayCorvidae69]

When I was 19 or so I had an extreme case of the flu, nothing I did helped, my officially I didn’t have a fever (my temp was around 37,9C which is just 0,1C lower than official fever) but my regular temperature is always around 35,7-36,3; somfornme this definitely was a fever. It kept getting worse and I was coughing the worst I ever have in my life, so much so that it was giving me really bad cramps. Doctors kept dismissing me and after 3 or so weeks of this I ended up breaking 2 ribs because of how hard I was coughing. Turned out I had pneumonia, but it was only found out AFTER I had not only broken 2 ribs, but given it to my great-grandmother who was 89 at the time. I also have PCOS and endometriosis that went undiagnosed until I was 19 and had been complaining for years about fainting from the pain and not being able to go to school at least a week every month because of how bad the pain was. Only reason it was diagnosed was because I had to get a pelvic exam due to a police report of sexual abuse. I also had chronic appendicitis for 15 years and ended up with acute symptoms in the ER 7 times, and wasn’t diagnosed until I was 23 because doctors kept dismissing it and saying it was ‘just my ovulation; (spoiler alert, even if it had been that, the fact that I felt like I was dying is not normal for an ovulation and again, would show I had something like PCOS or endo). 2 different hospitals completely missed it for q5 years until the 7th time a doctor finally was competent enough to know that chronic appendicitis doesn’t show in the blood and sometimes acute doesn’t either. Got a radiograph done and it showed that my appendix was about 20x the sixe that it should have been, all the way from next to my belly button down to my groin and all the way to the left, about 20cm long and 1cm in diameter. Sadly I was not allowed to take it home. If it had burst I would have died. And of course my EDS which didn’t get diagnosed until recently (I am 24 now). I have complained about chronic pain in my joints and muscles my entire life but was always made out for a liar and attention seeker and was told that I was faking it because I didn’t wanna participate in gym class and was forced to do things that literally made my hips and shoulders and knees dislocate. My teachers (especially from gym classes), therspists and even my mom said I was just lazy and faking it and was being an attention wh*re. It wasn’t until recently when I went to a theme park with friends and I was literally crying in pain after standing for an hour and needing a wherlchair because it got so painful, in just an hour. Inwas fainting and throwing up from the pain and exhaustion, and now I am waiting to get my own wheelchair. But yeah it’s all for attention of course. Mot because you know, I actually have and illness called EDS or anything 🙃

[@denzildk]

Throughout my whole childhood I've had a bunch of physical symptoms checked out, and have had multiple doctors and specialists check me out, and only after I became an adult and did my own research did I figure out that it has always been anxiety causing them.

[@spiritedaway0tutu]

My sister. She is partially paralyzed due to complex regional pain syndrome, neuropathy and MCAS complications. The first doctor she saw for it proceeded to yell at her to use her PARALYZED leg and lift it for him, and when she clearly couldn’t, he said she was refusing his medical treatment and wouldn’t refer her. She left that appointment in *tears.* He didn’t believe she was paralyzed. Spoiler alert: she ABSOLUTELY is. Two others were both me. The first was my childhood dentist, who would regularly yell at and shame me for not taking care of my teeth well enough and told me my teeth would all fall out of my head by the time I turned 20. Fast forward a decade and a half, and my new dentist is STILL trying to fix the insane amount of damage my old dentist did by deciding my fillings were failing because I wasn’t taking care of my teeth; and not for the actual reason - I have a complex form of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. My teeth literally don’t have enough enamel. My fillings were falling out because my teeth weren’t strong enough and were so smooth that even when adhered to my teeth they literally slipped out. He also drilled way too deep because he didn’t believe me when I told him it hurt, and ended up destroying 8 of my teeth so badly that 6 have since needed root canals. The worst part about all of it is that I WAS taking care of my teeth. The second was my childhood eye doctor, who proceeded to misdiagnose what turned out to be convergence insufficiency diplopia as astigmatism for over a DECADE. She never believed me when I told her something was wrong, and she ignored it for so long that the damage is now permanent. Vision therapy did the best they could, but my eye strain headaches, double vision and dizziness are permanent. It literally took my first occupational therapist 30 seconds to notice it and send me to vision therapy. 30 seconds to notice something my entire eye doctor’s staff didn’t notice.

[@mscaligurl76]

My best friend was going to doctors for a couple of years for asthma and getting inhalers that would only last a few days instead of the full month they were prescribed for . They would not check her for any other medical condition just told her that she could buy primatine mist over the counter. She eventually died from what we later found out was congestive heart failure. If she had been correctly diagnosed and treated, she could still be here with her daughter. Instead she died at 21 years old. I will never get over it.

[@andacondanation1933]

Story 11 sounds like a huge lawsuit guaranteed to win on the patients end.

