Why is that people think they can say anything they want to pregnant women? Just because someone is with child, it does not give anyone permission to be rude to them – this ESPECIALLY applies to doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals. These mothers took to Reddit to share the most appalling thing a medical professional told them while they were pregnant. Content has been edited for clarity.
He Was Literally Laughing As He Read Her The Results
“When I got pregnant for the first time I had a miscarriage. When the bleeding started my husband and I rushed to the hospital. I look a lot younger than I actually am; at the time I was 24 and looked maybe 16. The nurses were kind and did all the tests and ultrasounds. They told me the doctor would come in shortly to let us know what was up.
We waited forever, and then we heard the doctor in the hall flirting with the nurses. Then he walked into my room laughing, looked at my chart, and said, ‘Well, the good news is you aren’t pregnant anymore.’
I burst out in tears and the smirk faded from his face. ‘Oh…you wanted the baby? I assumed because you’re a teenager that you didn’t want it.’ My husband looked him dead in the eye and told him that I was 24 and that we’d been married for 2 years and did want a baby. The doctor began backpedaling, saying that that everything else looked fine and in time we could try again. I got up, called him an idiot, then went home and cried on the couch for 2 days.”
The Doctor’s Error Nearly Cost Them Their Child
“My ex-wife was 3 months pregnant when we discovered a massive amniotic fluid leakage. This happened due to an undetected urinary infection that happened because the doctor forgot to put the correct tests on the requisition. After we found out the issue, we went to her office, she looked at the tests, looked at us, and said ‘Well, you should pray.’ My ex-wife burst into tears.
We left the office and were in a weird mix of desperation and numbness. The complete opposite happened when my father learned about the issue: he called his doctor and he gave him the home phone number of a doctor friend of his. We called him and he immediately told us to calm down and explained how serious the situation was, but that it was manageable. Five months later, our first daughter was born and all the women of the family started going to that doctor .”
She Knew What Was Wrong With Her, Yet The Doctor Insisted Otherwise
“When I first got insurance through my husband, I had to find a new doctor. I had an ear infection and went to see the random new doctor. I frequently have ear infections, so it’s usually in and out. The doctor looks at my ear, clucks, and gives me a prescription.
So this doctor asked me about my symptoms and I told her. Instead of looking in my ear, she started asking me other questions.
Doctor: ‘Well, are you nauseous?’
Me: ‘Right now? No.’
Doctor: ‘Are you ever nauseous?’
Me: ‘Well, yeah, occasionally…’
Doctor: ‘Oh honey, I can’t prescribe you anything because you’re pregnant! That’s why you’re nauseous. Now don’t even take any pain medication or you’ll hurt the baby!’
So I found myself back in my car with orders for a blood pregnancy test and an anxiety attack. During the whole appointment, the doctor never even looked at my ear or did anything else except ask about nausea.
After I calmed down, I ditched the test orders and went to urgent care, where, surprise, I had an ear infection. I never went back to that doctor, but I did get a call months later asking if I’d done the pregnancy test and to come back for prenatal care. Over ten years later, I’m still not pregnant.”
She Never Expected To Be So Hurt By A Doctor
“When I was pregnant with my first born daughter, I went in for a checkup one day and the old male doctor came in with these scary huge metal tongs. Then he inserted them roughly without warning. It was painful and cold as heck. I started crying.
He looked at me and said, ‘If you think this hurts, just wait until you have to pass a 7-pound baby. You better get used to it.’
Also when in labor with same kid, the pain became so overwhelming that I suddenly vomited (made it to the trash can though). The female nurse assigned to me said, ‘You need to stop overreacting, it’s not that bad. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better, so calm down.'”
The Doc Made One Major Assumption That Broke Her Heart
“I lost a child to anencephaly when I was 19 and a half weeks pregnant. The child was very much wanted, and we had used fertility medicine to conceive. He already had a name, and I was heartbroken. We opted to terminate due to high risk during delivery and wanting to have subsequent children. It’s a two day process.
On the first day, I went to the doctor’s office where he started dilating me. Once done in the exam room, he told me to get dressed and come speak to him in his office. My husband and I waited in the hall outside until he called us in.
