Docs And Patients Online Break Down 46 Of The Worst Things They Diagnosed Or Got Diagnosed With That Another Doctor Missed

Few people will ever be enthusiastic about hospitals. Mostly because, in some places, they charge an arm and a leg for their services. But also it's because it's where people go to fight for their lives, and there is always a non-zero chance that they will not make it.

But stories have to be told. Not everyone truly understands just how real it gets when someone is admitted to the hospital. Like, for instance, when a doctor overlooks a diagnosis. Whether ignores it, or disregards it, or simply doesn't care to look for it. It sometimes becomes scarier than the diagnosis itself.

Folks on Reddit have been sharing stories of how they, as doctors or as patients or as someone who knew people who experienced the worst things that another doctor overlooked. So, fair warning, this list is not for the faint of heart.

With that said, scroll down, upvote and comment, and share your own stories, if you have any, of how one doctor picked up the slack where the other didn't bother in the comment section below.

More Info: Reddit

#1 Cause Of Death: Apathy

My best friend was in her late twenties and was feeling constant irritation in her stomach. She went to see several doctors over the course of almost three years, and they all dismissed her saying she had an irritable bowel. She would try a new diet every few months, but nothing helped.

One day she calls me and tells me she broke her ribs. She didn't know how it happened, but she started having horrible pain and her doctor said her ribs must be fractured.

Long story short, it wasn't fractured ribs. At some point when the pain became too much to bear, she went to the ER and got a CT. Turns out she had stage 4 colon cancer with 4" tumors in her abdomen that were compressing her organs and causing the pain. She died a few months later.

She'd been seeing doctors about her symptoms for three years. If one of them had taken her seriously and sent her to get a colonoscopy she'd probably still be alive.

For the record this was not in the US. Any doctor could have sent my friend to a colonoscopy, but I guess it was easier to write her off. The cancer may have killed her, but the reason for her death was apathy.

Image credits: LoxicTizard

#2 "48-Inch Scar"—Let That Sink In...

My husband had a weird dimpled spot on his back. Went to the dermatologist multiple times, was brushed off and told not to worry about it. Derm even burned off a nodule that was bothering him (at his belt line) but repeatedly said it was nothing and was visibly irritated with us for being anxious. We waited for nearly 10 years before going to another dermatologist - since our experience was so negative. Next derm immediately diagnosed what turned out to be a sarcoma which had 10 extra years to grow. My husband now has a 48 inch scar snaking down his back from the removal of the tumor and the reshaping of his back. I now have months of experience with wound drains, tunneling, bandages, triage and the laundry that comes with massive wound healing. I would like to take that first dermatologist who was so f*****g patronizing with our concerns and shove his face deeply into his own a*s.

Image credits: streamstroller

#3 Well, This Escalated Quickly

Patient was lactating but not pregnant or breastfeeding. Previous doctor told her it was residual from her baby that had been weened for 14 months. Sent her immediately for a brain scan, brain tumor. She had surgery a week later to remove it and is doing very well now.

I did not do any of the follow up care. She left my office with a referral for an MRI and a referral to an endocrinologist, who took over care.

Also, please, if you are concerned about your health in any way or are not happy with your doctor/care, obtain your medical records and bring them with you to a different doctor. Don’t solicit medical advice from strangers on the internet that know nothing at all about your medical history. That is very dangerous to your health.

Image credits: Accomplished_Yam2747

#4 Burning From The Inside

Im not a doctor (Im a nurse, but not in medsurg).

My sister had her gallbladder out, routine surgery, and two days later woke up at 4 am in searing pain, went to the ER by ambulance. I met her there.

The ER docs were all apparently convinced she was a drug seeker and did not even conduct a physical exam beyond taking her vitals. They snowed her to shut her up because she was just yelling “help me! Help me! Im dying!” They did eventually do an MRI but said it was negative and sent her home. She didn’t want to leave, insisted something was terribly wrong, but they said they would call security and have her thrown out.

At this point I’d like to mention that she had no history of drug or alcohol abuse.

She continued to get worse at home and the next day went to a different hospital. They did a workup and found that the metal clip that closed off the bile duct had cut right through the tissue and she had a large bile leak that was literally burning all her abdominal organs. She had to have three surgeries to fix it and was hospitalized for 9 days. Left with chronic pain from adhesions and chemical burns.

When the new hospital finally acquired the MRI from the original ER visit, she was told that the leak was small but clearly visible in that image.

Image credits: aimeed72

#5 So, Nobody Noticed The Broken Neck After The Patient's Ambulance Crashed?

Broken neck.

No really.

So this one guy was brought in with an ambulance for upper airway obstruction.

We diagnosed what looked like an advanced throat cancer and did a tracheostomy.

After the operation, where you pull and push the neck like crazy, we checked his neck x-ray and a junior asks when did he break his neck. He had a brand new unstable neck fracture. Checking his initial x-ray we see that it was there PRIOR to the operation.

After questioning the patient he said that on his way to the hospital the ambulance was in a car crash. No one bothered mentioning it to us when he eventually came in. He only thought he had some whiplash, but he was a few millimetres away from permanent paraplegia.

Unfortunately he passed away about 2 weeks later due to the cancer.

Image credits: TomBuilder_

#6 Why Would Urgent Care Need To Bother With An X-Ray Anyway...?

