How Medical Gaslighting Can Lead to Malpractice
We trust our healthcare providers to take care of us, listen to our symptoms, and properly diagnose our ailments. However, preconceived notions and medical gaslighting can interfere with a proper diagnosis and receiving the quality medical care you deserve. Here is what you need to know about this far too common problem.
What Is Medical Gaslighting?
Gaslighting is a term that refers to a form of manipulation someone uses to make another doubt their own judgment or question their sanity. Medical gaslighting describes when a patient’s medical symptoms are dismissed, ignored, or downplayed. In some situations, medical gaslighting can attribute a physical medical condition to a non-existent psychological problem. In others, a symptom is blamed on a neutral cause, such as age.
Common signs that you may be experiencing medical gaslighting include:
- Dismissal of symptoms without proper examination – A healthcare provider minimizes the patient’s concerns or tells them “it’s all in your head” without conducting appropriate tests.
- Blaming symptoms on weight or age – A medical professional attributes all symptoms to the patient’s weight or age without investigating other potential causes.
- Stereotyping based on gender, race, or age – The medical provider makes assumptions about the patient’s condition based on demographic factors rather than medical evidence or the patient’s descriptions of their own body and symptoms.
- Refusing to order necessary tests – The healthcare provider won’t order relevant diagnostic tests despite the patient’s persistent symptoms.
- Rushing through appointments – The healthcare professional doesn’t take time to listen to the patient’s full medical history or current symptoms.
- Interrupting or talking over you – Your provider consistently cuts you off when you try to explain your symptoms or concerns.
- Suggesting psychological causes without ruling out physical ones – The healthcare provider immediately attributes physical symptoms to anxiety, stress, or mental illness without proper evaluation.
- Making you feel guilty for seeking help – A medical provider makes you feel like you’re wasting their time or being “dramatic” about your symptoms.
If you suspect medical gaslighting harmed you, an experienced medical malpractice lawyer can review your situation and determine if you have a viable claim.
Examples of Medical Gaslighting
Here are some real-life medical gaslighting examples when medical professionals ignored patients’ symptoms and concerns:
- Women undergoing fertility treatments complained of unbearable pain. Doctors ignored them. It was later discovered an addicted nurse had stolen their fentanyl, and they were only receiving saline solution. (AP News)
- A woman giving birth reported feeling pain after she was given an epidural. One of her providers said she was being “dramatic.” The epidural had fallen out. (The Washington Post)
- A woman was experiencing severe electric-shock-like sensations and was told by her male doctor to “get her nails done.” She was later diagnosed with fibromyalgia. (City News)
- A neurologist was told she knew too much when she reported having head pain and pounding in her ears after she requested a brain scan. Months later, a tumor was discovered. (The Washington Post)
- A 56-year-old social worker was having trouble coordinating her hands, but the symptom was brushed off as part of the aging process. She was later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. (Mentor Pro)
- A boy started experiencing “terrible heartburn” at age 15 but was told by his doctor that young men “don’t get heartburn.” Years later, he was diagnosed with a hiatal hernia and an inflamed esophagus. (Mentor Pro)
Negative Effects of Medical Gaslighting
Medical gaslighting can be incredibly harmful. In some cases, it can lead to a misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis. If a healthcare provider does not pay attention to a patient’s symptoms because they dismiss or do not believe them, the provider might fail to conduct proper testing or imaging, leading to a condition not being diagnosed or being attributed to the wrong medical condition. The patient can be left without receiving proper treatment.
Many health conditions are time-sensitive. Medical gaslighting can lead to delays in care that harm the patient or potentially cause their death. If you or your family member was a victim of medical gaslighting, contact Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. today for legal help.
Can You Sue for Medical Gaslighting?
Medical gaslighting is frustrating, but it is not always legally actionable. To have a medical malpractice case based on medical gaslighting, you must be able to show you suffered injuries due to the healthcare provider’s negligence.
Medical gaslighting can lead to medical malpractice when a healthcare provider’s dismissal of symptoms or failure to investigate complaints results in adverse effects and harm to the patient. While medical gaslighting itself is not a legal cause of action, it often serves as evidence of a healthcare provider’s failure to provide appropriate medical care and necessary treatment. It may be persuasive to have the healthcare provider held accountable.
