Doctors are trained to lie.
Here are the top 10 ways. See if you recognize any.
1. Doctors lie about work hours.
When logging actual work hours exceeding the weekly “80-hour cap,” new docs are cited for duty-hour violations. Labeled as inefficient, overworked residents may be sent for a psych eval and prescribed stimulants to force compliance. “We were all taken into a room by the program director and told to lie that we had no work-hour violations.”
2. Doctors lie in medical records.
Rushed visits lead docs to falsify records by checking items in the EMR that were never done. “Writing WNL [Within Normal Limits, more like “We Never Looked”] on a physical is the biggest lie. How can you do a complete physical in fifteen minutes?” . . . “Acronyms and text shortcuts are the only way to be ‘efficient’ enough to keep up with the workload.”
3. Doctors lie on billing.
Packing medical records with items never done allows upcoding to higher level visits and increased reimbursement (plus productivity income). “We had lectures in our hospital on how to ‘code properly,’ to basically commit insurance fraud.” . . . “Doctors who lie get paid more and work less.”
4. Doctors lie on residency evaluations.
“After we complained about working conditions, we were coached on how to respond on our ‘proctored surveys’ so our program would not lose accreditation. I know this is illegal. If I refuse to comply, I risk retaliation.”
5. Doctors lie about their mental health.
To prevent license repercussions, physicians lie on applications for hospital credentialing and med board licensing when asked about status of mental health conditions. “After reading about one woman’s journey through hell after being honest on application questions, I sought care an hour away. I drove an hour in another direction to nervously fill prescriptions for antidepressants,” reports a doc. “I required several meds to stop thinking of suicide all day every day. My suicidal thoughts were 100% work-related.”
6. Doctors lie about their self-confidence.
In the ‘fake it till you make it’ culture, new docs often practice medicine with poor teaching and supervision, then pretend to have all the answers. “I watched colleagues often act and speak very confidently even when I knew they didn’t totally know what they were talking about.”
7. Doctors lie to patients.
When Medicare covers a procedure, suddenly more beneficiaries “need” the intervention. Financial incentives lead to excess surgeries without informed consent. “I quit my program due to all the unnecessary surgeries on patients who died. We were killing patients.” . . . “I lie all day long, telling people they have to go on meds in order to meet the guidelines.” . . . “I lie on almost every lab order slip.”
8. Doctors lie to doctors.
Docs embellish personal statements, boast, “I never study.” then promise, “It will get better when you’re an attending” even though life may get worse (on call for 6 hospitals & double the workload with all the liability). Here’s a big lie: Doc asks, “How ya doing?” Doc replies, “Good.” Then dies by suicide.
9. Doctors lie to themselves.
Physicians are masters of disguise. We conceal dependencies and addictions. Fake smiling happy med students and happy doctors die by suicide at alarming rates.
10. Doctors lie on death certificates.
Doctors cover up suicides (especially doc suicides) as accidents—including accidental overdoses on drugs they prescribe every day—huge lie to preserve reputation of deceased and for life insurance payout to family. “In England, such was the stigma that as a forensic pathologist I could not label a death a ‘suicide’ unless there was a suicide note,” says Dr. George Lundberg. “In Coroner’s Court, I would have to call obvious suicides, by New York standards, ‘death by misadventure.’” Death certs are altered to comply with financial/occupational incentives and cultural norms to uphold accepted narratives. Examples—Lies of omission: “When I don’t know the cause, but I have to write something. That’s a form of lying.” I’ve seen OBVIOUS diagnoses (and therapies) of patients deleted by my attendings because they did not fit a narrative or would be “problematic.” I do think we are forced to “lie” simply because there isn’t an ICD-10 code to cover what’s going on. Pandemic lies: “My patient died by a stroke hours after booster. With no specific code, it’s like begging admin to put a microscope on you.” One doc told me: “If patient had covid at one time then I’m putting it on the death cert so we get higher reimbursement, plus FEMA will pay funeral costs.”
I consider myself honest, yet I’ve succumbed to 8 of 10 of these lies.
Why do “honest” doctors lie? 3 reasons:
1. Avoid punishment
2. Self-preservation
3. Financial gain
Like most people, docs will lie to avoid punishment and to preserve their job, identity, ego, status, and money. Doctors can be incentivized by bribes. Many are conflict phobic people pleasers who don’t want to stray from the narrative or risk being culled from the herd. To recover we must first be honest with ourselves in this professional confessional. Only then can we stop our habitual lying and chronic distortion of the truth—to be self-actualized as real healers on this planet.
“You are either living your dream—or living a lie.”
My friend wrote a heartbreaking piece about his traumatic experience amid the pandemic as a resident. He writes that he was in disbelief physicians could lie on death certificates.
“I have always struggled to understand the lie that doctors are inflating the death count. Of course, there are the rare individual doctors who have committed fraud, but widespread death certificate fraud seems like an odd initiative to get behind. . . Doctors, not hospitals determine the cause of death, and doctors have no incentive to say that a person died because of something other than what actually killed them.”
Got me thinking about all the times I’ve written about falsified doctor suicide death certificates. So maybe we have more altered death certs than we are willing to admit as a profession.
Sen. Scott Jensen, R-Minn., a Minnesota doctor, claimed hospitals get paid more if Medicare patients are listed as having COVID-19 and get three times as much money if they need a ventilator. He said, “Hospital administrators might well want to see COVID-19 attached to a discharge summary or a death certificate. Why? Because if it’s a straightforward, garden-variety pneumonia that a person is admitted to the hospital for – if they’re Medicare – typically, the diagnosis-related group lump sum payment would be $5,000. But if it’s COVID-19 pneumonia, then it’s $13,000, and if that COVID-19 pneumonia patient ends up on a ventilator, it goes up to $39,000.” He doesn’t think physicians are “gaming the system” but other “players,” such as hospital admin may pressure physicians to cite all diagnoses, including “probable” COVID-19, on discharge papers or death certificates to get higher Medicare allocation allowed under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
FactCheck’s conclusion: TRUE. Hospitals DO get paid more if patients are listed as COVID-19 and on ventilators is TRUE. Hospitals and doctors do get paid more for Medicare patients diagnosed with COVID-19 or if it’s considered presumed they have COVID-19 absent a laboratory-confirmed test, and three times more if the patients are placed on a ventilator
. . . but there is no evidence of fraudulent reporting.” Julie Aultman, from AMAs Journal of Ethics, told PolitiFact it is “very unlikely that physicians or hospitals will falsify data or be motivated by money to do so.”