I work in EMS. We got a call for a female with leg pain. When we arrive on scene, this woman’s leg is three times the size of her other one, blue and purple, and she has no pulse in her foot. She fell on ice a few days prior and the urgent care didn’t do any X-rays, told her she had a sprain and gave her a walking boot. In reality, her tibia and fibula were both so badly fractured they were cutting the blood vessels and muscle tissue. She lost her foot.

Image credits: the_taco_belle

#7 Checked Everything, Except The Thing That Matters

I suppose I have one for this as a resident doctor. We saw a kid in the emerg for difficulty walking. He had been slowly losing the ability to walk over months, and also had random unexplained projectile vomiting episodes. Looking at his records, he saw his doctor several times who X-rayed one hip... Then the other hip... Gave some Zofran, etc.

Turns out on exam he is *blatantly* ataxic (bad coordination) and can't even stand. Failed all our bedside neurological examinations for cerebellum function. It was obvious to me and I'm not even good at this yet. Did a CT scan.

Big a*s tumor in his cerebellum. It was obstructing fluid drainage in his brain too, raising his intracranial pressure and causing the vomiting.

Had to call in the neurosurgeons overnight for emergency drain and he went to ICU. Later had more surgery for the tumor. My supervisor got pretty emotional about it actually.

The history was that he really declined further over the last few days prompting the ED visit, so he looked really bad for us but I'm not sure what he looked like before. To any med students reading this: 1. Do an exam. 2 It's OK to cry sometimes.

Image credits: zeratmd

#8 So, When Were You Diagnosed? Never? Well, Now You Are

Not a doctor, but a friend of my mom's went to an opthalmologist for an eye problem. During his exam, he asked her, "So how long have you had MS?" (writer's note: multiple sclerosis). That was the first she was diagnosed. She had been battling various MS symptoms for a couple of decades without a diagnosis.

Image credits: Synthwoven

#9 Oh, It's Just Hemorrhoids, Don't Worry

LAL17 said:
I found an obvious huge rectal cancer on a patient who was previously told over and over again that she had hemorrhoids.

Boudutunnel replied:
My SIL was fobbed off with the exact same thing. Young female, severe chronic abdominal pain. Finally referred for a scan which was cancelled because she was low risk. She was again in a lot of pain, so my brother insisted she be checked again this time by a new physician who decided to do a rectal check. Diagnosed with colon cancer there and then and immediately referred for a scan then to the best specialist in the area. Chemo, removal of most her bowels narrowly avoided a bag and a lifetime of adjustments but thankfully in remission now. 2 years of being diagnosed with piles instead!

Image credits: LAL17

#10 Lung Problems? It's Probably Asthma. Probably

I was working nights and a patient came in for a nailbed repair under general anaesthesia (it was a slow night). As they're anaesthetising him, he aspirates so we do a chest X-ray to see if he's got any spit/blood in his lungs.

What we didn't know is that prior to this emergency surgery, he'd been going to his GP for over 6 months complaining about chest tightness. They'd put him on various different asthma medications, but none had any effect on him.

The X-ray showed a massive dark mass in his left lung. We kept him asleep and transferred him to ICU.

His wife and three year old daughter were waiting for him on the ward. We had to tell them where he'd gone, why he'd gone there, and what was going to happen.

He died from lung cancer within the month.

Edit: A general anaesthetic is absolutely ridiculous for a nailbed repair but he refused to have it done under local.

A commenter below rightfully corrected me, and after talking with a colleague, the dark space in his lungs was the normal lung, and the rest was whited out because they were riddled with tumors. This man was in his late 20s, a non-smoker, and I couldn't move past the situation for months after it.

Image credits: ExuberantStarchild

#11 "Are You Suuuure You're Not Pregnant?"

I'm the patient but it's an important story to tell.

From the age of about 17 I start getting regular abdominal pain every day and terrible gut problems. I can't seem to eat much anymore. I get fluctuating diarrhoea and constipation. Menstruation gets more and more painful. I start losing enormous amounts of blood despite being incredibly small (less than 5ft).

Now you would think any doctor worth her salt could figure out it's a gynecological problem. But my doctor (a woman by the way) at the time insists it anxiety and says she "wouldn't bother testing for or treating a gynecological problem unless I was older and having trouble conceiving".

Over the next few years my gut and uterus symptoms slowly deteriorate. I get bounced around the system to dozens of different specialists. I get told it's just stress, anxiety, are you pregnant? ARe yOu SuUuUrE yOuRE NoT prEGnAnt???, every woman has painful periods, it's just constipation take this over the counter product, etc. etc.

Meanwhile my gut function slowly grinds to a halt. A functional gut test took 6 hours to pass an egg sandwich when it should have taken 90 minutes. I weighed only 40kg. It get's so bad I even start losing bowel control. No treatment seems to work. I was 24 and unable to work because I was literally uncontrollably sh*tting my pants. Doctors suggest I should maybe seek therapy and suggest I could be exaggerating

Anyway one day I see a new GP for some regular sexual health tests but get an abnormal pap smear. Within 2 weeks I go in for an exploratory laparoscopy to rule out cervical cancer only to discover I am absolutely riddled with endometriosis. On my bowel. On my cervix. On my perineum. On some ligaments. Ovarian cyst the size of a tennis ball. It was even in my gall bladder. With excisions + treatment I had my gut function back within 3 months. I will never be able to have children.