[@vivianclose5986]

All these patients need lawyers and need to sue for medical malpractice.

[@doritoarts9878]

My grandma had a fall a while back and the doctors said she hadn't broken anything and would be fine. However, she was in enough pain to warrent another visit to the doctors where it turned out the last time they fucked up the x-ray, she had a pelvic fracture. I lived with her for a few months while she was recovering.

[@SomeRandomKydd]

I had this. I was doing this walking thing by flinging my leg out in front of me which let me move really fast. I had just discovered I could do it the day before and was now trying it backwards. Then my foot cracked, and it hurt really bad; swelling and purple within the hour. I could walk still, but there was an obvious limp. IT was late so we just had dinner and checked the next day. It was swelling, so my mom took me to the Urgent Care near my house. They took an X-Ray and said it was just a bad sprain. Cool. But my dad is a doctor and was suspicious. He took a copy of the X-Ray to this collogues at work and they unanimously said it was a broken bone. Treatment was the same: Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation (RICE) for 8 months, but I heard my mom talking to my dad about how this wasn't the only time the Urgent Care had been wrong, so I think they left a complaint. Dunno as it was nearly a decade ago.

[@WyvernJelly]

My husband was misdiagnosed for some kind of acne as a teen that was actually cystic acne. The treatment has left him with keloid scars. My uncle was in the hospital for removaal of tumor for colon cancer. Somehow all the nurses missed that he was changing color. My aunt (doctor) came to see him. She flipped out on the nurses.

[@anerdygoldenagesoprano]

The breast cancer story sounds incredibly similar to my mother's story. It almost could have been written by my stepdad, were the patient 47 and not 27 when she died. Also my mom didnt do chemo. Yeah, the "cyst" was 2A triple negative. It came back like twice. The final time it was stage 4 and killed her. 3 years from diagnosis to death

[@sherilynpolitis9861]

I will give you one, I had dislocated my shoulder, and had it put back in, now I have loose ligaments and so when I fell before Christmas it popped back out, and pinced a nerve. Went to an urgent care to get it fixed. The urgent care doctor in her “25” years of experience told me I had gout.. I told her I got injured, then she said I had tendinitis, but the most likely was caused because I need bariatric surgery because I was fat. Got a sling nothing for the pain and my arm was till dislocated. Went after Christmas to an orthopedic doctor and with in 5 minutes of looking at my X-ray said my shoulder was dislocated, he fixed it, and said pinched a nerve. Gave me a brace. And asked for the urgent care doctors name. He called to report her, come to find out she has 3 pending cases of malpractice against her. Glad I went to get a second opinion.

[@draconic6]

My mom basically had to brow beat my pediatricion to get me tested for thyroid issues because he thiught she was over reacting. The thing is that thyroid problems run in our family and it was my aunt who noticed the symptoms like extrme weight loss, bug eyes and enlarged lymph nodes in my neck. He had me tested the same day and had to aplogise reluctently to my mom saying she was right.

[@GreenOkapi1]

I'm not sure if it counts as 'overlooked' since the condition hasn't really been researched a lot till recently but I suffered with undiagnosed endometriosis for a decade, going to the hospital every few months in excruciating pain to the point I couldn't keep my body upright, these 'pain attacks' got more frequent as the years went on and ultimately it was my mom who figured out what I had (she's a nurse, though works with babies not teens/adults so obviously my problems weren't her area of expertise)

[@philippak7726]

stomach issues for several years, they had come on so suddenly that when I talked to the first doctor I said it couldn't be stress - I'd been stressed for years, why the sudden change? Antacids barely ever touched the nausea I went on for years with deep nausea, vertigo, crippling pain at times, until finally after vomiting every morning before work for a week straight, I went to my latest doctor and laid out the problem and the length of time, and almost straight away she said "it sounds like acid over-production due to stress" and got me something to reduce acid production (something no other doctor had given me) and a longer term anxiety med. A week after that, and the stomach issues go from daily and crippling to happening a few times every year (some permanent damage I think) and usually just being nauseous for no good reason. All I can think is that the stress of doing a public speaking assignment that day had overloaded me that first time. It was awful. I even tanked my grade because while I was speaking and could feel the nausea growing, I started speaking faster to try and finish before it won, and made my speech almost half the length it was meant to be (yay motor-mouth, vs trying to speak with proper diction)

[@Evelien2301]

A “kinda” cousin almost died as a baby. He was in the hospital for breathing troubles. He was on a machine to check his breathing. Each time it beeped because it got to low they set it even lower. His mom and dad had enough of it and decided to take him to another hospital. They took him to another hospital and the doctor was angry because they moved him in a normal car and not ambulance (which you can ask here) but was happy because if they hadn’t changed hospitals when they did he would have died not even 2 days later. He is 10years now. I’m kind of sad because that pediatrician is retired as of last month. So I can’t go with my next child. He was always correct in diagnosing my first child .