I BELIEVE FRAUDULENT REPORTING IS WIDESPREAD. Doctors and hospitals WILL falsify data and be motivated by money to do so.
What do you think?
Why would you write this??
To help physicians heal. To stop the outrageous level of dishonesty in our profession.
Doctor, do you disagree with the factual accuracy of the above analysis or are you just uncomfortable and confused by somebody airing the dirty laundry? I see each of the above items as being true.
I do not disagree. These are experiences that I and many physician friends have had–and never dreamed we’d experience when we signed up for med school. A travesty.
I wonder the same thing.
Very poignant and powerful piece, but mostly hard to believe. Though I am an elder physician, I am still practicing. I didn’t feel any pressured in training or practice to lie like she describes. Some impaired physicians might feel the need to lie about some things. Though hospitals may get paid more to diagnose Covid 19, I don’t see how physicians would since CPT codes are limited. A complicated case of pneumonia with comorbidities whether Covid or not would still bill at highest level. In a pandemic “probable Covid-19 is perfectly reasonable diagnosis even without + test. We do get paid more for more complicated diagnoses.
Liars surrounded by liars was not my experience. I hope it’s not as bad as you suggest.
I agree. Was hard for me to believe that I could have contributed to so many of these “lies” as they seemed innocent enough at the time. Just really a self-assessment piece. We can all judge ourselves and respond accordingly.
It is really bad. I was in ER and was ignored and then they lied on my CT. I googled how to read CT and within a few minutes found the item stuck in my stomach. They said no bowel obstruction thinking I was not going to find it myself. We are not as dumb as doctors thinks. Hold on to your pants Drs, DR GOOGLE is here!
I had a spinal fusion years ago but the pain eventually returned and was worse, so I went back to my surgeon. After an MRI,tests on my nerves,cortisone shot that didn’t work and an attempt at pain control, all after the MRI showed I have moderate to severe spinal stenosis just above my fusion my surgeon told me, “there’s nothing more I can do. Don’t seek out another doctor. He will do surgery on your back and cause more problems. You had laminectomies and your back would too unstable for further surgery. No forwarding you records to another doctor. I left feeling confused, fearful and uncertain what to do. I wanted to talk to him further but it felt rushed and as if he just wanted to get rid of me. I’ve heard this is called “punting”, like kicking a football. So, some 4 years later after my very ill husband I was caring for passed this year I talked to a few people and they recommended I see someone. I got the nerve up and am scheduled to see a new surgeon tomorrow. Today my medical records came I requested from my prior surgeon. In it he states he offered to do surgery on my back. That I never returned to see him. This statement was added this week to my medical records as it’s dated.
doctors are poorly trained professionals related to people and doing things for the wrong reasons
Wish we had a true humanitarian med school experience that nurtured us as sensitive empaths.
Truth to entrenched power.
Bringing some light to the darkness – starting with my own soul.
You’re brave.
Wish you would be braver and talk about all the lies done to cover medical mistakes at the expense of the patient.
Might also be cathartic.
I welcome that discussion as well. As far as I am aware in my own practice (60-minute visits) I’ve not have to cover any medical mistakes as I had time to properly care for my patients for the last 16 years. In my physician trauma recovery group every Sunday we spent a significant amount of time allowing physicians to speak about medical mistakes (even minor ones that cause NO harm) and lots of tears are shed. We are a compassionate group of loving empathic physicians who really care deeply.
I’ve been poisoned ,almost destroyed by you piss collecting drs. I have zero respect. You’ve killed more then people know. I’m healing on my own you sir folks
Retired YS Marine
I’m being murdered by doctor everyday I have stomach cancer and kidney cancer and these doctors have failed to give me a diagnosis because of a doctor giving me a FDA recalled medicine that causes stomach liver and kidney cancer I’ve been sick over two years now getting worse everyday little do they know they have tried to cover their tracks and messed you by them stating on medical papers that are dated a month ahead but the envelope stated is showing the current month I have 3 letters like this they are also telling me my chest x ray is normal and it’s far from normal I have a complete grayout of something covering my whole lung and doctor tried telling me it was air air is black on a chest x ray I have blood in my urine I have protein in my urine my albumin and Creatinine is in the 300s and my WBC AND RBC are off the chart and my stomach is so enlarged and I can feel my organs enlarged in my stomach with so my pressure and my right kidney is a constant dull ache that started a sharp pain my right side of my back is swollen and my lower back looks black and blue sometimes and there is nothing I can do except report them to MB but I’m so fatigue I can barley do that my body hurts all over and I was sexually assaulted at one hospital that knocked me out for 8 hr and they did something to me down there where it looks like they cut me up and put like a little tongue or something that’s weird looking it’s been swollen and sore ever since I left that hospital I can barely wipe if I wipe hard it will bleed it itches sometimes and it’s sore and it’s swollen I’m literally dying slowly and they’re letting it happen
I’d like to add a 4th I have seen across 100 professions
4. Not risking family security against a Bureaucratic Goliath where one person rarely makes a difference. (to the system, perhaps; but to themselves …. a transformation!)
The palpable danger of battered women and kids – some of whom were murdered while clients with us – was unbearable. But our job was to HELP, not to SAVE, which is the expectation we put on physicians.
My consolation: they make the choices, as they are the experts on what is best for them; but physicians ARE experts – and have no such consolation. CANNOT imagine the pressure. My deep gratitude to ALL the healers.
I think we each have more power than we know to stand against deception.
We had a pediatrician lie about billing codes for insurance. And it was a very concerning lie to put on our child’s chart as well. I took my child in to ask about allergy food testing, because I had noticed she had mood swings at times, and I couldn’t explain it. I specifically just wanted allergy testing.