If that woman when I was 17 had just done her goddamn job I wouldn't have lost 7 years of my life, my gall bladder, my fertility and my mental health

#12 Oh, You Wanted Birth Control That Actually Works?

Not a doctor, but actually the patient. I had a doctor prescribe me birth control. While in line to pay for it, i'm reading the paperwork that comes with it and learn that another medication i am on (permanently and everyday) completely voids out any effect the BC would have. I went back to the pharmacist and ask about interactions, and he says I may have side effects. I ask which ones, and he says "Pregnancy". Pregnancy is not a side effect. It is a lifelong commitment. Then I call the doctor and ask why they would prescribe something they KNEW wouldn't work, and she said, "butyou asked for BC". Like, yeah I did, but I wanted some that would work. Silly me for not specifying that.

Image credits: pinkmigraine

#13 Nobody's Really Safe

Probably the worst story one can hear. My wife found a lump under her breast that was really concerning. It took her about 2 months to get a proper appointment to have it looked at. Doc diagnosed it as a cyst and fibroadenoma. She drained the lump and it was fine. Grew back a week later and was bigger. Finally after being in pain for weeks on end, the doctor said this is clearly not working, so we will do surgery and remove it. Upon going in for the check up, thinking theyd take a look at the scar and healing, it turns out that she had Stage 2A Triple Negative Breast Cancer. The surgeon was absolutely floored. The most upsetting thing was that while her main surgeon/gyno (who was fantastic) was on holiday another male doctor told her "any surgery would be merely cosmetic and it clearly didnt bother her because he could touch the lump". I almost laid that doctor out in the office. When she got the diagnosis he apologised to both of us for being an a*****e. Unfortunately, this story didnt end well. Despite doing 8 months of therapy (chemo and radio), her cancer returned 7 months later and ultimately led to her death after it spread to her brain and spinal fluid. So many people told me "ah breast cancer, thats one of the easy ones! my *insert relative nobody f*****g cares about here* had it. She switched gynos twice because they wouldnt take it seriously. Its been 6 months now and not a day goes by where I wish I could have taken her cancer away. She was f*****g 27 years old.

To everyone wondering how I am doing: its been 6 months since she passed, though I have been grieving for a while longer (anticipatory grief they call it) and so considering everything, I am doing well. It was her birthday on Feb 28 and she would have been 28, so the week was quite solemn but other than that, I have found ways to move forward with her, not from her. Whenever I have a moment, I let it happen and then continue. I do have PTSD from her time in the hospital but I am learning to deal with it and when COVID calms down I will go to therapy. All in all, I am doing well, enjoying life as much as COVID allows and just processing all my feelings. I miss her everyday and will for the rest of my life.

Ive had a few people tell me to sue the doctor especially considering the cost of treatment, etc. I live in Berlin, Germany and despite that unfortunate initial diagnosis her treatment and care have a been breeze afterwards. She received care from the Charité, Berlin, one of the finest medical institutions in the world and because of our healthcare system, we haven't paid a dime for any of her treatment. Its been a while and I am at peace with it all. I am not going to go down the litigation path and sue a doctor for something that happened in 2019. Though I do understand your concerns. Thank you all.

Image credits: kachol

#14 In The End, The Surgeon Made The Call

Patient: While I was pregnant with my youngest I had really bad acid reflux. Like, I lost 20-30 pounds because I couldn't keep anything down, not even water. It was so bad that I would cry and throw up all the time.

I got hospitalized for dehydration at the end of the pregnancy. My then nurse practitioner said that I was overreacting and it was good for me to lose weight because I was too big anyway. (I understand I'm not skinny but I'm not morbidly obese)

I had the baby and it didn't get better. I was told it would. Popped those anti-acids like candy. Couldn't keep anything down and cried... A lot.

One night it was especially bad, I was vomitting blood and the taste/smell coming from my mouth was just horrendous. I was trying not to cry during all this... Anyway, made it to the hospital... Again... And the doctor there was like "were you not here a few months ago?" Of course I said yes. I got a shot of gravol in the hip and it didn't get better. They gave me something else and still, nothing.

By this point he's like Woah ok, she's not pregnant anymore so what gives? Calls a surgeon over, she orders x-rays and it's found that my gallbladder is super inflamed and needs to come out. Too far gone to save it. She ordered a mess of medication because finally, someone believed me when I said I was in so much pain.

It took a week before the swelling went down enough for me to get surgery. I am so grateful for this surgeon

#15 When The Surgeon Leaves An Artery Open

MD here. Recently was called over by a nurse who told me a patients bandages were wet as they were bleeding a little. Patient had recently had his leg amputated. We pulled his bandages off and found a spurting femoral artery - at this point the patient passed out. Patient was sent to theatres for an emergency operation. Close call for sure.

Image credits: risenpixel

#16 “My 25-Year-Old Assistant Just Saved Your Patient’s Life”

I’m a dental assistant and a patient came in and his color was off. His jaw hurt and a tooth. He’d just come from the Dr. who told him to see us. I was suspicious of heart attack. I put the pulse ox on him and almost fainted myself 82% I grabbed our emergency high flow and yelled for the AED and 911. The guy was having a heart attack. The guy lived and brought me a big old heart shaped box of chocolate at valentines. I’ve never been so scared or angry for another person. The dentist I worked for called the MD and said, “my 25 year old assistant just saved your patient’s life.”