Once inside, he proceeded to PLACE a personal phone call. Not answer, he made a call. He talked for a while as we awkwardly sat at his desk, and then hung up. He then explained the phone call, about how his best friend lived in Boston and broke his arm by falling off a ladder while changing a light bulb. The doctor was flying his friend down to Philly to be looked at. I didn’t care in the slightest.
Then he started talking about the next day’s surgery. He said, ‘We’ll get this baby out of you and get you pregnant again right away.’ I was stunned. I didn’t even know what to say. I didn’t want another baby, I wanted that baby. The baby that I had felt moving. The baby that had a name and clothes and a crib. The baby that my daughters knew as their brother. I should have complained, but I never did. My husband and I were too shocked and emotionally drained to do anything about it.”
She Claimed To Be An Expert, Yet Came Out Looking Brash And Foolish
“In college I had to go to the emergency room because I kept throwing up. A nurse came in and asked me some questions about when it started and such. Then she asked if my back hurt and I said it did a bit.
She grunted, ‘Ah ha!’ like she knew exactly what was wrong. I asked, ‘What is it?’ She explained that I was pregnant. I told her that actually wasn’t the case.
She said, ‘You can’t really KNOW that.’
Um, yes, I can. Because I actually know how babies are made. I eventually demanded they run a pregnancy test. Yeah, I wasn’t pregnant. But she did mean to be rude. Or at the very least condescending. She continued to argue with me about whether or not I could know I was pregnant for quite a bit when it could have been solved quickly by running a pregnancy test.
She then left my room which was really JUST a curtained area as opposed to solid walls and a door, so not sound proof. The nurses station was right there and she told another nurse I was pregnant but just wouldn’t accept it.
So I call that rude, arrogant, and witchy. Maybe you call it a ‘type A personality’ and ‘social awkwardness,’ but whatever you call it, it’s inappropriate. I have had many wonderful nurses in my life. I’m not trying to paint them all with the brush of this one lady, but she was…not good.”
His Job Was To Make The Birth Comfortable, But He Simply Didn’t Care
“My OB/GYN called me a whiny baby who didn’t understand that being pregnant was an uncomfortable process. I was 2 days past my due date and could barely walk because I was about to explode. Sitting hurt, standing hurt, lying down hurt—everything just HURT. He said it was all normal and that I just needed to buck up, stop crying, and quit being such a wimp. Yeah, no. My daughter weighed 11 lbs, 5 oz when she was born. The anesthesiologist, a giant former military guy, took one look at her and shook my hand.”
They Were Medical Professionals Who Specialized In Alienating Patients
“My husband and I tried for a while to get pregnant even though I was told, ‘I would never have children.’ After a while we got lucky and I became pregnant: cue immediate happiness and bliss for 2 days. Then I began vomiting about 30 times a day and was diagnosed with hyperemesis gravidarum (which is a potentially fatal disorder pregnant women can have). I was only 5 weeks pregnant and had been to the ER 4 times for fluids.
One day an attending doctor asked me if I wanted an abortion because it seemed like I didn’t even want to be pregnant (this makes my blood boil because he had no idea how badly we wanted our son). So the illness was very severe and I had to have pumps put in my belly to administer medicine 24/7, and I lost about 30 pounds. I was very sick my entire pregnancy, and delivered a healthy baby boy after it was induced due to decreased fetal movements.
At my 6 week follow up appointment, I told the doctor that we wanted to have another baby. She started laughing and said, ‘Oh, (my name), I don’t think we will be ready for you again,’ in a very condescending tone. I’m so freaking sorry my pregnancy inconvenienced you so much, because it was an absolute peach destroying my teeth, losing my hair, vomiting an obscene amount of times a day, and being too weak to do anything while trying to force myself to sip liquids knowing full well they would be right back up immediately. What an imbecile.
After my son was born he did have to go to the NICU for a couple of days, and in the mean time I was trying to learn to how to feed him but wasn’t allowed because he had a nasogastric tube, so I had to pump. Except no one showed me how to do it, and being away from my son made my colostrum slow down so I was only pumping 5 to 20 ml at a time. I was trying my best.