Consider this example: A 45-year-old woman visits the emergency department with sudden dizziness, confusion, and a severe headache. Despite these classic stroke warning signs, the ER doctor dismisses her symptoms as anxiety and stress, telling her she’s “too young for a stroke” without performing proper diagnostic tests. The doctor prescribes anti-anxiety medication and sends her home. Hours later, her condition worsens significantly, and she returns to a different hospital where doctors diagnose her with a stroke. By this time, the delay in treatment has led to permanent brain damage that could have been prevented with prompt medical intervention.
This scenario illustrates how medical gaslighting can lead to malpractice and result in devastating consequences. Rather than taking the patient’s symptoms seriously and following standard stroke protocols, the first doctor made assumptions based on the patient’s age and gender. This failure to provide appropriate medical care led to the following:
- Missed opportunity for early stroke intervention
- Preventable brain damage
- An extended hospital stay and rehabilitation
- Long-term disability affecting work and daily activities
- Additional medical expenses that proper initial care could have prevented
- Physical and emotional suffering
How Can I Prove My Medical Gaslighting Case?
If you are considering filing a medical malpractice claim due to medical gaslighting, taking the following steps can significantly strengthen your case:
- Document all interactions with healthcare providers.
- Keep detailed records of your symptoms and when you reported them.
- Save all medical records and test results.
- Record the dates and times when providers dismissed or ignored your concerns.
- Get copies of any communications between you and your healthcare providers.
- Seek second opinions when providers dismiss your concerns.
Working with an experienced medical malpractice attorney can help determine whether medical gaslighting contributed to substandard care in your situation. They can review your medical records, consult medical experts, and help establish how the healthcare provider’s actions fell below the accepted standard of care.
Who Is at Risk for Medical Gaslighting?
While medical gaslighting can happen to and affect anyone, research shows that certain groups face a significantly higher risk of having their medical concerns dismissed or minimized. Women, in particular, often encounter serious disparities in their medical treatment when compared to men.
Consider these troubling statistics, as outlined in the Harvard Health Blog:
- Women wait 16 minutes longer than men (65 versus 49 minutes) to receive pain medication in emergency rooms for acute abdominal pain.
- Women are seven times more likely than men to be misdiagnosed and discharged during an active heart attack.
- Healthcare providers prescribe sedatives to women more frequently than pain medication, while men more often receive appropriate pain treatment.
- Women who undergo coronary bypass surgery are half as likely to receive pain medication compared to men who have the same procedure.
The disparity becomes even more striking when examining chronic pain. While 70 percent of chronic pain patients are women, 80 percent of pain studies focus exclusively on male subjects. However, research indicates women experience pain more frequently and intensely than men. Yet because most medical understanding of diseases stems from studies of male physiology, missed diagnoses often occur when women present with different symptoms.
Other factors that can increase your risk of experiencing medical gaslighting include:
- Being a person of color (PNAS)
- Being elderly (NBC News)
- Members of the LGBTQIA+ community (The American Journal of Medicine)
- Having a disability (American Society on Aging)
- Being overweight or having other stigmatized conditions (The New York Times)
- Having multiple chronic conditions (American Society on Aging)
- Lacking English proficiency (National Library of Medicine)
- Having limited access to healthcare (National Library of Medicine)
Medical gaslighting often creates a cycle of harm. When healthcare providers dismiss symptoms, patients may delay seeking future care, leading to worsened conditions and poorer health outcomes. Breaking this cycle requires healthcare providers to acknowledge these disparities and take all patient concerns seriously, regardless of the patient’s gender, age, or background.
Protecting Yourself from Medical Gaslighting
If you believe your healthcare provider dismissed your symptoms and failed to provide you with proper care, contact a Chicago medical malpractice attorney from Salvi, Schostok & Pritchard, P.C. We handle a variety of cases involving medical malpractice and have recovered over $2.7 billion for our clients. Contact us today for a free case review.