Pediatrician asked me one simple but misleading question, “When your child is having these mood swings, do you feel like she could hurt herself?” in my mind I imagined her throwing herself down on the floor and bumping her head on a chair during a tantrum. I answered, “Um well, i guess so.” I never in 1000 years would’ve thought that she meant hurt herself intentionally like with a knife, like self harm type of hurting. She never mentioned to me her worries about psychological issues or depression or anything like that, all she said is that food issues do not exhibit themselves through mood swings, they would always be on the skin.
We left that visit, and my insurance lady called me a few days later. Because we have a good relationship and talk often, she told me that the doctor had billed under the code for “depression disorder”. I was in shock. I immediately called the doctor and asked her why she would do that, and wouldn’t even mention anything to me? did she put that on my child’s chart? she seemed to make excuses, and I told her about that misleading question she asked that all of a sudden made sense to me. She said she would take it off her chart, but she couldn’t change the coding. we left that doctor after that incident.
We went to a natural path after that, who blood tested her, and found that she was sensitive to every single food. She had a specialized diet and went on some supplements, and the mood swings stopped. Eight years later, she does not deal with those anymore!
Another terrible impact of lying on patient charts that then becomes a paper trail of billing “misinformation” that can create a psych history where none existed, thus harming a child.
And of course, you have to make a diagnosis to get paid, ergo, “depressive disorder” not “temper tantrums” or “mood swings.”
Yep. THAT really sucks to have to claim a diagnosis rather than symptoms or other disorders that lack a billing code.
The opposite is being incredibly afraid to label a individual, especially in Psychiatry. It is a fine balance, to put enough in the chart to diagnosis and treat, but not haunt their life and impact employment, insurance and so on. Another stress is not documenting enough and having a patient upset when they do not get what they want (diagnosis, medication, or outcome). I end up working so many additional hours, and even keep notebooks in a safe to accurately have records of session, but not put it all in a electronic health record. I do not want to live under the thumb of huge companies or even greedy small practices. I wish I could win the lottery and have a little practice providing the care I want to without ending up with exhaustion, bad credit, and family problems in the process.
Ohhhh exhausted NP I would LOVE to speak with you. I can connect you to other NPs who are successfully living the dream life you desire. Sucks to have to keep TWO charts due to stigma, shame, unethical insurance companies and others who would weaponize psychiatry against the most vulnerable. Please reach out through my contact page.
This is why our healthcare system is turned upside down and I really believe one of the main contributors to the increase in maternal death but it would be helpful to cite your resources (not names of course, but surveys, etc). I would love to incorporate these findings in my lectures, blog, etc. Thanks.
More detail here in this book that is the root cause analysis of 1,300 doc suicides. Human Rights Violations in Medicine.
Thanks for the clarification.
Wow, thank you Pamela! This is so amazing to have you put in writing what is actually happening as I knew this was going on.
Questions I have always wondered about below:
– Elderly patients are denied many diagnostic tests even when their loved ones is advocating for them. This happened with my mother in law. She was in her 90’s and their excuse was that it will not change the outcome! I asked how can you treat if you do not know precisely what you’re treating for? They just say we are not going to do the test and that’s the end of it. Do these hospitalist get bonuses for minimizing diagnostics?
– My husband went for his physical and was told because he was over 65 he needed to be on statins. I objected saying he does not have high cholesterol and there were tons of lawsuits filed against statin manufacturers and settlements. His answer was he is taking them and he is only 48. It’s a good prevention drug he says. Is he getting kick backs from the pharmaceutical companies? Kick back or bonuses from the administration?
– My father was killed by a hospital in 2020. I called knowing something was not ok the night he passed. I was told to call the attending hospitalist who was not at the hospital. No one would help my Dad, he screamed for two days the nurse said, he tried to leave the hospital and was physically forced to stay. He tried to call the police and phone was taken from him. He dies and hour after my call from a heart attack. I complained to the administration and they said they would do a root cause analysis and never contacted me after that. I spoke to the Indian doctor who was the hospitalist whom my Dad was assigned to and he said he did not need to return my call that evening because I WAS NOT A NURSE CALLING HIM! It was the nurse who told me to call him.
I had a separate autopsy company pick him up from hospital and I think that it is possible the hospital may have bribed the autopsy company to make a report that exonerates them. I knew they did something horrible to him and nothing showed up on report. Does this happen often? The hospital is in West Hills California.
Attorneys told me that the micro statute applies of $250k and no attorney takes these cases anymore. Also since he was 85, no damages from loss of income. Essentially when we get old, watch out as they can kill you with no recourse! Why is this not being address? It’s like the communication party took over healthcare and these doctors and nurses have no say in your health. They are instructed to follow protocol and limit time with you.
Kathy
1) Yes, I needed to get this content off my chest – cleanse my soul.
2) “Do these hospitalist get bonuses for minimizing diagnostics?” In an HMO there is an incentive to deny care. May be true that the test would not change the outcome and I would not order a test that would not in some way benefit the patient in decision-making. I think we order far too many tests and labs.
3) “His answer was he is taking them and he is only 48. It’s a good prevention drug he says. Is he getting kick backs from the pharmaceutical companies? Kick back or bonuses from the administration?” Unlikely. He is just completely immersed in reductionist allopathic medicine and probably not a vegan. Plant-based diet is the solution to so many first-world health issues.
4) The situation with your dad is tragic. So sorry. Sound like nobody really wanted to communicate with you—then they blew you off. Terrible. The medical system is imploding and the crimes against humanity are escalating against patients——and doctors!
That’s why I have given up on allopathic medicine. Doctors are dreadful
We started out just wanting to help and got stuck in a cycle of betrayal. More here in this quick (20-min) ebook: Physician Betrayal: How Our Heroes Become Villains
Unfortunately, all of these are true. The system is broken, and no one wants to fix it. It’s easier to blame the physicians and write them off as “weak”. Hospitals and health care systems are greedy and profit-driven and will stop at nothing to advance their bottom line.
