I read this Kaiser Health News piece about doctors using stigmatizing words to describe their patients in their charts, and, well, I felt immediately implicated. Let me explain. Thanks for reading Chief Complaint ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
I recall being confused but flattered when I found in my notes that a doctor had described me as “well nourished” and “pleasant,” but vaguely upset when a different doctor included quotes from a conversation that I had thought was just casual banter. I’ve since had good results asking for certain subjects to be excluded from the note entirely. However, I am also a very healthy young white woman with a “normal” BMI, so I expect my experience with doctors in general is not typical.
I read everything my doctor writes about me! I have reread the notes more than once from my 2021 trip to the ER because I was out of it from blood loss and frankly just wanted to remember what happened (I had a hemorrhaging episode while miscarrying and thankfully received care and was able to be discharged by that night). I do remember reading the note that a CNA felt the need to write about me “refusing” to put my mask back on in the waiting room which made me feel like she saw me as some kind of anti-masker who didn’t care about sick people when in reality I told her that I had taken my mask off because I felt like I was going to throw up. They weren’t allowing me to eat or drink while I waited so all I had had was a few dry cheerios that morning and was sitting there literally trying not to pass out while bleeding for an hour and a half through my clothes into the wheel chair. My husband told her that she “didn’t care about people” which she also wrote in quotes in the note, and it felt like she was trying to be snarky to me reading it. I thought the fact that there was even a note about a two minute interaction where she asked me to put my mask back on was weird- like why did that even need to be noted at all? To make me appear to be a difficult patient? Because she assumed I was lying about nausea so that I could get out of wearing a mask? I did pass out a couple hours after being admitted (too much blood loss), and thankfully my husband caught me and I only lost consciousness for a short time.
I am quite the people pleaser and pride myself on being pleasant and easy to get along with as a patient, so that was a tough note for me to read.
Ah man, this subject is near to my heart. As a reader and writer, I avidly read through all of my patient notes on my chart written by my doctor after visits.
One particular doctor used a tone in her notes that felt disrespectful, incredulous, and dismissive to me. Additionally her notes contained at least 3 major inaccuracies regarding my current health status. During my consult with this doctor in person, she made an extremely degrading and dehumanizing comment on my medications (implying that I was over medicated or perhaps hinting at drug seeking behavior?) My non-narcotic, life saving meds have been stable for years, and for some reason this was the first time the doctor noticed my med list even though I had gone to exams with her a few times in the past? I filed a complaint with the hospital on my chart, but I don’t believe any amendments or corrections were made to her false notes.
Thank you for writing so compassionately about this important, even life threatening issue of doctor/patient communications! I wish that there were more honest and empathetic doctors like you. Most doctors are good, kind, and brilliant people. But when a patient encounters a bad apple, it really harms the patient and undermines their ability to seek medical care. You’re a good one; thank you!
I recall being confused but flattered when I found in my notes that a doctor had described me as “well nourished” and “pleasant,” but vaguely upset when a different doctor included quotes from a conversation that I had thought was just casual banter. I’ve since had good results asking for certain subjects to be excluded from the note entirely. However, I am also a very healthy young white woman with a “normal” BMI, so I expect my experience with doctors in general is not typical.
I read everything my doctor writes about me! I have reread the notes more than once from my 2021 trip to the ER because I was out of it from blood loss and frankly just wanted to remember what happened (I had a hemorrhaging episode while miscarrying and thankfully received care and was able to be discharged by that night). I do remember reading the note that a CNA felt the need to write about me “refusing” to put my mask back on in the waiting room which made me feel like she saw me as some kind of anti-masker who didn’t care about sick people when in reality I told her that I had taken my mask off because I felt like I was going to throw up. They weren’t allowing me to eat or drink while I waited so all I had had was a few dry cheerios that morning and was sitting there literally trying not to pass out while bleeding for an hour and a half through my clothes into the wheel chair. My husband told her that she “didn’t care about people” which she also wrote in quotes in the note, and it felt like she was trying to be snarky to me reading it. I thought the fact that there was even a note about a two minute interaction where she asked me to put my mask back on was weird- like why did that even need to be noted at all? To make me appear to be a difficult patient? Because she assumed I was lying about nausea so that I could get out of wearing a mask? I did pass out a couple hours after being admitted (too much blood loss), and thankfully my husband caught me and I only lost consciousness for a short time.
I am quite the people pleaser and pride myself on being pleasant and easy to get along with as a patient, so that was a tough note for me to read.
Ah man, this subject is near to my heart. As a reader and writer, I avidly read through all of my patient notes on my chart written by my doctor after visits.
One particular doctor used a tone in her notes that felt disrespectful, incredulous, and dismissive to me. Additionally her notes contained at least 3 major inaccuracies regarding my current health status. During my consult with this doctor in person, she made an extremely degrading and dehumanizing comment on my medications (implying that I was over medicated or perhaps hinting at drug seeking behavior?) My non-narcotic, life saving meds have been stable for years, and for some reason this was the first time the doctor noticed my med list even though I had gone to exams with her a few times in the past? I filed a complaint with the hospital on my chart, but I don’t believe any amendments or corrections were made to her false notes.
Thank you for writing so compassionately about this important, even life threatening issue of doctor/patient communications! I wish that there were more honest and empathetic doctors like you. Most doctors are good, kind, and brilliant people. But when a patient encounters a bad apple, it really harms the patient and undermines their ability to seek medical care. You’re a good one; thank you!