Can we have a thread on ridiculous things GP's have said?

[Butmummysnotanearlybird]

My contribution was "Oh well baby needs to know what sick tastes like" when they actually had CMPA and reflux. I'm sure there's worse out there 🙃

'Pull us up if we get things wrong'. But doctors don't like being challenged do they ...even by fellow professionals. There has been a culture in the NHS where doctors were put on a pedestal, rising far above other knowledgeable professionals. Maybe stems from the days when most doctors where men and most nurses are women. Perhaps this is changing ...there are departments where there is more collaboration and team work. I do know one doctor who consults with a highly qualified nurse who has specialized in a particular area when an issue in that area comes up. He'll say something like ...I think we'll just call Jane in on this one' but there are people who really avoid making an appointment to discuss where a doctor has been in error in case they are seen as difficult

Ooh, good thread. I've a couple of crackers.

When DS2 was failing to thrive/projectile vomiting every feed/ragged breathing and weight loss (he later turned out to have RSV and CMP allergy): "Some cows just aren't good dairy stock. And if you were a cow, you wouldn't be good dairy stock."

When I disclosed childhood abuse and asked to be referred for counselling: "Oh dear, were you fiddled with? Oh dear."

And no, ridiculous comments by patients aren't at all the same thing. Patients are on the wrong end of that particular power dynamic and the stakes for them are much higher.

Told me "it's quite normal for newborns to get high temps (40) and rashes (mottled skin), bring her back tomorrow if still worried. "

Luckily I ignored the advice and took my 6 week baby straight to A&E where she was treated for meningitis and sepsis. If I had waited until the next day she would have died. This was 2 years ago. Luckily the doctor was investigated and removed from the practice. But I had to really fight the case.

Different GP, when I was 19 and struggling with ME, fibromyalgia and a nervous breakdown (hallucinations, suicidal ideation, self-harm)

"What you need is to have a baby. Young women's hormones can get out of control at your age, and having the first baby settles them right down."

@Prestissimo

we should pull you up when you get things wrong but when people share their lived experiences it is “GPS are human”. As are patients!

Great post.

There seems to be a correlation between poor GPS and egotistical medics not able to take feedback.

To all those saying “ look how hard we work, we are all so stretched etc” - please try to realise that there are a multitude of other professions that have equally been tested by the pandemic, global economics, world politics etc

Take the feedback and learn from it.

I have a similar story, was back and forth to the GP with my poor DS (he was about 8 years old) who was having severe stomach pain for months so much so that he spent hours in the toilet everyday.

GP did some initial investigations then proceeded to tell me it was something he’d just have to put up with (I mean wtf!?!). (The same GP also told me I’d just have to put up with what he thought was recurrent, and resistant to treatment, thrush, thankfully I ignored that, saw a different GP who referred me and a multitude of appts, tests and consultants later, turns out it was eczema! I mean seriously can you imagine living with permanent thrush anyhow that is not the fucking answer (plus it turns out that he had not even tried me on all the possible anti fungal treatments anyway!). Anyhow I digress. So I went home from that appointment with my DS (this was before I had twigged that most doctors couldn’t be trusted and you have to be able to advocate strongly for yourself to receive adequate treatment) and thought I wasn’t getting anywhere with the GP so I’d just try cutting things out of his diet. First thing I tried was milk. Within 2-3 days his symptoms had resolved.

However what made me really angry was when I went back to that GP and mentioned that I’d basically sorted my sons medical issue myself and that his months and months of debilitating symptoms had resolved in a couple of days by cutting out milk. His response? “Oh that means he’s lactose intolerant”. No shit Sherlock. Not something you could maybe have suggested at one of the many and multiple appointments we had had previously? Or done your fucking job and referred him if you really didn’t know (although tbf lactose intolerance should be on the radar if a GP I would have thought). No apology of course for missing something so obvious that could have led, if I wasn’t on the ball myself, to him having a lifetime of pain and digestive issues with god only knows what knock on effects.

I have realised since many of these experiences and developing chronic illness myself that to receive adequate healthcare you need to do your own research, learn extensively about your own condition, pick and choose your medical professionals, and be able to advocate for yourself. Without being able to do this, you have no fucking hope unless you are very very lucky with who you happen to get for your doctor.

The whole profession needs a complete overhaul imo. I personally think it starts with the way they select who does medical degrees in the first place. Someone who is a bright academically, and ambitious, with a range of extracurricular activities under their belt, does not necessarily make a good doctor who knows how to deal with people, who has the humility to be a good doctor. There needs to be monitoring of doctors and what they do and how they interact with patients. There needs to be monitoring that they are keeping up to date and current (if that’s happening now it’s not bloody working). It needs to be enforced that doctors should be working WITH patients, providing options and informed consent, not dictating treatment to them. And ideally they need more time with a patient than 10 minutes which is frankly ridiculous (and probably leads to some of this poor treatment as they are under pressure to get people in and out the door). And we need more doctors - I am sure I read that the BMA places a cap on the number of doctors that can be trained?!? That can’t be right surely when we don’t have enough doctors already???? And while we are reforming the system (that of course will never happen because £££££) it is ridiculous that doctors have to work the excessive hours they do especially while training. It’s incredibly bad for their health for one, and I don’t want someone making medical decisions about me and potentially operating on me when they haven’t slept for days. It’s unbelievable that this is the norm.