I’m trying . . . I do think the power of one person is underestimated. We all have more influence than we recognize.
Soooo important — Thanks so much for sharing! I’m sending it to many. Our local Santa Barbara HMO does all of these lies routinely. I’ve learned to have compassion for them and be sweetly assertive and ask questions. I rarely go to the HMO, the outside doctors are so much better and correctly diagnose within 10 minutes. Actually I rarely go to doctors at all, only for post injury (25 years ago) things like badly damaged shoulders for that stem cells worked better than surgeries would have.
I don’t think doctors lie who went into our profession for the right reasons. For example, all EBM doctors who read the literature should admit to patients that the COVID mRNA vaccines cause cardiac inflammation and blood clots.
Hi, Pamela, Thanks for your honesty and your diligence. I, too, have done most of them ( the lies) although I didn’t work under such terrible circumstances 50 years ago (bad enough but nothing like the terrible pressure and coercion that you describe.). Thank you for daring to stand up to the corporate. Thank you for giving me courage when I was flagging 6 years ago or so.
Much appreciation! Many blessings,
Congrats on surviving! You are just now retiring?
I retired last October.
Still doing healing work though not via the dysfunctional system
Thank you for saying this. I’m a doctorally prepared nurse practitioner and fight the same pressure to lie.
It is so hard on me to think about the mental state of my colleagues who commit fraud… and who are morally traumatized every day by a system that could give two hoots about the actual wellness of actual people…. and having to follow guidelines that might not be right for the person in front of me (risking the wrath of insurers and regulators for having the nerve to practice within the person’s health beliefs and stated desires)… and for naively thinking shared decision-making actually means something…. and so many more things that try to kill me soul every day.
I press on – refusing to succumb.
Thank you, Dr. Wible, for confirming what many of us patients have long intuited.
Good work!
Thanks for sending this. I suspected these reasons.
Dear Dr Wible,
This is sad. I am no doctor, but I’ve been in hospitals long enough to see that it is the same in my country Bulgaria and in Germany, too. Last time I was with my son in hospital, they had to write something completely different on his medical in order to get reimbursed. I don’t believe there is a way out of this sad situation but I appreciate your efforts.
Kind regards,
Rositsa
I do think there is a way out. We can rebuild our HUMANITY & loving connection with one another. So many ways to give care — outside hospital setting . . .
First step is recognizing the truth.
Thank you Rositsa
❤️
Very grateful to see you in my inbox this morning. What if all health care professionals felt free to tell their truths? What if the tone of all health care professionals was courage? What if we all operated out of compassion?
Blessings! Rita
Then we would have TRUE health care. When the wounded are attending to the wounded (and in denial of their wounds)—THAT is the problem.
Numbers 2 and 3 are especially pervasive. We need more physician whistleblowers, and we need more healthcare executives to go to jail.
RB
And the pressure to lie on medical records and billing has actually led to many doctor suicides. Just on phone with a widow last night who lost her beautiful HONEST husband to career loss due to REFUSAL TO LIE.
Holy smokes this explains a lot!
For example, why did medical practitioners become enforcers for the mRNA vaccine genocide? If the lies you talked about were already par for the course for docs, then the plandemic was just one small step farther.
God bless your work with docs, who are also victims of the corrupt medical space that they occupy.
Here’s one part of a prayer for Eastern Orthodox Christians during Lent: “Yea, O Lord King, grant me to see my failings and not condemn my brethren.” It is so easy to get angry when we feel someone we trust has let us down. But we all do that all the time. God have mercy on us all!
Peter Mead
Please read this FREE ebook (20-min read) Physician Betrayal: How Our Heroes Become Villians
Institutional betrayal trauma happens when medical institutions (such as medical schools, hospitals, or clinics) on which a physician or trainee depends for survival significantly violate their trust or well-being.
Betrayal blindness is a state of denial among physicians in which they do not allow themselves to see what is happening because the information would threaten their professional standing and world view.
I’m dying because of doctors lying in my records. Many doctors of all different varieties.
I’m just going yo day it-doctors are a dishonest profession.
I suggest you get out of the big-box assembly-line clinics and try “direct primary care” or look for independent ideal clinics in your area. There are wonderful doctors out there who truly care—especially when they can unleash themselves from 7-minute visits.
Thank you Peter for that Spiritual Truth: “we are all in need of mercy”! The medical system has its deviant sides of corruption especially wrapped around financially driven scenarios, but amidst the disdain there are gifted, honest, sacrificial physicians and administrators that do the right thing on behalf of patients and sometimes in a very heroic encounter!
I am always reminded by St Augustine’s quote: “ The City of God exists within the city of man, and the city of man exists within the City of God”! This has been true for eons and will continue to be true for times ahead. Be true to yourself and resist succumbing to dishonesty and darkness, be Light in that darkness. I congratulate Dr Wible for trying to be that light!
Thank you Dennis. We all have a shadow side. We are al capable of kindness and cruelty. Tough to evaluate where we may have fallen from the pedestal of righteousness. Here’s a free ebook for you (quick 20-min read): Physician Betrayal: How Our Heroes Become Villains
I want to thank you for your advocacy! Your posts and a little book I read “the size of your dreams,” gave me the courage at 62 years to stop new Medicaid, drop Cigna, and I am now doing in-home autism and adhd evaluations in Houston, on my trips to visit family every other month. The in home visits are my fantasy career. I plan to subsidize my retirement with in home evals when my husband and I go spend a week at a time in other Texas cities. I also do small seminars in person on adhd and autism evaluation for the pediatricians. Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics is a very in demand specialty with too few of us. My reception in Houston has been great!
Thank you for giving me the courage to pursue my dreams!
Monica Suchoff, MD FAAP
Discovery Developmental Center
840 E. Redd Rd. #3
El Paso, TX 79912
Low overhead ideal clinics and house calls are the way to go and I am happy to help anyone unleash themselves from the Titanic of big-box assembly-line medicine.
This is so scary! What are the ways in which such lies can be avoided, if any? What should the system be doing that they aren’t? And are there ways for doctors to avoid succumbing to these lies without risking their job and financial security?