#17 Even As A Doctor, You're Never Safe

There was a story pretty recently in the hospital I work for, where a cardiologist in the ER was doing a rather difficult nightshift, and started feeling light-headed, dizzy and fatigued.

Given how intense those shifts are [26++ hours, sometimes multiple times a week], nobody thought much of it, and the doctor in question went to catch a quick nap in the staff room.

People just passed by him in the staff room every once in a while, but they just assumed the poor guy was exhausted and let him rest.

He was dead for several hours by the time someone realized something wasn't right.

Image credits: With_Trees

#18 When Your Organs Decide To Just Nope Out Of There

Had a literal pelvic exam for severe pain and "something doesn't look right down there, doctor" and the gyno missed the fact I was having an organ prolapse. 91 days and 4 ER visits calling it a heavy period later my female organs were no longer attached to my body but in a specimen cup in the trauma department. Also the whole thing ended in a hysterectomy to remove what didn't completely detach from my body.

#19 When A Heart Doctor Doesn't Pick Up On A Heart Problem

In residency I saw a cardiologist miss a STEMI (heart attack). By the time the patient came to us, some of the muscles supporting one of his heart valves had completely died and he was in cardiogenic shock (basically his heart function was so bad that it wasn't circulating the blood in his body enough to support life). It was awful. Happily he made it through though.

Image credits: alkahdia

#20 "He Didn't Overlook The Disease, He Overlooked The Communication"

Neurologist sent patient to our ED without informing her that imaging showed a glioblastoma assuring her impending death. He didn't overlook the disease, he overlooked the communication.

Image credits: AzureSkye27

#21 Forced Dieting

I’m not a doctor, but a RN. This happened to me, but isn’t nearly as bad as most of the stories on here.

When I was in college, I got to where I couldn’t swallow. It started with difficulty swallowing, progressed to me having to swallow bites of food multiple times/regurgitating it, and then got to where all I could swallow was broths and mashed potatoes with no chunks. I went to the doctor multiple times, and was told every time it was acid reflux and part of my anxiety disorder. I lost 30 pounds (was only 120 when this started) and was just generally miserable.

Finally my grandma was tired of watching me be sick all the time, so she called the GI doctor herself. They said we needed a referral, but she explained the situation and they got me in the next day. Did an endoscopy and my esophagus was 95% occluded at the gastroesophageal sphincter.

For some reason, some of my primary doctors notes ended up in my discharge paperwork (I guess they had to contact her to get my information) and she had told them it was acid reflux and basically I was being over dramatic. She stated she did not recommend them to do the procedure.

Needless to say, I switched doctors. F**k that b***h. Was not a fun year.

#22 Ma'am, You Had A Stroke, But Go Home, You'll Walk It Off

Another "not a doctor", but my MIL had all the signs of stroke (severe headache, vomiting, vertigo, vision problems, partial paralysis), but was sent home from the ER and told it was an inner ear condition that would resolve on its own. When it did not get better she saw her GP, who upon merely looking at her asked when she had had the stroke. When he realized it was still untreated, he immediately sent her back to the hospital. There they finally recognized that she had had a major stroke! She could easily have died and was in rehab for weeks. They then claimed that it must have happened after she was there the first time, because - and this is really unbelievable - *her chart from that visit did not say that she had had a stroke*. So much wrong with that statement that I don't even know where to begin.

#23 It's All In The Hip

Obligatory 'not a doctor'.

I'm working as a carer while I study nursing. Discovered a 90+ year old woman had a broken hip that the nurse who assessed her after a fall completely missed.

Most elderly people who break a hip will die within a year, fast treatment is crucial and it's a pretty f*****g big thing to have missed.

Image credits: EducationalTangelo6

#24 "I Am A Psychiatrist, And I Am Frequently Angered By The Lack Of Care That Our Patients Receive From Some Other Doctors"

I am a psychiatrist, and I am frequently angered by the lack of care that our patients receive from some other doctors. Emergency rooms can be the worst about this when they are trying to shuffle patients through to psych admits as quickly as possible, sometimes neglecting other basic aspects of care in the process. Not every ED doctor is guilty of this by any means–and some are remarkably good about providing appropriate care for this population–but it happens far too often. Probably the most egregious incident occurred a couple years ago while I was on overnight call at a VA hospital.

So it started with a relatively routine call asking to transfer a patient to our psychiatric unit from a community hospital emergency department for treatment of psychosis. He was an older guy (I want to say early 70s) who had come in acting strange and delusional. His son-in-law had told the ED staff that he had received care with use for psychiatric issues before. I asked them to fax the transfer packet, a bundle of the assessments already performed there, and I started looking at his chart in the meantime. However, what I found was that he had not actually been admitted to our psychiatric unit, he had been seen by our psychiatry consults team for delirium while he was admitted to the medical floor for decompensated heart failure. For anyone unfamiliar, delirium can occur with any severe illness, where you brain basically isn't functioning properly due to the physiological stress your body is under. Sometime it just manifests as confusion or disorientation, but sometimes it can get more dramatic, with delusions and hallucinations. From what I saw in his chart, he had no actual primary psychiatric issues and had only been seen by the consult psychiatrist while he was delirious.