Sorry for the rant but this is all very close to my heart. It has made my journey with chronic illness so much harder, and it’s already bloody difficult. I’ve lost years of my life because of this, been in tears more times than I can count because when you are I’ll you feel very vulnerable and being fobbed off or talked down to or denied treatment etc etc is extremely upsetting. When you feel like this the last thing you feel able to do is advocate for yourself. Even worse are the people I come across through my work, who don’t have the capability, for multiple reasons, to research and advocate and pick and chose their medical professionals, who just get iller and iller and sit in front of me unable to function, a shadow of their former selves. It breaks my bloody heart tbh.

Not a gp but one of the Dr's at the hospital told me to take a walk to calm down when I told them I was suicidal and considering absconding

I have a history of migraine. Because I was diagnosed with asthma not long after, there are certain drugs I can't be given. They'd given me everything they could. Because the drugs stopped working, (or in the case of two, awful side effects) I was told it was all in my head... Which it would be!

I was told that because my chest x ray was clear and the medication used wasn't working, my asthma was actually anxiety. Because of course, there are no other heart or lung problems! Now waiting for a CT scan. No one has ever explained why if it's anxiety, spray cans (deodorant, etc) give me a coughing fit. They've just ignored that question.

Those comments are fucking unbelievable. Seriously, who says things like that!?!

And you are right. You’ve hit the nail on the head there. Of course patients will say ridiculous things. People do. They aren’t medical professionals. They are people from all walks of life who have a range of life experience and knowledge, some of which of course will be utter bollocks! I work with the public too, I get it.

However doctors are usually dealing with people who are unwell and therefore vulnerable. They are also the trained medical professional and should therefore not the ones who should be coming out with the bollocks, and they should be remaining professional in their interactions with patients. There is a huge power imbalance as you say which is why bollocks and arrogance and condescension is more unacceptable when it comes from the doctor than when it comes from the patient. The fact that doctors are posting in this thread and don’t seem to realise this is part of the attitude problem that is causing many of these issues imo….. “Don’t complain at being poorly treated by us, we won’t like it!”

You have articulated that far better than me. Spot on post @YouSoundLovely

I went to the GP as I was tired all the time, feeling sick and throwing up after meals, hair was falling out etc. He asked what I ate last time I threw up to which I said ‘fish and chips and a glass of coke’ to which his response was…

Well anyone would feel like this after drinking a glass of coke. 🙄😒

Ok…

Over one year of battling to be taken seriously later, after I nearly got kicked out of my degree and was suffering with angina, turns out it was an autoimmune thyroid disorder.

@Oblomov22 have you had the 'do you take insulin for your Type I diabetes?'

And also 'at your age it's much more likely to be Type 2'. Yes, but I've had it for 40 years, you numpty, for 27 of which you have been my GP practice…

My GP told me you can’t get arthritis in your fingers. 🤷‍♀️

This entire thread needs deleting.I notice the OP hasn’t returned,clearly just wanted a Doctor bashing thread.

No wonder we are losing so many to practice abroad,my niece and husband both GP’s have gone to Australia for good,after all the money spent on their training,I don’t blame them,the general public here are so rude and entitled now.

I was a Nurse,would somebody like to start a thread on how what awful things we say!

Oh I’m sorry my colleague says that spot on your cervix might be cancerous, but I don’t see the need to refer you to a gynecologist.

I was a Nurse,would somebody like to start a thread on how what awful things we say!

There was one the other day, on how nurses manage to use “pop” in place of every verb!

Do you think he'd tell my fingers. They could do with a good talking to. They've been indulged by my GP and physio who have just encouraged them in their bad behaviour.

@ancientgran i think he’d tell us to put our fingers on the naughty step.

This entire thread needs deleting

Why? Because to hope a trained medical professional is trained and professional enough to deal with peoples concerns is rude and entitled?

People have a right to decent healthcare, to have their concerns listened to and not dismissed. Honestly, the GPs I have had, if I was as incompetent at my job as then I’d have been sacked.

Of course the good outnumber the bad but that doesn’t mean we should just accept the bad. I’d say the medical profession is entitled. Entitled enough they feel beyond criticism. They’re dealing with peoples lives. I wouldn’t even expect this service from my builder!

• I had mentioned to my old (male) dr that I had had a man following me the previous day and I'd had to call the police. His reply "well what were you wearing?"

• I'd gone to speak to the dr as I was feeling suicidal after a nervous breakdown "come back another day and talk to one of the other doctors"

• "the withdrawal method is an effective form of contraception"

That reminded me of my old GP. I was breastfeeding and donating my surplus milk to the local maternity hospital. He asked how much I was donating and I said, "They collect it every other day and it is usually 3 or 4 pints." He replied, "If you were a cow you'd be a prize winner." I wasn't sure if it was a compliment but decided to take it as one.

I haven't had any particularly bad GP experiences but that's partly because it has been nigh on impossible to get to see one at our practice for several years. All my recent appointments have been with nurses and mostly they've been fine.
Not the one who said "It doesn't look that bad to me" though, when I sought help for a post operative infection. She was wiping pus that was pouring out of my wound off the floor as those words left her mouth.
I went to A&E and was admitted for emergency surgery. It took two operations, a week in hospital on intravenous antibiotics and several months of oral antibiotics to solve that "not that bad" problem.
I accept nobody can know everything and that people make mistakes but I still can't get my head around this one.

They have. And teachers. As I’ve said upthread, there was a midwives one a few years back.

Doctors are not perfect beings who should never have a mirror held up for fear of upsetting them.

"our bodies lose hundreds of hairs everyday, it's their normal cycle. All yours just happened to fall out in the same patch"