1) What are the ways in which such lies can be avoided, if any? First step is to recognize we are lying to ourselves and others. Please read the very short FREEbook: Physician Betrayal: How Our Heroes Become Villains (take about 20 minutes to read) to understand the culture of betrayal that leads to these lies being normalized as customary practice in medicine. As a patient please ask for copies of your chart notes after visits and if there is anything that is inaccurate please have the doctor amend the note.
2) What should the system be doing that they aren’t? Systems are just made up of people. When people lie, systems will lie. When people stop lying, systems will stop perpetrating lies. One beautiful thing happening in the medical system is more docs are unleashing themselves from toxic employers and launching their onw clinics (including DPC = Direct Primary Care = where the patient pays the doctor directly a monthly fee like $75 – $100 and this CUTS OUT the no-value-added intermediaries and allows a return to real health care with a doc who is truly advocating for YOU and is NOT lying in chart notes or billing codes bc there are no billing codes!)
3) And are there ways for doctors to avoid succumbing to these lies without risking their job and financial security? See answer to #2.
I’ve got so much more to share. Watch this keynote I gave in Las Vegas to 4,000 doctors on how to stop the abuse and unleash oneself from the dysfunctional system while earning MORE money doing the RIGHT thing –> Finding your bliss—beating physician “burnout”
Absolute truth Pam!!
Hi. Thank you very much. I kind of know but it was horrendous between midwives and 1980 (about three centuries). So, if possible I might care to discuss a nolo union for FOJA violation filers by collective negotiation doctors versus insurers under captives trade of a sort. It’s pretty daunting, though. Especially as insurance uses its powers to prevent anything but guilty or innocent by collated market price actions.
Thank you for writing all this down. I know it’s all true, but it helps to see it in writing. It’s a problem with the medical system as a whole and individuals have to exist within it, get pushed out, or leave on their own (some by suicide). I am not a doctor, but I used to work as a healthcare professional. And I have seen it from the other side in my husband’s medical struggles from COVID and the vaccine during these past couple of years. Thank you for the work you do to make things better.
My role as a healer is to tell the truth. Now that I have retired my medical license, I feel even more inspired to hold the torch of truth up for my peers, patients, all humans on the planet. If we can’t trust our healers, who can we trust?
OMG Pamela–This is great truth-finding. I think we also lie because we want to be and stay physicians so we can continue to help our patients. We’re no good to them if we get fired, lose our privileges, fail to complete a residency or get our licenses revoked. There’s the moral injury in spades!
Thanks for this!
Anne Phelan
That’s why I have given up on allopathic medicine. Doctors are dreadful. How do they expect a dermatologist to evaluate their patients in only 3 minutes, that’s how long they give them here in Israel. I had to take my mum to have something checked, I photographed the list of patients. 3 min per patient it’s ludicrous. Family doctors are allowed 5 minutes. ENT also 3 minutes
All the aforementioned lies are emblematic of a monetized broken health care system. An op ed piece in the New York Times or Washington Post on this topic would be highly beneficial because the pubic deserves to know. With education about the deleterious problems in health care settings perhaps we can see greater movement toward a more equitable single party system.
Great idea Rachel. Will contact my Washington Post friends.
Ahhh . . . not something they care to publish at this time. Understandable. Tough topic. Just wanted to follow up on your suggestion Rachel so thanks for the inspiration.
Wow! Though WaPo passed, I just found a fun video review of my article & video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nor9IU-1p8g
While I believe there is some truth in many of the statements in this article it is overly broad and casts a wide net. This are just statements that issues exist but no evidence or comment on their prevalence. I am a skeptical physician and agree as a profession we fail more often than we admit to practice evidence based medicine and to provide compassionate care to our patients and our colleagues. But this is just a totally negative screed not an objective article.
This is just my experience and the experiences of a group of physicians who contributed to the article. Worth further analysis and a broader investigation as we know the level of empathy plummets as cynicism rises as first-year medical student. I run a suicide helpline for doctors so I hear the worst of the worst scenarios.
People lie…they lie all the time for the very same reasons as doctors do. It is part and parcel of being human. This is how we keep the wheels of civility greased and running. We can only take so much stress in our lives before civility breaks down, and lies help to reduce that stress. I personally am rather scrappy, so I don’t necessarily feel compelled to lie as much. I am willing to tolerate unrest to reach a truth. Reason being, you can’t fix a problem until you peel away the lies being used to hide it.
Agree. First step to handling a problem is correctly identifying it by telling the truth.
Often doctors law because I have a clue as to what is really going on. I watched doctors try to read EKG strips upside down. On my sweet wife’s death certificate is listed COPD from heavy smoking. My sweet wife never had a cigarette in her whole life. She died from cerebral hematoma which I told the doctor in ER. However he did not have a clue as there was able hematoma was. My sweet wife was in the MI cu and the doctor came in saying that she had an episode of pt. I asked to look at the strip and told him it was electronic interference. I have had doctors blame the EKG monitor when the patient was dead. The list goes on and on. Unfortunately, too many people believe that doctors are gods and that they have all the answers one in five too many have few answers. Some doctors are so dumb they don’t know which end of the stethoscope goes in their ears.
Wowe,,,this is the 1st site i have ever seen document truth,,Wow,,,good for u..They also lie to their patients ALLLLL THE TIME,,,I HAVE FOUND IT MORE PREVELANT WHERE STATES RELY ON ,”MEDICAL SCHOOL,” TUITION,,,,Also,,if they made a mistake that has harmed the patient,,or the patient beg for treatment,was denied,then that patient winds up sicker or worse,, dead,,,they will cover-up their error for sure,,,,jmo,,,paita
I;m glad you found me. I’m a truth teller and some of what I share can be so very sad to face. I share so that we may all heal.
Something I wish I knew is that doctors are not the angels in white coats which we have been conditioned to believe. They are not the moral heroes that every news channel made them out to be during the pandemic. Doctors often aren’t even “good” people at all.
