Medical Gaslighting

Speaker A: Welcome, um, to the podcast the Patient's Voice. Does it matter? This is a place where your voice will always matter to me. Healthcare is complicated, so I wanted to create a safe space where we will discuss tips, hot topics, provide resources, have guest speakers who are experts in the healthcare industry or real patients sharing their patient experience and hopes to help you navigate any healthcare setting. I want to focus on you, the patient, and discuss issues that matter to you in an open and transparent way. I'm your host, Krista Hughes, the founder and CEO of Hughes Advocacy, in which I'm a board certified patient advocate. I have a passion for patients. Let's be the change together. So welcome back, friends. In today's episode we're going to talk about medical gaslighting. As always, I will start the show with a uh, what would you do? Segment. Then we'll transition into let's talk about it and finally wrap up the show where I provide you tips and how to make your voice matter in this situation. So let's get started. So imagine being in your early 70s with hip pain. You go to an orthopedic surgeon that sends you to an orthopedist. It is recommended that you get cortisone shots for the pain. You continue to go back with the pain getting worse, no relief, and now you're walking on a cane. The doctor continues to tell you to exercise, push through the pain and lose weight, uh, as that will help your hip. So what would you do? All right, it's time to talk about the let's talk about it segment. Most of my clients or clients that hire a board certified patient advocate is because they think they are being gaslighted and mistreated and unfortunately, 90% are. So what is medical gaslighting? Per Harvard Health, Medical gaslighting describes when healthcare professionals seem to invalidate or ignore your concerns. It can be linked to, uh, a misdiagnosis, delayed treatment or poor health outcomes. It might even damage your trust in the healthcare system and make you less likely to receive care. In my previous podcast, I've talked at length about how misdiagnosis, patient safety, delayed treatment, poor quality, et cetera are a tremendous problem in the healthcare system and it's getting worse. So please take heed to this information because you are not immune per very well mind. Medical gaslighting describes a behavior in which a physician or other medical professional dismisses or downplays a, uh, patient's physical symptoms or they attribute them to something else. Medical gas lipin happens frequently with the older population, women and people of color so what are some common signs of medical gaslighting? Dismissing the symptoms and not taking your concerns seriously. For example, I had a client whose teenage daughter was experiencing pain, weakness, and fatigues. The doctors dismissed their concerns over and over until we got the client a new doctor that actually listened. The patient finally got a real diagnosis. They do not listen to you or, uh, they constantly interrupt you. For example, my dad was having esophageal issues. The doctor, doctor was not listening to my concerns and questions that I had. He actually put his hand in my face and told me to hush. I got my dad a new doctor who was able to give my dad a right diagnosis. Medical, um, gaslighting is also lack of empathy to your pains or concerns. For example, I had a client that was having knee problems and wanted to explore all her treatment options. I went to the doctor with my client. We had researched a, uh, medical device technology that was a success for patients that did not want to have knee surgery. When this approach was brought up to the orthopedic surgeon, he argued with me and told me that this device was not available in our area. The interesting thing is, I used to be a medical device rep. I, uh, knew of this technology, and I knew the rep that sold it. When I told the orthopedic surgeon this information, he asked us to leave another form of gaslighting. Attribute the cause of your medical issue to something else. For example, and this happens all the time. Clients that go in for a medical issue, pain, et cetera, and the doctor blames it all on the fact that the patient is overweight. The patients are gaslighted due to their weight, and so therefore do not get the medical care for their medical issue. Or they tell the patient, it's all in your head. Uh, I had a client that was at a skilled rehab facility, was complaining of abdominal pain, fever, chills, couldn't breathe, et cetera. They dismissed him and told him he was fine. He had to be taken to the ER for gallstones and have his gallbladder removed. They push their agenda and they think they're always right. But we know our bodies the best per very well. Medical gaslighting can impact patients in a multitude of, uh, physically and emotionally damaging way. Patients may spend a long time attempting to find a doctor who can accurately diagnose their symptoms, leading to excessive tests, frequent visits to medical professionals, misdiagnoses that need to be corrected, and physical pain and suffering from the failure to address a, uh, medical condition with appropriate care, including death. And it can cause patients to be stressed, depressed, and lead to worse outcomes. I see this all the time with my clients. They don't trust the health care system and then they start doubting themselves. I don't blame this just on doctors. I blame this on the entire medical health care system. Things need to change, and it starts with administration. I read the following from MedPage and I think it sums up gaslighting pretty well. Gaslighting is making someone seem or feel unstable, irrational and not credible. It makes them question themselves and their experience utilizing an imbalance of power. Medicine is unfortunately full of that imbalance of power. There's a knowledge of imbalance, there's a, uh, power of imbalance. There's a physical imbalance. One is in a gown and the other is not. Doctors need to get off their pedestals and patients need to get off their knees. Now we've come to the final segment where we're going to talk about tips on how to make your voice matter. So remember the scenario at the beginning of the podcast with the patient who had hip pain and, uh, was deteriorating. They finally reached out to me as an advocate. The first thing I did is contact both orthopedic surgeon and the orthopedist and asked why this was happening. Also brought up the point that too many cortisone shots can cause bone deterioration and it is not always the best medical care. The orthopedic surgeon then recommended the patient go see their primary care doctor. I was furious. Tired of the dismissing gaslighting, delay of care and negligence. I called the department head and expressed my serious concerns for the lack of care and harm that was being done to this patient and I was going to report it. We then got a call from the orthopedic surgeon asking for an updated X ray. By now, the patient went from being on a cane to being in a wheelchair. It was then discovered that that the cortisone, um, shots had in fact caused this patient's femoral head to collapse, therefore causing all the pain and inability to walk. He was immediately scheduled for a total hip replacement. It makes me sad that patients have to suffer their quality of health due to medical gaslighting. If you feel like your doctors do, dismissing your health concerns, you may be experiencing medical gaslighting, get a second opinion. Find a doctor you trust. Reach out to me as a patient advocate. You do not have to be treated this way. That brings us to the end of this episode. I hope this topic was beneficial to you. As always, thank you for listening to the patient's voice. Does it matter? Make sure you check out the resources that I mentioned in the show notes and if you enjoyed the show, please make sure you follow rate. Review me on Apple, Spotify, Google Podcast and if you need an advocate for you or your loved ones privately and helping you navigate the healthcare system, reach out to me at any time. Until then, this is Krista Hughes and don't forget I have a passion for patience. Let's be the change together.