I had to go home to shower and change, so I dropped off my milk to the NICU and this ancient nurse looked at her coworker and said, ‘That’s all? Well it’s not gonna be enough.’ I freaking knew it wasn’t a lot but wow, way to make a new mom feel even more crappy. She was also the same nurse who scolded me for being 10 minutes late to feed my son (every 3 hours) at 3 in the morning because I didn’t hear my alarm. I apologized to her and explained that the other nurses came and got me at the 3 hour mark overnight because I was so exhausted I didn’t always hear my alarms. She looked at me and said, ‘It’s not your fault. No wait, it is your fault. You should be more responsible.’ I just cried as I tried to feed my son. What a horrible witch.
Unfortunately due to partially undiagnosed medical issues, it’s too dangerous for me to become pregnant again so I’ll never get to experience another pregnancy, but I have the most amazing baby, so it was all worth it.”
The Nurse Was Ultra Inconsiderate And Didn’t Realize That Pain Is Pain
“I had to go to the emergency room because I was having a miscarriage of my first ever pregnancy. I was completely hysterical and couldn’t hold myself together. The nurse came in and asked me to rate my pain. I asked, ‘Like compared to a period?’ She said yes, and I answered 8 since it would’ve been one heck of a period cramp if it was one. She responded with, ‘Oh no honey, 8 is like childbirth, you’re probably at a 3,’ and then she marked a 3 on my chart.
If that wasn’t enough, when it was confirmed that it was indeed a miscarriage and I had been about 5 weeks along, I couldn’t stop crying because I had just lost my child. The same nurse said, ‘5 weeks isn’t that bad. Try miscarrying at 7 months. THAT is hard.’ I don’t think I have met anyone in the healthcare profession more inconsiderate in my entire life.”
She Was Thoughtless, Aggressive, And Caused Lasting Damage
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“When I was 14 I fell for a line this guy used about how they didn’t make rubbers big enough for him, so my ignorant self believed him and left with ‘the clap’ as a parting gift. Fast forward 6 years, and I’m married and pregnant with my first. This Nazi witch doctor wasn’t in the room with me for more than 10 seconds before marching out into the hall SCREAMING, ‘Who misspelled chlamydia wrong on her chart?’ in earshot of the entire waiting room, patients in neighboring rooms, and the entire staff of the 8 doctor practice.
When I checked out, the staff apologized and said they’d transferred me to another doctor in the practice (before I could even complain), and did so in such a perfunctory manner that I knew they had to do this on a regular basis. Fast forward 6 months and I was in labor. My doctor wasn’t on call, but guess who was? What are the odds? As if that weren’t bad enough, after I gave birth she didn’t let me pass the placenta; she literally RIPPED it out of me and every nurse in the room gasped, thereby cluing me into the fact that it shouldn’t have been done that way.
Had it not been the mid-90s when the world was not yet sue happy, I would’ve taken her to court! Oh, and I ended up with a scarred uterus, debilitating periods, and cysts the size of grapefruits within a year.”
She Took Her Own Inner Turmoil Out On Her Patients
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“A couple of years ago I went to this female doctor who owned her own clinic. She was straight-laced, sour, and direct with a major side of attitude. She was probably in her mid 50s. Fine, I can handle that, I thought to myself. I’m not easily offended, and we weren’t there be friends, blah blah blah.
I got to thinking about her attitude during the appointment, and wondered about all of the lovely smiling pictures of her many grown children on the walls behind her, accompanied by many qualifications and adventure and travel pics of her with friends and family. She looked very worldly and accomplished, yet she was also very slight and wiry.
She was rough and harsh with her actions during the pap smear she gave me and I was 10 weeks pregnant. She also told me that I was too overweight, and it was a miracle I had gotten pregnant at all.
In my head I was like, ‘Hey, eff you lady, I’m never coming back here again.’ To her face I was like, ‘Well, here I am, pregnant, so get on with it. ‘ I refuse to get into emotional fights with people when I’m just there for the facts.
She hung herself 6 months later.
Some people are just that distraught or unhappy with their lives, and even the terribly accomplished don’t feel they can do anything to change it. I’ll take being overweight me with a mediocre but fun life and my beautiful kids any day of the week.”
