14 Terrifying Medical Visits That Continue to Haunt People

Going to the doctor is normally just another thing to check off the to-do list—but for some, it became a memory they can’t shake. These stories reveal what happened when a regular appointment turned into something completely unexpected and, in some cases, downright unsettling.

• Once, I visited the gynecologist. As the exam began, the doctor suddenly said, “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” He returned with a stranger. I sat up, confused, and said, “That’s not my husband.” The doctor said, “Oh, I know. This is Roman, a medical trainee observing today. I’m sorry, I should’ve asked first.” Then he added, “Your husband is on his way.” Guess who got a bad review before I left the clinic? He’s lucky I didn’t report him.

• I brought my son in for a regular check-up. As soon as the doctor saw him, she gasped. “You came just in time!” she said, eyes wide. My heart dropped. “What is it?” I asked, panicking. But the doctor suddenly smiled and said, “No, he seems totally fine! But this month we’re running a special bundle wellness package for parents and kids. Since you’re both here, I highly recommend it. You’d be surprised how much we miss when parents forget to take care of themselves too!”
  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I had been seconds away from calling my husband in tears. She kept talking about the benefits of catching things early, how it’s cheaper to do it all together. I nodded politely and said I’d think about it.

• I woke up one day and was unable to hear out of my left ear. I waited a few days to see if it would improve, but I didn’t get better at all. I went to the doctor, and they diagnosed me with a nasty ear infection and gave me some antibiotics for it.
  After using up all the antibiotics, I went back, and they prescribed me stronger ones. Those ended up not working either. This cycle went on for another month until I eventually decided to go to an ear specialist. Within five minutes, the specialist saw that my eardrum was not infected, but rather covered in wax.
  By the end of my visit, I had my hearing restored. It’s safe to say I was furious that the doctors misdiagnosed me for an entire two months and gave me antibiotics into me that I didn’t need. © Cosmic_Noodles / Reddit

• I went to the gynecologist. It was a new doctor. As he examined me, he whispered, “Your husband is a lucky guy!” I felt like punching him.
  But when I got home and undressed, I realized he hadn’t actually examined me properly. The checkup had been rushed—he barely even looked. I was so caught off guard by his inappropriate comment that I hadn’t noticed at the time.
  The next day, I got a call from the receptionist asking me to come for an emergency 2nd visit. I was shocked to discover that this guy wasn’t a doctor at all. He had faked his paperwork and diplomas, and in reality, he had dropped out of medical school after only eight months.
  It finally made sense—why the exam had been so rushed and why he had tried to distract me with that disgusting comment. Thankfully, he was caught early and didn’t get the chance to put any woman’s life at risk.

• Before we were engaged, and before we were even living together, my fiancée went to a GP for some persistent headaches she had. The GP looked at her birthdate, saw she was 32, and started lecturing her that time was running out, she needed to have kids ASAP, and she needed to go home immediately and tell me that we were going to start trying for children.
  Note: She didn’t mention anything about kids at all, and he didn’t know her history at all—legit, the first (and last) time she’d ever seen him. © Dropbbear / Reddit

• I went to my old doctor for allergy pills. I had just moved in with my partner, and he had a cat. She gave me the prescription but then also asked how old the cat was and, in her words, said, “Maybe it will just die soon.” © yslhc / Reddit

• I would constantly complain to my doctor that I couldn’t breathe when I walked and that I would get shortness of breath. I was always tired and fatigued, and I would get dizzy if I walked too long. She always brushed it off and told me to get more sleep or drink more water, even though I was getting plenty of both.
  Finally, I made an appointment to talk to her face-to-face, and she flat-out told me I was lazy and needed to exercise more. I was so embarrassed because I went with my husband, and she made me feel like I was just this lazy couch potato.
  I switched doctors, and my new doctor decided to do blood work—something that other lady should have done in the first place—and found out I was severely anemic to the point of needing blood transfusions. I felt sooo much better after I got my infusions. Some people just shouldn’t be practicing medicine! © NotAsPlanned- / Reddit

• I had a hard lump under my belly button that was excruciatingly painful. I had a hernia there when I was seven, so I went to my GP to get some advice/scans on how to deal with it since it was now very painful.
  The doctor felt around and was like, “Oh yeah, there is a lump!” while I was crying in agony. She then told me not to worry about it because it was only small and that “pregnant women get hernias much worse than this.”
  A few years of debilitating pain later, I finally found a new doctor who sent me for scans right away and put me on a waiting list for a repair. When they finally took it out, it was actually an endometrioma. At every step of the way, doctors shrugged off how painful it actually was, thinking it was just a hernia. It was the blasé attitude that always got me—even from the ER doctors. © katrat1706 / Reddit

• I had my period for two weeks when it normally lasted four days. The doctor didn’t take me seriously. I went in two weeks later with the same issue, plus terrible cramps. Nothing.
  On day 47 of my period, they finally said, “Here’s a new pill to fix it.” That’s all it took. Instead, they made me wait an extra month before doing anything. © Barneryr / Reddit

• I was like 12 and went for a check-up. The doctor asked me over six times if I could be pregnant, to the point where my mom had to step in and say, “Look, she isn’t pregnant, and I don’t know why you keep asking.” Literally no reason for it. © Pessimist_Reality / Reddit

• I started having irregular menstrual cycles and went to my gyn. They wouldn’t listen to me and kept prescribing me things without doing any tests. So I went to my primary doctor to get a referral for some ultrasounds.
  My doctor said, “You’re probably pregnant. I’m not even the doctor you’re supposed to see for these types of things, but I’m going to take you because I have to. You’re probably pregnant.”
  After that, she made me take a pregnancy test that I knew would be negative. When it came back negative, she looked at me and said, “Well, I’ll write you a referral for that ultrasound.” I never went back to her again. © Unknown author / Reddit

• I had just given birth, and my daughter needed to stay in the hospital, but I was ready to be discharged. The doctor talked to my husband like I wasn’t there. He told him I had postnatal depression (apparently, I wasn’t supposed to be upset about leaving the hospital without my baby). The doctor handed him a prescription for antidepressants and told my husband he needed to force me to take them. © rowenaravenclaw0 / Reddit

• I was 18 and had just had a baby, and my epidural was taking a long time to wear off. The nurse came in to transfer me to the recovery room, and I told her I still didn’t have any feeling in my legs. She said, “It should have worn off half an hour ago,” and started trying to get me out of bed and into the wheelchair.
  I said I was going to need help, so another nurse came in. They had to move my legs off the bed (which should have been the second clue), and then they hoisted me up. I, of course, crumpled immediately. As they were trying to get me off the floor, the first nurse yelled at me, “You have to try to stand up!”
  I yelled back, “What part of ’I can’t feel my legs’ did you not hear?!” When my mom heard about it, she went and gave them a piece of her mind. I didn’t see that particular nurse again. © sugabeetus / Reddit

• A doctor told my mom I was faking my ski accident injuries because “teenage girls are known to exaggerate.” I had cracked my helmet, had a broken back, and a major concussion. © Empeets / Reddit

Sometimes the office doesn’t feel like just a place to work—it feels like you’ve stepped into a real-life soap opera. These 12 true stories show just how wild and unbelievable things at work can become.