Have you ever been to a doctor’s office and faced continual interruptions from your medical provider? Has your provider ever refused to discuss symptoms you expressed concerns about? Was your provider belittling, rude, or condescending to you? You may have experienced Medical Gaslighting.
Medical Gaslighting can happen to anyone, but it particularly affects women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, elderly persons and other minority groups. Medical Gaslighting may seem like mere words which are ultimately harmless, but time is often the most critical factor in treating an illness. When a medical provider ignores your complaints of symptoms – or attempts to pin those symptoms on a condition without proper testing or imaging, providers run the risk of failing to diagnose or misdiagnosing time-sensitive conditions for which you need treatment. Misdiagnoses happens to millions of people every year, and Medical Gaslighting contributes to this problem.
You are the expert on your own body. When something is not right, it deserves attention. When your provider does not give weight to your complaints, your provider may fail to ask crucial questions, which causes them to fail to diagnose conditions which must be treated. Medical Gaslighting, where assumptions about your health are made, lead to longer waits for diagnoses, and thus delays in treatments for conditions that may have worsened since you first exhibited symptoms. When more aggressive, time-sensitive illnesses are involved, medical gaslighting can prove fatal.
Bring a list of questions to your provider and insist upon receiving an answer. It is your body and your health. If you are experiencing symptoms, it is the duty of your provider to monitor those symptoms and ensure you are treated for the condition(s) causing the symptoms. Do not hesitate to speak to a different medical provider if your complaints are not being listened to. Failure to diagnose is a serious issue that can have devastating consequences on patients and their family.
This is an issue society is facing that may give rise to a claim. Medical Gaslighting alone does not allow a person to file a malpractice claim against a medical professional. But Medical Gaslighting can ultimately cause conduct that gives rise to a claim. To prove a case, the injured person must prove that they were the patient of the medical professional, that the medical professional did not follow the generally accepted standards of care and that this Medical Gaslighting led to some form of failure to diagnose which caused an injury. Because of these stringent requirements, it is important for injured people to have a knowledgeable attorney who will closely investigate every aspect of your misdiagnosis to build a case.
You can contact one of our offices now to schedule your first meeting with a proven attorney. You can call us now at 513-496-0134 or send us an email to set up your consultation. We return all messages promptly.