I read a psychology paper discussing the professions most likely to attract psychopaths, sociopaths, and narcissists – and to no surprise, doctors (along with CEOs, sales people, and lawyers) were high on the list.
What this means is that many doctors are truly not good people. While there are a few empathy and soft, kind souls in the profession, these people are generally drowned out by the greedy narcissists who do not care about their patients and only want money.
My experience with physicians as someone with a disability who was harmed by the medical system has allowed me to see the true side and nature of most physicians. Some of them are truly the worst kinds of humans – people who don’t deserve to be saved from their own misery. The kinds of people who wouldn’t bat an eyelash about harming children and lying to their parents just to get another fancy car or armani suit. People who have no value for human life and will put money over their patients without losing a minute of sleep over it.
Maybe it’s the more sensitive doctors who can’t handle the greed and dishonesty of the system. Maybe the kind ones are more likely to take their own lives because they can’t keep bearing witness to the deception and destruction their profession creates for profit.
The more sensitive doctors are often unable to tolerate the abuse and may quit or die by suicide. I have met many many empathic doctors though sadlt over time many can become so injured by the traumatic system and the vicarious trauma of patients they can no longer practice in alignment with their highest values. Here is a film that demonstrates the real situation (at least watch the trailer): Do No Harm: Exposing The Hippocratic Hoax
Thank you. I once knew a doctor who was empathic and deeply disturbed by the system. He considered quitting the entire medical profession because he felt that the karma of being involved in this profession was too much to handle.
The system creates abuse from within and this culture of abuse is normalized and pushed onto patients. Many doctors have a paternalistic attitude where they think it’s ok to lie to you / fail to provide informed consent “for your own good”, because if they told you the truth, you wouldn’t consent to the treatment.
This (of course) is a form of human rights violation to patients’ rights to bodily autonomy, but they don’t see it as such – they simply see a difficult patient who is not complying with their treatment recommendations, and they will do anything to get these disobedient patients to “behave” properly – even if it means psychological manipulation, coercion, or deceit. The entire profession normalizes dishonesty as a means to an end, and patients are often treated like cattle which need to be poked, prodded, manipulated, and “herded” into the “right” direction – the direction which generates the most profit.
This was helpful, it actualized a situation that I encountered and walked me through the doctors thought process for the lie.
My doctors, psychiatrist, counselor and methadone clinic are all sharing information. I was threatened to be kicked out of methadone treatment if I didn’t sign the form. Well the counselor I’ve spoken to… twice? Just told me yesterday she thinks I have BPD and that she has a masters and 10 years experience (as a free counselor). I cried for many hours. The abilify causes side effects in me that mimic BPD AT TIMES. Like not being able to make friends, not understanding other peoples treatment of others, etc. I’ve always been an HSP, a very sensitive person. But I don’t change who I am. Now everyone will think I have BPD when they had just assessed me with PTSD. Which I’ve had my entire life. So I thought I was fine then I’m told I’m certifiably crazy.
Doctors are more concerned with their own economic stability & what is required to maintain their status than in practicing medicine. Employ ‘capable coders’ & cash those insurence checks.
Quite a generalization. I know so many doctors in the field that are selfless humanitarians. They give their hearts & souls daily and some make less than minimum wage when you calculate how many hours they work per week. I’m sorry you feel so jade about doctors. I can promise you there are good ones out there 💕
Loved this article. Doctors also lie about referrals to another specialty department by falsely stating the patient “demanded” the consultation, to avoid backlash from their colleagues for sending them “stupid” or “unnecessary” referrals . They do the same when in comes to prescribing specious treatments because the patient “demanded” it, when all the patient did was inquire about it. Doctors misstate a patient’s demeanor with hyperbole such as. “She was very very upset”, because the doctor is upset about the patient questioning their diagnoses and treatment
Allo my mom did a brain tumor surgery and the doctors said she bleeded 2 litres of blood during surgery later in ICU she was in coma for 1 month I asked the doctor then why she bleeded the reason he said the tumor had roots and pulling the tumor the roots followed and caused the bleeding also when I asked did you not see the roots before pulling he said they were too small to see and later i found out the tumor does not even produce roots in the first place
I love this article because it tells the truth. I have been in an ongoing nightmare created by a broken New Jersey health care system that is based on lies. My mother’s emergency was intentionally ignored. The first hospital set the stage for a true life horror story. Sepsis, a severe infection and abnormal test results were never disclosed. The NJHIN was a way to keep her “never event” universal. A myriad of doctors and specialists were all on the same deadly page of deceit. I suspect elderly patients are dying from this deceptive plan of care. They are getting away with murdering patients. The victim’s family will never know what really happened to their loved one. The death certificate is filled by the murdering doctor who is not questioned about any of it. The death doesn’t appear to be suspicious and the family trusts the doctor do no harm only care.
My mother exposed their sinister scheme by not allowing anyone to choose her fate. It took a long time for me to uncover. I would have never known what happened to her had she died. She lived to have robotic surgery to remove one kidney. After the surgery the surgeon disclosed that the infection had attached to other organs and body parts including her back and aorta. Sepsis was never disclosed. The surgeon told my family her kidney was so diseased that maybe since he removed it her mental state would improve. The lies continued in aftercare. It is the saddest thing for me to see. I live in another State and was being lied to by my family about my mom’s mental state. I’m at war with my family and New Jersey hospitals. It’s a very public one because it seemed as if she had a hit on her. She did! I have a duty to warn others and that’s what I am doing. My countless attempts to rescue my mom have all failed but I will never give up. She has a blind trust in her doctors and family. I knew this was no easy task. My family is blocking me from helping her. I think when they realized that they were being tricked they made a deal with the devil to save their reputations. They aren’t going to ever tell my mother the truth. I’m closing in on all of them. Did I mention that they changed her diagnosis to a ruptured kidney. Her delirium was also changed but I am not sure what to. I suspect a mental illness and they prescribed antipsychotics making her delirium worse. What a nitemare this has been. There is a connection to the Cullen murders. The Procecutor did not want detectives to investigate the hospitals involved. A slap on the wrist was all they got and that is what gave them the license to kill.