[@adyjati8667]

man, that kids on stories 16 is lucky, i grow up with dysplasia too and end up disabled now

[@michelleharris1537]

In the late 70’s after my younger brother was born, my mom had an IUD put in, but it wasn’t put in correctly and was causing her a lot of pain. My mom called her doctor multiple times about the pain and he ignored her and said it would go away. After several weeks of the excruciating pain my dad called her doctor and basically had to threaten the doctor by telling him if he didn’t take the IUD out of my mom there would be consequences. This horrible doctor made my mom hate going to the doctor and cut to about 25 years later she died at the young age of 55 from cervical cancer because she stopped getting her annual exams done because of that crappy a**hole doctor who dismissed her pain as being overly dramatic. I would happily kick the a** of that doctor now if I knew his name. My mom was the best mom in the world.

[@fae430]

So my feet started swelling really bad last October and I went to the doctor and said I think I have an infection they said I had lymphedema so I went to the specialist they sent me too. I said I think I have an infection. I’m feeling really sick they said I had lymphedema, I went to the ER three times each time telling them I’m nearly falling over I’m vomiting. I’m feeling really sick. I think I have an infection. They did their test and told me it was just lymphedema. I’m so exhausted. At this point I end up losing the job, then another Because my legs are swelling so bad and I just feel awful finally I’m sitting at home. I asked my friend to get me a blanket, then another then turn the heat up mind you at 60° outside. I start throwing up more my leg swells and goes incredibly weak. I start running a fever it gets to 104. I called an ambulance, I’m totally tripping in the hospital. I keep asking where I am what’s going on? The hospital is really short with me eventually a doctor comes in and does a test says I have a UTI and wants to send me home since I’m throwing up so they have to keep me. I have an infection in my leg who knew right and it went septic I’m on IV antibiotics and in the hospital for 2 1/2 weeks, I nearly died because they wouldn’t listen to me when I said, I think I have an infection I had to go through a year of pain because they could not understand the words. Your test is wrong. I have an infection I’m nearly falling over at work I’m so dizzy. I have an infection.

[@krystledn]

I've been misdiagnosed for an ectopic and then lost my second tube to a failure of a surgeon.

[@QuikVidGuy]

Man, my doctors don't even keep my medical records, I have no history every time I go in for care except that they think I'm on medications I haven't had in 10 years

[@dglcomputers1498]

My Aunt had been ill for most of at least her adult life and had been to hospital many times, one of those times she had to make the difficult decision to have a hysterectomy. Later on in life she starts becoming ill again and she has loads of tests but can't find what's wrong, now the hysterectomy is important. Because of the hysterectomy there are things that in theory they can rule out, one of them is ovarian cancer, unfortunately they had left bits/some of the ovaries in and guess what?, she did indeed have ovarian cancer that had got to the point where nothing could be done. She did live for a few years later after the diagnosis but would have lived an awful lot longer if the tests had been done earlier. Also my Dad and step-mum probably have horror stories from most hospitals they've been in, one I remember clearly is that not long after my Dad had been diagnosed with cancer he had to go into hospital for a blood transfusion, one of the doctors refused to do it because his temperature was all over the place, a side affect of the cancer and not an issue. He got sent home and collapsed not that much later and was rushed back in and my Step-mum was told to prepare for the worst. Luckily he survived and is still here but he was in hospital for about a week and had to have help at home for about a month.

[@Avrysatos]

what is it with emergency departments thinking gallbladder patients are drug seekers even when we don't have any history of drug abuse and say we don't want drugs. ugggh

[@tomvogel743]

1:11 damn i need to gonna be a doctor, just at this point my alarm rings. Dont care if she had a baby a while before, if she stopped breast feeding and lactation doesnt stop in the normal time its a major thing. Such things can come from hormone unbalance, which can be caused by many serious issues

[@talldorf6445]

It happened about 2 and a half years ago, but my late wife/fiancee had endromedial cancer, she had a hysterectomy and was doing chemo. Days before her second chemo round, compained of pus in pic line site. Chemo doctor said ot was fine and gave chemo. She had an infection and infected pict line. She died a few days later, after going through pain for it. Two and half years later the lawsuit still ongoing and most her medical team are being charged. Im finally seeing someone else after extreme depression and still feeling awful.

[@zandromex8985]

I was so frustrated that the third story didn´t end in "we sued" or something along those lines because these people need their stupid hubris shoved out of their head cold.

[@anjachan]

a doctor did know what I have. But he still didn´t help me when it got worse. After months with begging he finally did something against it. Since then Im fine again.

