As if these patients hadn't suffered enough anxiety, their heart rates increased following these rude interactions.

Bullied

'Heart surgery is an out-patient procedure.'

"My insurance companies board certified doctor on justifying why no intensive care or recovery would be authorized."

"In the end, at least on paper my unconscious self, with multiple chest drain plugs and on oxygen had to be wheeled out onto the curb, then wheeled into ER and readmitted on account of being in critical condition after heart surgery."

"Blue Cross really upped the ante on bullying me into dying instead of going though the bother of trying to live without bankrupting myself."

– Foxbatt

Evil Descriptor

"Had a bad head injury when I was a kid (12 or 13) and saw a bunch doctors trying to figure out what was wrong. Got a little snippy with one of them over something I don’t even remember. Pulled up the medical record years later and she referred to me as a 'child of the devil' in her report. Had to make some phone calls to get that 'diagnosis' removed from my record."

– DuckSkrol

Nurse Wretched

"Not a doctor but a nurse."

"And it just happened recently."

"I was hospitalized with due to a pretty bad car accident. Unfortunately due to the surgery and general trauma while I could feel the urge to urinate I could get the muscles to relax so I could urinare on my own. For the first day they were just doing in an out catheters whenever I said'"hey I got to piss and I can't please help' it was uncomfortable but I managed till I got to the night nurse."

"Told her at 8:30, hey need help with this, she does a bladder scan says 'not enough urine right now,' 10:30 rolls around and I tell her again and she's like I did the bladder scan you're fine, 12:30 'I did the bladder scan at 10 its not enough urine' so now she lies to me."

"I finally get her to do the catheter at 4 in the morning where she proceeds to take out 1.3 liters of urine out of my bladder"

– jayjude

Abandoned

"It wasn't what was said, but I did have an appointment where the doctor just never showed up. I was in the examination room for about 45 minutes when an MA walked in and asked me what I was doing there. When I said I was waiting for the doctor, 'the doctor already left! We're closing.' Instead of calling the doctor back they made me schedule another appointment. I found a new office instead."

– quafflefalafel

Confidentiality Breach

"Not to me, but about me. I went to see the family doctor over a minor thing. I was an adult at the time, and didn't tell my parents because they freak out about anything medical-related. My mother went to see him a few weeks later and he told her I'd been to see him. I was so angry."

– peon47

Pediatrician's Analysis

"Pediatrician looked at our toddler, standing with a swayback (lordosis) posture, then without considering anything else turned to my wife and said, 'she stands like that because you baby her too much.'"

"That was only our first clue that the doctor was a f'king moron."

– rhesusfecespieces

The Neurologist's Recommendation

"I took my mom to see a neurologist as her PCP suspected she had Parkinson’s. After waiting almost an hour, the neuro came into the room, took a look, told us she had Parkinson’s, then told us to watch some YouTube videos describing what Parkinson’s was, then left the room. The whole encounter was under a minute."

"[Edit This seems to have struck a nerve, so I added some info:"

"Yes, I’m in the US. Bad clinicians can be anywhere, so I don’t think this apathy is due to location. He was also private practice."

"We found a much better neurologist who has been treating Mom."

"Yes, they still charged insurance. Mom is on Medicare, so it didn’t become crippling debt."

"I did not report the doctor because I just didn’t have the bandwidth.]"

– sesamesnapsinhalf

Consultation Fail

"During a consultation told me he refused to consider a surgery on the basis that he has the same condition and can exercise just fine."

"He then proceeded to actually tell me I didn't need to pursue physical wellness as I looked okay, 'Especially compared to the average person from your town, you know?' with a wink. Iike bruh you have me leave work to drive an hour to refuse to help me out and then insult my hometown."

"I disputed the $300 consultation bill on the premise that there was no service given and they dropped it."

– RONINY0JIMBO

These women shared their uncomfortable moments in the examination room.

Unsettling Assessment

'"i went to the doctors' to get my breasts checked (he basically just held and caressed them in a manner he wouldn't have had a chance to feel anything potentially dangerous) and due to them causing me a lot of physical pain i asked him about my options regarding breast reduction surgery. he got visibly angry and told me to never even think about it, and called them 'beautiful and tender.' he was well in his 50s and i was 18-19. i paid like 50 dollars for master roshi to ignore my health issues and make me find another doctor who actually wanted to help people."

– bratsbane

A Little Humor

"Unprofessional, but funny. I had taken my 92 year old mother to a recheck appointment to her PCP."

"An apparently new medical assistant was dutifully getting her history by reading off a checklist. When she asked when Mom's last period was, I looked at Mom a little nervously: she was VERY old school, very dignified and would typically never acknowledge to her sons that she had female parts."

"I saw a rare twinkle in Mom's eyes as she calmly replied, 'well, I can't give you an exact number of months, but I'm pretty sure it was sometime in the late 1960s.' The assistant had the good grace to laugh with us, apologize, then read the next question."

"do you think you might be pregnant?"

– jakobedlam

Some doctors are terrible at trying to make patients feel better.

Doctor Had Questions

"Had a doctor ask me why it took so long to come in for a UTI, I said I just got insurance, haven’t had money, taking care of my kids first. She said rather flippantly 'You some kind of martyr? Did you leave your cross outside?'”

– mmsdiscard

Just Fatigue

"You're not depressed, you don't look sad. You must just be tired!"

"Here, take these sleeping pills, but don't take them all at once!"

– Nicxll

Not Onboard The Fitness Journey

"I had a doctor comment on how I’ve lost weight (fine, I get that), but when I told him I started going to a gym he told me not to try to build muscle because it will just turn to fat someday anyway 😳"

– FkMyWorkLife

Too Much Faith

"I was looking for a surgeon for my gallstone operation and he asked what meds I was on. I mentioned my antidepressants and he started saying I didn't need to take them I just needed to pray. I was pissed and replied 'I guess I'll just pray my gallstones away too then.' Needless to say, I went with a different surgeon."

– maggyta10

Imagined Pain

"When I was 21 I dislocated my shoulder and it continued to hurt for weeks. Went to a specialist, he suggested the pain was all in my head! After an MRI he realized I had a SLAP tear in my shoulder, so I said, looks like it's not all in my head, and he looked at me with such contempt, I never went back to that a**hole."

– feral_philosopher

Lacking Faith

"My mum had some symptoms that resulted in a scan of her brain. It sort of looked like she might have a tumor or water on the brain or something."

"When giving her the results the doctor said, 'Maybe this is God's way of saying it's time.'"

"My Mum, who was in her 50s at the time, went absolutely off on them - God has nothing to do with this etc."

"Turns out she was fine. Symptoms were related to something else, and the ambiguous scan results could have been machine or human error."

– queenirv

Unfounded Claim

"Grown ups can't be autistic."

– LannisterZ94

"What did they think happens when autistic children grow up??"

– imawriterokay

While everyone has varying levels of rapport with a primary care provider, the last thing a patient needs to hear is that they're overreacting when they're genuinely concerned about their health.

A little care in the care profession could go a long way.