So i get the transfer packet for this guy, and not only has there been no cardiac workup for this guy who has a known history of heart failure, there aren't even vital signs on him. The only labs are a blood count (pretty unremarkable), and electrolytes/kidney markers. These chemistries are also not too abnormal, but I notice that his urea nitrogen is a little elevated. This is generally a sign of poor perfusion through the kidneys, as reabsorbing this urea also helps the kidneys reabsorb every last bit of water they can when the body is dehydrated. However, dehydration and low blood volume is only one possible reason whey the kidneys might see reduced perfusion; another possible reason would if some had uncontrolled heart failure. So I call the outside emergency room and tell them that I will not accept this patient onto our psychiatric floor without at least a basic cardiac workup. I tell them his history, that he has only had psychiatric symptoms in the context of delirium from heart failure and that the little bit of data they actually sent me points to that again recurring. They tell me okay, they will get the labs and vitals that I requested and reach back out to me. I didn't hear back from them after this, and I assumed that they had found evidence of cardiovascular decompensation and reached out to the medicine floor to transfer him there instead.

So I am going about my night, and a couple hour later I get a call to come evaluate someone in the ED. I am down there and using one of the computers at their desk when I hear one of the ED doctors mention something about a patient coming in to medicine from the same hospital. (For anyone unfamiliar, transfers to the VA pass through the ED first, despite this literally being illegal to do in other hospitals. I don't understand the reasoning behind it, but it's what they do.) Curious, I ask if it's a guy coming in with decompensated heart failure. I am informed that not only is it the same guy–who will probably be getting a psych consult for delirium–but that he had ACTIVELY BEEN HAVING A F*****G HEART ATTACK IN THEIR ED. Needless to say, I was pretty upset that this outside ED had tried to send this guy to our psych unit, where it is a lot harder to get other medical treatments, without even getting vital signs on him or realizing that he was having a heart attack. I tell this story to medical students who are rotating through psychiatry all the time to try to hammer home the point that just because someone is acting bizarre doesn't mean that you can just throw the "psych patient" label on them and ignore everything else.

#25 "Could Drive A Truck Through It"

Once when I was a medical student on surgery rotation, in trauma, we had a patient come in after he fell on the street and bonked his head. Well apparently he had fallen once earlier that day and was discharged when the trauma workup at the other hospital was negative for injuries. We examined him and noticed his eyes were kinda... Yellow. So as part of our trauma workup, given that he couldn't give a great story and we couldn't be sure what happened, we CT scanned his abdomen, and saw his common bile duct was like 3 times normal size, could drive a truck through it. About that time, next set of vitals his temp was 103F. Guy was floridly septic from ascending cholangitis which is why he was falling down. Big miss and that is an emergency.

Image credits: zekethelizard

#26 Went In For Joint Pains, Left With A Tumor

Young student from, I think, Pakistan. He was complaining about his neck feeling stiff, he went to a doctor some days before and he was told he was having "joint pains" that would pass with some common anti-inflammatory drugs. When I visited him I saw many of the lymph nodes in his neck were swollen (which probably caused the stiffness) and not painful (not a good sign). Sent him right away to have a chest X-Ray that showed a huge mediastinical mass (writer's note: tumor), suggestive of lymphoma. Sadly I don't know what happened to him...

Image credits: Dalaik

#27 "The Specialist Suggested My Parents Put Some Wool Around My Leg That Had The Limp. Right"

I'm the patient in the story. When I was a toddler and started walking, my extended family noticed that I would waddle a lot... my parents didn't really notice it because they grew used to my funny walking but my grandma and my aunts that saw me so much less often insisted that I had a limp.

So my mother asked our pediatrician about it and he reassured that it was nothing and would fix itself when growing. One year passed and it didn't fix itself, it got more noticeable. My mother asked again to my doctor, she asked for an x-ray to make sure everything was fine and the doctor bite her head off for wanting to expose me to the rays. He insisted it was nothing but referred us to a specialist anyway.

The specialist suggested my parents put some wool around my leg that had the limp. Because wool would warm it up and speed up the growing process. Right.

My dad finally had enough. It was summer and my regular pediatrician was on holiday. His partner visited me because meanwhile the limping became really bad and my parents wanted another opinion.

The new doc measured my legs. There was a 4 or 5 centimetres difference between the two legs. They sent me to a specialist children hospital to get it fixed right away. I had severe dysplasia... so severe my right hip didn't have a socket for the femur bone. 3 years and 3 surgeries later, months of physiotherapy to learn to walk again, I was normal.

If the second doc didn't catch it, I would have grown up disabled. He split up with his work partner (the first doctor). Second doc is now my daughter's pediatrician.

Image credits: mizixwin

#28 “STROKE??”

*~*not a doctor*~* (not even a nurse) while working as a CNA on an ICU step down unit, I noticed my patient was acting strange, asked her a few questions got some questionable answers. Thought it might be weird, as she couldn’t really answer questions other than “huh” and “uh huh,” her gait was weird (like a trot rather than a normal walk) plus she was leaning. I was training another CNA and I was like “no matter what you do, if you see something, notify the nurse and chart that you notified her.”

The patient was having a major stroke and the nurse was too far up her own a*s and her own phone to do an assessment. The woman had to go to rehab and was not a candidate for any stroke “reversing” drips as I had charted that she seemed “off” 8 hours before. The only reason anyone “caught it” was because the night shift nurse insisted on bedside report. The nurse I had been working with yelled at me “STROKE??” Like I hadn’t been notifying her of symptoms all day.