[@aSipOfHemlocktea]

The doctor said that my speech impediment was 100% from mental disability. I had mentioned before that I can't move my tongue all the way but no one listen to me they just assumed I was blabbering nonsense because nobody realized I could understand them because they couldn't understand me, I was tongue-tied which is the term for when that strip on the bottom of your tongue that attaches your tongue to the bottom of your jaw goes all the way to the tip and doesn't allow your tongue to move

[@_kookie_kun_]

Story 14, (my friend is the same age as me and my twin, during the time this happened we were having our finals of 9th grade and she has two elder sisters, one was second year in her college and the other was in her last year of university i think and a younger sister which is a toddler) happened to my best friend's mother, so almost two years ago, she was having chest pain and went to see a doctor, the doctor did a needle biosphy and nothing came(on the needle)(so, the reason why the doctor had to insist/force them is because it was near her heart, i think) but the doctor still insisted that there is something wrong and that they should do another biosphy, so they did but again nothing but the doctor still insisted for another biosphy. After doing the fourth biosphy and its result still being nothing, the doctor said that they should another biosphy but this time they would do it from the back/side, after they did the fifth biosphy, it turned out she had breast cancer but luckily was still in early stages. So, everyone including myself was glad that if the doctor hadn't insisted for more biosphy, she would've died from cancer without knowing it and even myself said that all of it happened because of that doctor. So, after that her treatment started including her medications, surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and everything was going fine. So, I know it all because she would go with her mother for chemo, etc and she was pretty disturbed with it because practically, they would be the only one's in the hospital (because she was scheduled on Saturdays) so it was obviously quite but that was the worst part for her because she had to hear her mother's scream which echoed in the hospital and she would tell this to us to feel less burdened and then it became a habit for her to especially on Saturday's talk with us (mostly my twin) and her mother was recovering quickly. So, fast forward, a few months ago, she said not to contact her for a while because her house was renovating and she and her family would be staying somewhere else and we agreed. So, almost two weeks ago, when me and my sister came home from coaching(its the same as cram school), my elder brother told me that her mom had passed away and we were in shock because her house was in the way of our coaching and we didn't see anthing but after two days, we went to her house(we went after two days because my cousin was getting married on the same day when her mother passed and we also thought it would be appropriate because in those days her house would be packed with guests and relatives) and we went to her house she was reluctant to come out at first but then she came and told us that her mother died of cancer obviously we were taken aback and asked her how?, then she told us that during the time they were renovating their house, her mother started to feel sick again and couldn't eat anything, if she did she would vomit it out and this was after her mother had her last chemo, then they went to their doctor and she said her mother had cancer spread in her liver and they couldn't do anthing because it was too late, obviously her family was shocked and they asked the doctor to explain how because her family was really careful and punctual during her mother's treatment but the same doctor that insisted for more biosphy, just shruged it off. They were also taken aback by the doctor's behavior but they had to ignore it because of the mother's condition and they went to another doctor, this doctor said that the cancer had spread in her bones and also that sadly, it was too late. So in the end, they had to see her suffer and then pass away. P.s. Sorry for it being that long and also sorry for any mistakes because English isn't my first language and I didn't know how to explain it briefly😅😅

[@Joanna-vd2vf]

Death really wanted the first man. Shesh, poor dude.

[@achimsinn6189]

I have a case of the opposit. I injured my ankle playing soccer. Our team doctor went to the hospital with my as he witnessed the incident. They X-raed me and "just" found torn ligaments but no broken bones. Our team doctor then insisted on a second X-Ray telling them that the ankle must be broken due to how I tweaked my ankle and after some discussion they did a second x-ray from a different ankle and found out that in fact one of the bones in my ancle had a hairline fracture meaning that I needed to wear a cast and be carefull to not overstress it and cause more damage. If they hadn't found out theywould likely allowed me to train earlier and maybe cause the hairline fracture to worsen into a full blown broken bone.

[@lesleyludden9099]

In 2006, my mother developed shortness of breath on exertion. Not a smoker and had recently lost 80 lbs on a controlled diet. She went to her GP as this was very unlike her normal state of health. Doctor checked her vitals while sitting down. All normal. Never checked her vitals after exertion. She insisted that something was wrong. Last thing he said to her was "Your problem is all in your head. You need to see a psychiatrist!". Six days later she woke up, went into the bathroom and face planted onto the floor. I ran when I heard her screaming for my dad. Called 911. About 5 minutes after the medics arrived, her heart stopped and they were unable to resuscitate her. I literally watched my mother die. On autopsy they found she'd had a massive pulmonary embolism that blocked off the main artery to the heart. All because of a jackass doctor who couldn't be bothered to send mom for a chest x-ray. She was only 67. She missed out on so much. Her trip to Italy, her 50th wedding anniversary, the birth of her 4th grandchild... I only trust doctors 50%.