Patients reveal the most messed up things doctors have told them

There are no shortage of health horror stories - from doctors removing the wrong limb to prescribing a potentially deadly medication.

While medical errors harm 1.2million Americans and result in the death of 250,000 patients per year, millions more endure bad medical advice and awkward doctor encounters.

Reddit user u/FragmentedTungsten asked the community for the 'most out of pocket thing your doctor has said to you.'

And Redditors did not hold back. 

Nearly 6,000 people responded, describing how they had been on the receiving end of expletive-filled exams, inappropriate sexual innuendos, rude and offensive questions and instances of doctors delivering devastating news insensitively. 

Redditors detailed instances of doctors ignoring symptoms and incorrectly diagnosing  them (stock image)

One user said she began seeing a new doctor when she was suffering from pneumonia. During her exam, the doctor asked if she was on birth control, when she replied 'no' because she and her husband were planning on having a baby, the doctor responded: 'You should be on birth control. No one has babies on purpose.'

When the patient responded she had already planned two previous pregnancies, the physician responded: 'Oh, you have two? So no time for intimacy. You could just read a book and let your husband go at it for 10 minutes.'

Another user was told by their doctor that he likely wouldn't be able to operate before the patient's appendix burst - a potentially deadly complication. The man asked: 'When your appendix ruptures, don't you die?'

To which the doctor responded: 'Oh, that is a very good possibility.'

User u/straight_blanchin described when her boyfriend accompanied her to a doctor's consultation about having her breasts reduced. 

The doctor ignored the patient and asked the boyfriend if he 'was okay with me getting a reduction.' The doctor then denied her the surgery because they said she 'might regret it' given most people prefer the look of large breasts.

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Another Redditor described a time she visited a gynecologist at 13 years old and told the doctor she was not sexually active. 

The physician's response was: 'I don't believe you.'

When the patient's mom began arguing with the doctor, she responded: 'Your daughter is a pretty girl. I doubt you know what she gets up to.'

The doctor then proceeded to tell the girl and her mother she had herpes, despite not running any tests.

User u/SkrodLaDa posted: 'Fingers deep in me during a routine checkup, [doctor] says "Yep! It's a girl," referring to me.'

Another described a time when their doctor left the room to 'go YouTube it' in the middle of applying a cast to the patient's arm.

User u/cafeconpanna wrote: 'When I was 14 I had a yeast infection. An old man doctor told me to stop putting things like hair brushes inside me.'

However, there were some users who said they appreciated their doctor's blunt and straightforward manners. 

User u/Old-Chapter-7431 said he appreciated that when he told his dentist he had neglected his teeth the doctor responded: 'Well I guess you f***** up, didn't you?' 

The poster added: 'I just laughed because he wasn’t wrong and I can appreciate the bluntness.'  

Another wrote that he had cursed while his doctor was examining him and the doctor asked: 'Wait, I don’t have to watch my language with you?'

When the patient said no, the doctor 'visibly relaxed and loudly proclaimed, “THANK F****** GOD” and started discussing my health frankly, but with enough swears to make a sailor blush. 

'My favorite [doctor] ever, made sure I saw him yearly until he left the practice.'