I’d like to add that in theory “anyone can call a rapid” but not every institution supports the policies they make. As I commented below: At this same institution I had a patient with a blood sugar in the 30s. Could not get ahold of the patients nurse or the charge nurse. Called the rapid, got scolded for “not giving the primary nurse the opportunity to treat the patient first.” I saw this type of scolding happen at least 4 times before this instance, so the message was that if a nurse doesn’t call it, then you’ll be pulled aside and reprimanded for doing so. It’s a pretty s****y hospital and I no longer work there.

Image credits: s**tachemushrooms

#29 Being Born With 5 Holes In Your Heart

Not a doctor but the patient.

When I was born, I was my dad's third child - two from a previous marriage. He knew something was wrong with me because of the way I was breathing: very rapid, short breaths.

When I was three months old, they noticed there really wasn't a change. The first hospital he and my mom took me to, they said that there was nothing to worry about and babies just breathe like that. He was 100% certain they were wrong.

They took me to a second hospital, and they said there's definitely something wrong. But they didn't have the technology to help (1986). They recommended us to a third hospital, which was a couple hours away.

Finally, the third hospital took me right in and performed surgery that day. Turns out I had *five holes in my heart*. They tried to go through my rib cage, but it didn't work. They had to crack my sternum and go directly through my chest. They took my heart out of its body and patched the holes.

I'm doing wonderfully medically today, and am forever in their debt (not financially, thank you Ronald McDonald House Charities!)

Image credits: kipopadoo

#30 Those Shoes Were Made For Walking... And Extreme Pain Relief

I’m the patient in this story, but I still think it’s worth saying. I started having horrible ankle pain when I would walk in grade school, and my doctor always attributed it to growing pains. I knew that was b******t, and so I kept annoying him about it. After multiple attempts at diagnosis (everything from knock knees to pigeon toe to just being weak) I finally went to a specialist. He asks me to flex my ankle, and so I do. “No, all the way” he said, even though I was flexing as hard as I could. I could only flex my foot maybe an inch from it’s resting position. Turns out, I had incredibly decreased mobility of that joint due to shortened tendons. He diagnosed me within 5 minutes, after years of my doctors brushing me off. After a few months of physiotherapy and a shoe insert, my pain decreased by a lot.

Image credits: Asexualness

#31 Her Nails Were Smashing Though

During my residency we had this lady in her 60s who was getting progressively more forgetful, just overall declining and getting less and less able to take care of herself. She had been seeing her pcp who diagnosed her with dementia. And she saw a neurologist who agreed. She was not really able to provide an accurate history. After talking to her family and friends it became apparent that her symptoms were progressing unusually quickly. I remember seeing the point where her new hair growth met her bright red dye and also her grown out nails with hot pink polish thinking, wow, it really wasn't too long ago that she was not only taking care of herself but like, going to get her hair and nails done. The lady in front of me was so far from that. The neurologist I was training with recognized this, had her admitted and did every test including lumbar puncture. Workup eventually showed Creutzfeld Jakob disease ("mad cow") which there is unfortunately no treatment for. She died a few months later but at least we were able to prepare her family that she would only continue to decline so they could make arrangements. Really sad situation.

#32 When Seniority Gets In The Way

Yet another "not a doctor" but my grandmother had a lump on her tongue and when she went to the doctors the person who examined her said it looked benign but didn't feel comfortable so said she should go to an expert lest it become malignant. A more senior doctor decided against that and blocked the proposition. A couple months later it is malignant and she needs half har tongue cut out plus tonsils.

Image credits: KABOOMEN666

#33 Just Because You're Young Doesn't Mean You're Invincible

I'm the patient.

Had a breast tumor found by an NP at a county health department. She didn't tell me about it.

I found it while doing a self exam in the shower a week later because I've always been on top of that s**t. I didn't go back to the doctor for months because I figured the NP would have told me.

4 months later I'm diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer at 30.

Do your self breast exams and don't let anyone tell you you're "too young" for anything serious.

#34 Mom Of The Year

Another ‘not a doctor’ but my mum who’s a nurse. I was 15 and had fallen on my wrist while playing football in PE at school. School nurse who was friendly with my mum through nursing circles said to keep an eye on it during the evening. Later that afternoon I’m in agony, but my mum wasn’t having any of it. Said if it was hurting, I’m old enough to cycle to the Dr’s myself (I tried to explain the importance of brakes and wrist usage). After enough whining she finally takes me and then on to the hospital after they said it was broken. She sat very sheepishly in the waiting room after hearing the prognosis.

Fast forward 3 years later. My stepbrother comes back home for the weekend from Uni, with a sore wrist from getting into a fight. Same quit whining it’s fine response from her. He goes to the Uni health center when he gets back and then is taken to hospital for surgery and a pin put in place.

Edit: Just to address the comments about her must being an awful mother and nurse. Total opposite, she’s been a fantastic mum and now grandmother and is very highly regarded locally for her nursing. But as other kids of medical professionals have mentioned in posts, there’s something about how they react to their own kid’s medical issues. It seems that any medical logic switches off when it comes to their own kids. I’ve met a ton of people who’ve had very similar occurrences with medical professional parents and it’s been good to talk and share laugh at the stories.

