Over the years and through several studies, it has become abundantly clear that Black patients often receive less thorough and less accurate medical care than their white counterparts.
Recently, we asked Black members of the BuzzFeed community to share their experiences being misdiagnosed and mistreated in medical settings. Here are some of their shocking stories:
1. "Every so often I would get horrible abdominal pains, but when I went to the ER, they would tell me I had gas. One week, I scheduled a doctors appointment, and my physician wouldn’t order an ultrasound. I fought tooth and nail to get one and came to find out that I had TONS of gallstones causing my discomfort. When my physician found out, he said, 'Wow didn’t expect that many. You’re so strong.'"
2. "One day I woke up with extreme sharp pain in my side. At first I thought it might be cramps, but after an hour it didn’t go away. I ended up going to urgent care where the physicians told me it was just gas. I went to the ER later that night, still in pain, and the physician found a golf-ball sized cyst on one of my ovaries. I had to schedule an emergency surgery for that week or I would have lost an ovary."
—Anonymous
3. "I went to the on campus health clinic because I had been throwing up and experiencing diarrhea nonstop. My white doctor told me I just had a bad stomachache and to drink Gatorade and eat crackers. I ended up having to go to the hospital later that night because my intestines were swollen and I was severely dehydrated."
—Anonymous
4. "I had a SEVERELY itchy scalp for about a year before deciding to see a dermatologist. I was told by the first doctor I saw that it was simply sebhorreic dermatitis and that I should wash my hair more often. I tried the treatment plan she prescribed to no avail. My scalp was still intensely itchy. I decided to get second opinion from another dermatologist who thoroughly examined my scalp and concluded it was a scalp condition called Lycan planopilaris."
5. "A doctor told me I had GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), but it turned out I had multiple blood clots in my lungs.
—Anonymous
6. "My doctor misdiagnosed me with diverticulitis when I had a cyst on my ovary, and she prescribed an antibiotic which made me extremely ill. When I told my doctor, she said she'd been practicing for 20 years and she'd never heard of that. Maybe a year later, the antibiotic received a black box warning. From what I've read, the antibiotic she prescribed should only be used as a last resort."
—Anonymous
7. "I was about five months into nursing my first son when I developed mastitis in one of my breasts. It was bright red, hot to the touch, and painful. I went to my doctor, showed them my breast, and told them I suspected it was mastitis and that I needed antibiotics. Despite the obvious signs establishing otherwise, I was told it was just a normal blocked milk duct and that I should go home and nurse my baby or pump to eliminate the blockage. I went home, but it only got worse."
8. "My husband and I started IVF and I got pregnant with twins. I couldn't keep anything down, but I gained 30 pounds in eight weeks. The OBGYN told me I needed to go low carb and that I should treat fruit as a dessert. I ended up going to the ER with a very high blood pressure and lost both babies in the second trimester. Turns out, I had very early signs of pre-eclampsia."
"Her response to it all was that I must have a history of high blood pressure. Prior to pregnancy, my blood pressure had always been 120/80. She didn't listen to me or read my charts. I told her something was wrong, but all she could see was an overweight black woman."
—Anonymous
9. "I injured my knee and went to urgent care for help. I was told to take Tylenol and was given an insert to put in my shoe. Later, when I was able to see my actual doctor, she said urgent care should have offered more assistance because arthritis had set in now. Not being heard feels less than human."
—Anonymous
10. "My heart rate would increase without explanation during periods when I had been awake for several hours. I was told it was sleep apnea, even though I had no problems with my heart rate while sleeping. My doctor prescribed a CPAP, which my insurance did not cover. It turned out I was experiencing a heart arrhythmia."
11. "I went to doctors who were dismissive when I described my symptoms. They ignored a major red flag in my blood test. When I moved away and got new doctors, they redid my tests, followed up properly, and gave me permission to stop taking my old medications. My new doctors have given me a proper diagnosis and I’m on medication that actually seems to be working."
—Anonymous
12. "Years ago, I went to my OBGYN (a Black woman). Her nurse practitioner (a white woman) diagnosed me with genital herpes. I left the office, picked up my prescription, and went home and cried because I couldn’t get over my diagnosis. A few weeks later, I told a friend and he suggested I go back and talk to the doctor. I did and she said it was actually just a bad case of folliculitis."
—Anonymous
13. "I went to my physician about a painful bulge in my belly. After an X-ray, he told me I was constipated and put me on a cleanse. I decided to get a second opinion from a female POC physician, who was much more thorough. Turns out, I had a grapefruit-sized mass and an ovarian torsion. I got surgery and lost an ovary because the first doctor refused to listen."
14. "I went to the emergency room many times with pain on my left side, the opposite side of my gallbladder, but I was told that I had gallstones. After 3 years of this happening, I was finally hospitalized with hypokalemia, chronic pancreatitis, a suffocated liver, and a bad heart because of the hypokalemia."
"While hospitalized I asked for more pain reliever and the nurse doubled the dosage after I confirmed again that I have no history of alcohol or drug abuse. In order for any narcotic dosage to be doubled, the original dosage has to be extremely low in the first place. This meant that the doctor either wanted me to be in pain or wrongly assumed that based on my gender and/or skin color I could handle the pain of multiple inflamed organs and internal bleeding."
—Anonymous
15. "I went to the clinic for an embarrassing problem and was naturally nervous, making my blood pressure rise. I tried to explain this, but was dismissed and given blood pressure medicine. The medicine gave me all kinds of side effects. When I went back, I told my doctor about the side effects, but she told me they weren't because of the medicine. Since then, I have done research on my original problem and have learned about using natural foods as medicine."
—Anonymous
Have you ever been misdiagnosed by your doctor? Tell us about your experience in the comments below.
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.