I have spent the past two years trying to make sense of my mother’s bizarre health crisis. I never thought I would. I would be the last person to ask a medical question to. My mother needed help. I thought her doctors were just incompetent. Articles on sepsis and other serious illnesses usually said “commonly missed in elderly patients”.
I just couldn’t believe an infection as severe as they get would go undetected. And why is sepsis in ICU commonly missed in elderly patients when 80% of elderly patients get sepsis in ICU?
I was baffled. I needed help with this. Hello Quora medical experts!
My questions weren’t believable. I was asking about my mother’s care and most doctors told me that was not possible. It could never happen in a hospital. I was accused of just wanting attention. At one point I changed my identity. I needed answers and the doctors were getting hostile. I was able to have a pretty accurate account of what happened at the second she was admitted to. I did have a timeline of with testing and all that. I have yet to find the cause. I got side tracked when I determined that my mother’s care team was attempting to murder her and when they did not succeed their lies became more outrageous.
I would have never thought to put a sinister element in the mix. UK whistleblowers on Twitter pointed me to that direction. I haven’t slept since. What they did to my mother haunts me every second of the day and night. I had a terrifying stress-induced cardiomyopathy episode followed by open heart surgery during the days of my life.
It is extremely upsetting and I don’t quite know why they think they can play God with other people’s lives. To prey on the most vulnerable patients in our society is one of the worst crimes one could commit. The ones that are trusted to care and protect are doing just the opposite. They are not above the law and they are not invincible. They have done irreparable damage to my family and show no remorse, empathy or compassion. Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington NJ and RWJUH Somerset in Somerville NJ are not safe hospitals for the elderly. They lie to Leapfrog to get a higher grade. Never events are never reported just like abnormal test results. They live a lie and patients die. They need to be watched. They are not trustworthy and the elderly trust them. In their day doctors didn’t kill patients for money.
Thank you a million times over for telling the truth. They must be stopped. It’s pure evil.
“estimated average & automatic process” sounds like answers from a video
game..WHAT??They are answers from an EHR from Epic System Corp. owned by Judith R. Faulkner. Not only do they do medical EHR’s BUT they ALSO do video games. Ask diabetic & primary drs. why the final “your value” 3 month A1c are so high..Their answer: “you don’t need to know” & “don’t ask questions”If you call Epic they say call again TO BE GASLIGHTED.
Ms Faulkner should be in jail with Elizabeth Homes’s EHR “THERANOS”
doctors lying…was once called”
UPCODING…UPGRADING…DOCTORING…FALSIFYING
Diabetes was ONCE and STILL IS called:
the “cash cow” of the medicine field.
I had a reconstructive plastic surgeon Lie to me . He didn’t not disclose that I had an SSI infection Staph!! After 2 cm scar revision that went horribly wrong. I was naïve. Said it was very unusual he didn’t know what it was and we should remove it. After he removed my whole inner jowl !! I had no idea I was going into debridement surgery. Final consultation was abusive and insulting. He was writing all over the paperwork secondary cancer removal he was running with the fact that I had cancer prior. My first pathology report from the scar removal was just a dermal scar removal. There was no biopsy taken from the complications ahead of time that was my biggest mistake. In the paperwork that I received the biopsy was dated and sent in after removal of my tissue no Cancer he said we had a long conversation about my Cancer returning ? Worst experience of my life . Yes doctors do lie ruined my trust in all good doctors out there I have seen many plastic surgeon sense looks like I had deep complicated SSI staph infection with multiple abscesses shooting out from the incision. I don’t know why he lied deflecting all the blame on me saying the redness was from abuse from rubbing. It’s called cellulitis in hindsight! the lies were so insulting who pays for an SSI infection anyway is that why he lied I don’t know.I even wrote on the paperwork that my scar was 10 years old with no complications . He submitted to the Insurance company that I was having problems with it but I wasn’t !! This was a cosmetic procedure . I guess my question is I’m very confused Why he simply just don’t tell me I had a staph infection? I’m assuming it was about the money who pays for the hospital acquired infection ? Or his ego or both I will never know
My cousin and I had a physical the Same month same year June 2022 and we were both 65 he’s male and I am female we live in different cities and had not seen or talked for a couple of years until a couple months ago at a funeral when we started talking. He said they told him he had diabetes I said me too. He said after 3 weeks of intense treatment they said he did not have diabetes . Then called him at home and said get to hospital now with no reason.The same practice doctor also called and said I had cancer blood cancer and wanted to do tons of tests my insurance called me and said these tests are not necessary as they said my blood platelets are high and can be controlled with medication my family doctor agreed and was appalled at what the Oncologist told me . My cousin went to hospital and was told he had lukemia and had to stay in hospital for 45 days in a room that looked like an apartment they did 5 days 24 hours a day of chemotherapy and was told just wear your regular clothes and walk around basically do what u want in the middle of the night they did numerous testing heart cardiagrams blood test etc the second week after all that chemo they said that chemo did not work he was not sick at all during chemo but lost his hair so they did some more chemotherapy sporadically still in hospital. They came in and said your insurance is covering everything and your luekemia is gone you can go home but we will send u to another one of our specialist 75 miles away to make sure
bone marrow test blood tests at different doctor said he was healed after 45 days and just get blood tests for next 5 years every other month. Alternating between the 2 places. What do you think? Was this fake diagnosis? I am on Hydroxyurea 500mg daily and still have blood tested every 6 weeks. I no longer see my first oncology doctor and see someone else at same office everything is normal but still have to go get blood checked every 6 weeks. My cousin is in counseling because of all what has happened. He said he is afraid to answer any phone calls from doctor as to what next they will say.
Please respond as our families are just as confused as we are.