#35 This Medicine Is Probably For You. Probably

Not a doctor but the patient.

I was given someone else's medicine.....while in the hospital....via an IV.

The nurse realized AFTER I had finished the bag that she screwed up. Then hid the bag in the garbage. The night nurse brought it to my attention because he was confused that someone else's used IV bag was in my private room.

I was on a severe liquid restriction at the time too, so there was an extra couple hundred ml of fluid that I should have not had.

A few other things that happened during that time in the hospital:

- left in my own feces while in a coma for HOURS that resulted in it eating away and breaking down my tissue on my coccyx

- was restrained and severely burned as a result (they didn't use the pads like they're supposed to, or ask family) Skin blackened. Almost lost my hand. Oh I should explain I was restrained because I was coming in and out of the coma, tried to scratch an itch and accidentally pulled out my nose feeding tube).

- my PICC line was pulled almost completely out and was given a LOT of potassium. Now, if it's pure potassium it will burn. Since I was on a fluid restriction it couldn't be mixed with saline. My arm would swell, burn, burn red. It was so painful. It took about a week before someone realized "well this doesn't look right"

- booking agent screwed up on an appointment so I ended up getting a vital checkup and bloodwork when my cardiologist and the infectious disease specialist weren't on site. Bloodwork was drawn wrong and no one thought to double check.

- was not told my true results from another bloodtest which lead to me almost dying 1 week later

- during a debridement they didn't realize I was coming in and out of my coma so I felt everything being cut off and removed, but couldn't say or do anything.

#36 Rely On Your Gut... Given It's In Good Shape, But That's Besides The Point

When in training I saw a child suspected of having meningitis. While I was new to pediatric medicine, I had a gut feeling just by looking at the 4 year old patient that he was too sick just to be a regular child sickness. The thing that tipped me off was the child having a slight delay in the pupillary reflexes. After seeing the child, I asked the head pediatrician to do a lumbar puncture to investigate the spinal fluid for signs of infection.

She said there was no need and all signs pointed to some airborne virus that roaming around that time. An unnecessary lumbar puncture can scar children for life and what not. While I didn't agree, I mistakenly doubted my own assessment and assumed the doctor with tens of thousands of hours of experience would surely know better than me.

I shrugged I wrote everything down in the dossier and asked the pediatrician to read my evaluation afterwards. I went home after an exhausting evening, having worked almost 14 hours straight.

3 days later the child came back with a fulminant meningitis that had taken a bad turn. When discussing the patient, she remarked she noticed a bizarre pupillary reflexes in the patient.

Not only did she discount my suggestion of doing a diagnostic lumbar puncture, she also did not read my evaluation of the patient 3 days earlier. I learned to never doubt my gut feeling and it has led me some outlandish diagnoses sometimes.

#37 Try Another Doctor, Maybe?

Speaking as a patient.

When I was a kid, my eyes were hurting and my dad kept taking me back to the same eye doctor, who insisted that the problem was that I wasn't cleaning my contacts properly and just kept giving me harsher and harsher chemicals to wash them in. It got to the point where I couldn't open my eyes fully in a room with the lights on, and I hadn't worn contacts for months. Finally, after a year, my mom forced my dad to take me to a different doctor. Literally he met me in the waiting room, looked at me with his naked eye, and said, you have a raging eye infection.

A month of medicine and the infection was gone, but there was so much scarring and damage it was twenty years before I could wear contacts again.

EDIT: Getting this question a lot. I was a kid at the time, I didn't know the difference between an optometrist and an ophthalmologist, and it was over two decades ago. I do not remember if I ever knew, sorry I can't tell you.

Image credits: Oudeis16

#38 Excuse Me, Miss, You're In The Wrong Department...

One that comes to mind is when I was a resident, the ED doctor wanted to admit a mild septic patient with a UTI. I review her labs, and knowing that she is a diabetic, it was obvious florid DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). That kind of admission typically goes straight to the ICU to get insulin via a drip and aggressive IV fluid rehydration. She was just in the ED hallway with no medications at all looking like c**p.

Image credits: DikembeMutumbo

#39 You Should Have Listened, Boy

I'm a dentist in the UK. While I was working as a locum in an emergency clinic had a man present with a mouth of infections.

He had wanted implants, went to a private uk dentist who refused to do them due to the patient's heavy smoking and poor oral hygiene which would mean the chance of success and good healing would be limited.

The patient didn't accept this, went online and found he could go to Hungary and get the implants done, for half the price, and have a holiday.

Came back and within a few weeks most of the implants are infected and hes sat in my chair. We gave him antibiotics to clear up the infection but then had to inform him that the implants would need to come out and he would need to find a specialist dentist with the necessary equipment to get that done.

He was not happy. Spent all that money only to have to pay again to have them all removed. No better off and at least 10G down. Should have listened when the 1st person told him no!

Image credits: zelda4444

#40 "You Guys Would Seriously Be Surprised At How Much Ineptitude There Is Even Within Our Ranks" -- Thanks For The Reassurance, Doc!

Doctor here. You guys would seriously be surprised at how much ineptitude there is even within our ranks.

