The Most Unprofessional Things Doctors Have Ever Said

Some doctors are better than others. But we expect even the worst doctors to have decent bedside manner.

By PocketEpiphany

Published 2 years ago in Facepalm

Some doctors are better than others. But we expect even the worst doctors to have decent bedside manner.

That's not always the case, though. Thanks to Reddit, here is our roundup of the most unprofessional things doctors have ever said to their patients.

1
I went to the doctor's 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. -u/bratsbane

2
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. -u/DuckSkrol

3
Said that if I wasn't his patient he'd take me home. Yeah...he's no longer my doctor. -u/jessabear0201
4
Had a doctor in the '80s tell my mom my severe life-threatening disease, was not real because there's no real evidence that there is a genetic basis for disease. Despite my genetic disease being well studied.

Another doc at the same surgery slapped me hard in the knee and told me I was faking it for a day off school. 6 months later I'd need a full knee reconstruction. And mom kept taking me there... -u/cacti-myco

5
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?" -u/jakobedlam
6
"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!" -u/Nicxll
7
When I was in junior high, I went out for the basketball team. I had to take a physical and it had to be done by the school's doctor and not my own. I went in to do the physical and had to get naked. I did so and the doctor looked me over. He saw that I have an inverted breast bone and said "Wow. That is freakish. You can't be on the team with that." I know that my breast bone makes it look like I have a hole in my chest, but I had never been self-conscious about it until that moment.

Because this examination was taking place in the boys locker room in front of other kids wanting to go out for the team too, everyone started laughing at me and calling me names. I grabbed my sh*t and left. My mother took me to our regular doctor who reassured me that there was nothing wrong with me and that there are plenty of people who have breast bones just like mine. It didn't help but I appreciated that she explained it to me. I stopped taking off my shirt in front of others. I was harassed and bullied by my entire classic for years to come because a doctor made a comment that he shouldn't have made. -u/jimmypfromthe5thgala

8
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. -u/Deleted
9
Was given a condescending lecture on how I shouldn't have come in if I just had a cold by both a doctor at a walk-in center, and my GP in a follow-up appt the week following.

I ended up getting rushed into resuscitation a few weeks later with a punctured lung that caused a one-way valve in my lung where air could escape into my chest cavity but not get back out. Because it was brushed off/not properly investigated it caused a life-threatening condition called Tension Pneumothorax where the pressure that had built up over time on one side of my chest caused my lung to collapse completely and started crushing my heart and other lung, and compressing/bending the arteries, veins, and esophagus in my neck.

When they put a chest drain into me my chest cavity literally sounded like it was deflating like a car tire puncture. -u/SneakyBlades
10
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. -u/maggyta10

11
When I was 21, I dislocated my shoulder and it continued to hurt for weeks. Went to a specialist, and 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. -u/feral_philosopher
12
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*cking moron. -u/rhesusfecespieces
13
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. -u/queenirv

14
Grown ups can't be autistic. -u/LannisterZ94
15
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. -u/sesamesnapsinhalf
16
“Nope, I can’t feel any lump.” I was convinced I felt a lump in my testicles. The doctor couldn’t feel it. Ended up taking way longer than acceptable to get an ultrasound (roughly 6 weeks). And yes, it turned out to be cancer. I’m all good now but that was BS. -u/chestbumpsandbeer

17
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. Like 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. -u/RONINY0JIMBO
18
I went into the doctor with a very painful UTI. The doctor said if I wear a skirt as short as I did in these temperatures there's no wonder my “lady area is suffering from a cold”. I needed to go home, change and wrap a blanket around myself to warm it up. She reluctantly agreed to do a urine sample; which showed up blood and a lot of protein. Gave me some antibiotics after much debate and gave me the skankiest look as I walked out. I swear I’m not making it up. -u/Keepdreamingkiddo
19
"You weren't sexually abused, that doesn't happen to boys." -u/MadFausrian20

20
Doctor told me if I wanted to pursue treatment and get a spot on the ward, I'd need to shave all my hair off. Worth noting that the treatment had nothing to do with my head lol. She had no bedside manner at all, was rude to the other medical professionals, etc. I told the nurse I was having doubts about agreeing to stay on the ward, but she convinced me to give it a try. First thing the doctor greets me with that first day was, "Hi, remember me? I'm that doctor you hate." What the hell kind of way is that to talk to someone sick and mentally distressed??? -u/Corvus1992
21
"I honestly don't know what to do with you" - My psychologist at a mental health clinic on an Air Force base, who proceeded to never schedule a follow-up appointment again. I was 19 and diagnosed with clinical depression. Dude had a PhD in what to do with me. If he couldn't handle me breaking under the stress of college then I really wonder what the hell he tells veterans. -u/Symnestra
22
"A little back pain is normal. You should learn to live with it." Later: "It's probably mental", and when I tried to kill myself: "You're psychotic". Four decades and numerous passed mental examinations later I was finally diagnosed. I had a slipped disc. -u/jPix

23
I’d been having acute elbow pain for a while. The doc walks in and just goes “you should cut out all dairy”, without any sort of diagnosis. Then says to cut out all dairy products and lists milk, cheese and eggs. I told him eggs were not dairy. He insisted that they were. -u/Kalabula
24
When I was 8 years old I was at the dentist for a cleaning. He mentioned that I had a frenulum under my tongue, which is a small, unneeded extra piece of tissue that attaches the tongue to the bottom of the mouth...He said that he could remove it, his reasoning being that my future girlfriends would appreciate it if I had a more mobile tongue. -u/Itisd