I’ve been investigating a psychiatrist that I used to see a long time ago, because of the damage I believe she inflicted upon me through polypharmacy and perhaps even overdosing me with sertraline and ambien cr. Over the past several years she has turned to prescribing and treating patients almost exclusively with ketamine infusions. Her educational and training background is superb, even named resident of the year at Mass General in 1992 by NIH. She claims to have lectured both at Harvard and Yale and has published articles in journals on the research and clinical studies she and others have conducted with regards to ketamine treatments in a clinical setting. She runs a solo practice in a small town in Connecticut and may only have one association with a small hospital. But she lied in the patient notes in my medical chart in a number of ways, deleted many negative reviews by patients on various websites, has created her own patient and employee reviews, has even gone as far as destroying her own husband’s reputation in front of a crowd of people at a party (I was there). Her website is truly amazing proclaiming to all the world that she is considered the “docs’ doc”. The question is, will she ever be brought to justice for the crimes she has undoubtedly committed since she finished her residency? Since I also knew her personally, I would hazard the opinion (no, I am not a physician) that she may be a high functioning sociopath, which would make her very difficult to corner and quite dangerous to anyone who might attempt to stop her.
because its the truth fool – I just went through this – they lie – make up stuff – answer questions with answers for things that were not asked / don’t communicate – don’t set expectations accordingly and then there is no accountability – trying to retrieve accurate medical records is an uphill climb / I can go on and on but all you hospital workers know this is the truth been living it for a month now and no one is getting healthier and no one cares which is why its called healthcare because its not that / just like Progressive insurance they aren’t Progressive / the hammer is coming
My Mom has Alzheimer’s and I am her only child. I am retired from nursing, 17 years open heart/critical care, I know what to expect. However I was diagnosed with ischemic cardiomyopathy class 3 right and left heart failure with an ejection fraction of 25% cad had two stents left main of course and left proximal severe hypertension hyperlipidemia and mitral valve insufficiency. My heart issues are very much stress related. My Moms doctor of 60 plus years retired a month before I had her get checked for Alzheimer’s and she can’t keep a doctor more than five minutes. Unfortunately I have caught her neurologist and her new primary care doctor lie in their visit summary’s I have proof they lied. I requested a referral for a new neurologist telling her primary care doctor that the neurologist caused my blood pressure to be not compatible with life. I wasn’t kidding and it’s not funny. I’m trying to write a letter to complain but I get chest pain have to take nitroglycerin and my blood pressure is not compatible with life. To say I’m a bit overwhelmed is an understatement and these 2 doctors are adding to my stress!! Also of course because of the lies no other neurologist will agree to treat my Mom!! It’s absolutely disgusting!! Thanks for letting me vent!! Patty Kiklica
Oops I left out the fact that the primary care doctor was mocking me and made a smartass comment about my blood pressure being high. Like I said I don’t think my heart disease is funny.
For profit Healthcare in the United States is a disastrous failure. The most expensive medical system in the World and Americans are dying younger and younger.
Doctors have lied to me and about me so much I’m terrified to see any doctor now about the pain I’m in. Suicide is the better option and I’m planning on it by the end of this year. I hope no one else ends up like me but really the system is screwed up.
My primary care doctor write in my patient portal that: “the myelomalacia on MRI was “nothing,” and refused to give me a referral to the neurosurgeon who repaired a 4 level ACDF 10 years prior on the levels above the myelomalacia.
He wouldn’t give me an appointment either.
He said “people think you lie,” meaning me.
How can I lie on an mri?
The neurosurgeon got me into surgery asap as I was losing use of both arms and cognition was getting weird.
He put it in writing and I printed out his admission of ignorance.
He acts like he did nothing wrong.
Why would he be such a dismissive jerk?
I have been bounced around between ER doctors and clinic doctors telling me to go to ER doctors and for 15 years I have not yet received a diagnose and my issue is so bad now and nobody will help except give me a cocktails of antibiotics every single kind under the sun making me now immune to all of them I feel it is unjust.
Do you have a thoughtful independent primary care doc who can spend at least 60-min visits with you? You need someone who is willing to research your condition. Where do you live? I may know someone. Other option (that has actually worked for some patients) is to feed all your symptoms into ChatGOT and get some AI help. Example: A four-year-old boy began developing concerning symptoms, including pain and stunted growth. After 17 doctors appointments over three years, his mother took to ChatGPT to find an explanation. ChatGPT suggested tethered cord syndrome, which a doctor later confirmed, according to TODAY.com (you can Google this for more info)
Covid was the rapture covered up
Doctors are first chosen for their ability to influence and secondarily for their scientific intelligence.
The pharma model funded most ever medical school in the U.S. They designed the curriculum which is heavily skewed towards financial gain by funding the development of many med schools. Even the language of medicine based on latin gives a nod to universal terms (as explained in 9th grade biology class), but in reality it functions to confused and scare patients into compliance.
Covid treatments were the most egregious exposee of these terribly bad practices. Unneeded ventilation can and did kill those who don’t need them, yet the greed physicians and their admins were paid mid 5 figure to 6figure sums (depending on the state CA, AZ, as examples) for putting Covid on the diagnosis and ventilating.
Needless to say the PCR test was never designed to test for a disease, just a chain of proteins, which gives a statistically significant results of false positives.
The whole thing is a sham. Save for Emergency medicine and reconstructive orthopedics, and even the former in now compromised because of the Covid cash grab, allopathic medicine is a sham, a scam, and those smug doctors walking around in their stupid scrubs at the gym. Don’t you just want to kick their smug butts for all of their lying, pandering, obfuscating the truth and facts, and , essentially, killing people for money.
Truly sick
Dr. Wible, perhaps at some point you would consider writing about doctors’ “interesting” relationship with Medicare. Not the usual Medicare fraud we see daily in mainstream media. I refer to one or more of these. Doctors signing up as providers with Medicare Advantage or supplemental plans but then accept only one patient – or none – and that one patient is shuffled months away for first visit. How Advantage and supplemental plans receive a “head payment” per patient enrollee, but doctors and those insurance plans collude in denial of case. How doctors will do an initial evaluation of a patient but in anticipation of poor payout for treatment will lie about the patient’s condition (especially true of specialists treating referred Medicare patients). There are so many manipulations of medicine for profit it’s hard to figure where ethics end and corruption begins. Thank you. I found this site reading about doctors who lie, and why.