I once had a new admission come to me overnight in the hospital who was admitted by someone else the evening before. The patient very clearly had an out of hospital cardiac arrest at a local casino with a defibrillator used with return of spontaneous circulation. The history was clearly described by the admitting doctor however they called it “syncope” or passing out. They had ordered a cardiac stress test for the morning. I caught it early that morning. Ended up needing to go emergently to the cardiac catheterization lab and getting stent to heart artery which was the cause of their hearty stopping. If the admitting doctor had actually obtained a stress test on this patient, It would’ve killed them

I have literally tens of stories like this. It feels like half the doctors I work with are morons and literally don’t care

I want to clarify something and also defend docs. Medicine is super hard. Period. It’s one of those things where the more you learn the more you basically realize there is to learn and you always have a state of never feeling like you know enough. Also, there are limitations in modern medicine and we frankly don’t know sometimes. Also, most people are truly trying their best so I don’t wanna s**t on all doctors. The system we have in the United States as you guys all know it’s terrible, this also is on our side as well as practitioners.

#41 Well, That's A Thing

(Not a doctor - but I had a half-assed dentist)

I went to a dentist's office for several years, and was repeatedly told to get braces, and have my wisdom teeth removed. Both of these pose an issue, since I play trumpet for a living, and performing at a professional level is difficult-to-impossible with braces, and having wisdom teeth out would put me out of work for at least a month during recovery. The dentist was told this repeatedly, during every visit.

I decided to get a second opinion about the wisdom teeth, so I went to an oral surgeon to have them look at it. They took X-rays, and looked at the records from my dentist. Then the conversation:

**Oral Surgeon:** So, you're experiencing a lot of pain in your wisdom teeth, according to you record.

**Me:** I am not. At all. I never have.

**Oral Surgeon:** ...So, I'm just going to assume your regular dentist falsified the rest of your record too, so I can put this folder down and do my job.

He then went on to explain that the way my wisdom teeth came in, they're sitting on a nerve that's next to impossible not to cut in the process of removal, which would leave me without feeling in the lower half of my face for the rest of my life. As you might imagine, this would also be a major issue, given my career.

I was advised that if they're not in pain, not to worry about them. I do need to extract an adjacent tooth to one of my wisdom teeth, though, which my regular dentist completely blew off when I asked about it. I never went back to my regular dentist, and will be starting with a new one soon.

#42 Even Anxiety Has To Be Taken Seriously

Not a doctor, but the patient. And it’s nothing major. I have anxiety that can get pretty bad when untreated. I went to see my general doctor about it and tried to explain my symptoms. She told me it was heartburn. I tried to explain that I thought it might be anxiety and she yelled at me. She got upset and told me how “everyone is stressed” and how “these are stressful times, it’s normal.” I was having heart attack symptoms and I’m far too young with no heart problems to be having a heart attack.

I went to a new doctor and before I could even finish explaining she cut me off and said “yeah you’ve got anxiety.” I was out on meds and within the week I was feeling better.

#43 "They Did A CT Because I Requested It"

Patient getting anxious about numbness in his hand. "It's getting more frequent and I don't want to live like this, it gets me freaked out like my hands not there." They assumed the person was suicidal and having symptoms of panic attack (elevated breathing rate leading to tingling/numbness in hands).

They did a CT because I requested it, there was a lesion, they blew it off. MRI showed it was glioblastoma multiforme.

Clarifying - it was missed by the ER physician assistant. The MD supervising them never spoke to me. Not even sure if they reviewed the case.

Image credits: AnwarSadatsDog

#44 Didn't Miss The Diagnosis, But Did Miss That Blood Film

Obligatory not a doctor, but I am a scientist.

Last week I was left a bunch of blood films to look at by a colleague, who after a long nightshift insisted they were mundane and I should just deal with them when I get the chance.

I decided to clear them off immediately and the first film I looked at was a gentleman with a haemoglobin of 43, platelet count of 37 and a film jam packed with blasts, it must have been about 40% blast cells. Naturally I'm immediately in acute leukaemia mode, ringing urgent care and the consultant who drags this poor man out of bed and into hospital.

Spoke to the consultant today and was told the patient works off shore and is dealing surprisingly well with his condition. My colleague didn't miss the diagnosis, but did miss that film from his queue entirely.

#45 Saving Ryan's Privates

Medical student here (will be doctor in May). Working an ED shift we found what was probably a *missed* testicular torsion. Previous doctor told patient he probably had cancer. When he showed up at our ED, what he had was probably a dead testis missed at initial presentation weeks prior.

People with testes, especially young men: if you have sudden-onset excruciating pain, sometimes without activity, often after/during activity, go to the ED IMMEDIATELY. It’s one of the few things that would make a urologist lounging at home on the weekend turn on his Tesla Ludicrous mode and go plaid to get to the hospital.

Much love to urology. My patient experience was with a male, but indeed ovarian torsion is a similar emergency!

Image credits: thestruggleiswallen

#46 You Don't Mess With Appendicitis

Not a doctor- but I’ve been dealing with abdominal pain since a child, countless ultrasounds, doctor appointments, er visits. I was always told it was in my head. Recently had surgery for something unrelated- during the surgery the had to free my appendix that was stuck to my abdomen wall and just the tip is healthy at this point. I’ve been suffering for years with a mild case of appendicitis and my body was pretty much just absorbing my appendix. I will have to go back to get it removed at a later surgery because it was so stuck all they could do was free it, and they didn’t want to risk it at that point because it was going to cause more pain.... so that was cool to find out.

Image credits: HanaTheSwift18

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