Her Comment Was Strangely Timed And Left The Room In Awkward Silence
“I was 37 and pregnant with twins. I had preeclampsia and pitting edema (severe fluid retention) up to my ribs. I looked like a beached whale. I was over 24 hours into my induction when they decided they should put my epidural in. The anesthesiologist came and started trying, but after making my leg tingly he decided he couldn’t get it; he needed a longer needle and probably a more senior tech to place it. The head of anesthetics arrived, and as she was putting this needle in my back she told me, ‘You shouldn’t have gained so much weight, it’s dangerous for the baby. You’ll have to work harder to lose the weight.’
My husband, mother, and myself were all at a loss for words. Almost 3 years later, my husband told this story at a dad’s game night with bunch of parents and the entire room went silent in horror. It was pretty funny to me because within 3 days of giving birth I was down to my prepregnancy weight. It was all babies and fluid.”
She Should’ve Known Better Than To Shove Religion Down Her Patient’s Throat
“I took a home pregnancy test but went to a walk-in clinic to confirm. I was only 18. The doctor, whom I’d never met before, walked in and stuck a ph strip in my face on the way to her seat, asking if I knew what it meant. I shook my head no.
She casually informed me, ‘Yep, you’re pregnant!’ Her first question was whether or not I went to church. I was still attending my mom’s church out of latent obligation, so I said yes, and got a lecture on how my parents wouldn’t like it at first, but between them and God, I’d get through it. She then quickly gave me a bunch of prenatal vitamin information while my boyfriend and I sat there in shock. We were halfway out the door with one foot in the waiting room full of people when she stopped and thanked us for not asking her about abortion. We were way too young; we got that abortion a few weeks later.”
She Thought It Might Literally Be His First Day On The Job
“I was sick with a lingering cold that I’d been trying to kick for a couple weeks. I woke up and was totally sick and tired of being sick and tired, so I decided to go to my doctor’s office on the off chance that he had a window of time to check me out. I’ll also add that I was pregnant at the time, so the need to see a doctor was more urgent than usual, where I would probably just try and ride it out. I just wanted to know if it was something that would affect the baby, like an infection of some sort.
My doctor’s office is a teaching unit, which means they have resident doctors available if need be. Well, my doctor was slammed and couldn’t fit me in, but the receptionist said if I hung tight, a resident would absolutely see me if I was ok with that. I agreed, because anything would’ve been good at that point. The resident called me in and I noticed that he looked super young, which was totally expected.
He had me list off my symptoms, and I noticed him turn to his computer. He asked me if I was having any other symptoms and started listing off a bunch. I looked closer and realized that he was reading the Wikipedia page for ‘Sinusitis.’ I was thinking, Wikipedia? Really? I could have done that.
Then he listened to my lungs and looked down my throat. He found the baby’s heartbeat, and it was all good. He seemed super nervous and very green, but again that was all to be expected. He basically said I was all good, that I just had a cold and the baby would be fine. I took his word for it, even with the whole Wikipedia thing, and asked him how long he thought it would last.
‘Well, in my opinion, you should be better in 5 business days.’ I chuckled to myself, but quickly realized his face was dead serious. So I straightened up and tried to help the kid out a bit. ‘Wait…so you mean, like, 5 days, right?” and he repeated, ‘That’s correct. I would say you should be feeling better in 5 business days, that’s what I think.’ Business days. So was my cold voided on Saturdays and Sundays? It really had me question how he had gotten that far in his residency.”
He Was Supposed To Be Helping Her, Not Making Baseless Accusations
“My doctor said to me: ‘I think you’re a hypochondriac.’
I was pregnant and I couldn’t stop throwing up. My general practitioner told me I was a hypochondriac and was making myself throw up. I lost 40 pounds during my pregnancy and was finally hospitalized for hyperemesis gravidarum when I was 8 months pregnant because I was almost catastrophically dehydrated.
Apparently, that was just this guy’s thing. He also told a friend of mine that she was a hypochondriac, too. It turned out she had Lupus. 2 hips and 2 knees later, she’s doing quite well. He, on the other hand, can no longer practice medicine because he was caught sleeping with one of his patients that he had been prescribing antipsychotics for.”
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