“Medical Gaslighting” — Woman Claims Doctor Wouldn’t Treat Broken Arm Due to Her Crying

A woman accused a doctor of "medical gaslighting" after he refused to reset her broken arm because she was crying. Sarah (@sarahtheseven) posted a viral TikTok detailing her experience. In it, she claims the doctor delayed her treatment, then tried coercing her into getting a surgical procedure she didn't want.

Sarah's video begins with her speaking directly into the camera. Affixed to one of her shoulders is a hard plastic sling, and she goes on to explain not only why she's wearing it but also her unfortunate experience with the healthcare professionals tasked with treating her injury.

"Medical gaslighting is when you break your arm in half." At this point in the clip, a superimposed image of an X-ray scan showing a broken bone pops up in her video. "And you go to the ER to get it set, and they call an orthopedic surgeon named Ricky."

According to the TikToker, Ricky was instantly dismissive of her condition. This lack of urgency on his part, Sarah says, appears to have been influenced by his unwillingness to compromise the total chill-ness he was hoping to fully enjoy during his holiday weekend.

"And Ricky says you know what, let's have her wait it's a holiday weekend. We'll have her wait three or four days. She's fine. And they said are you sure? That's a long time? He said yeah it's fine," Sarah relates.

However, as it turns out, she wasn't fine like Ricky said, and he later contradicted himself.

"You go in four days later with your arm in pieces. And he says whoever approved of this that's malpractice I'll tell you that."

Sarah says that despite being aware of the fact that Ricky was the one who made her wait so long to treat her broken arm, she didn't bring it up to him. "You know it's him but you're like OK, I'd love to get it reset. And you start crying because it's really painful."

Furthermore, she said that his claim about the lack of care she first received also made her feel even worse about her condition. "And also because the malpractice thing was triggering and weird."

Next, after she started crying, the doctor then told her that the pain she was feeling meant she wasn't an ideal patient. Consequently, he further delayed her treatment and told her to go under the knife instead.

"He says the fact you're crying before I reset your arm shows me that you're not the right person to get this reset here, so we're just gonna schedule you for surgery."

This prompted Sarah to hold back her tears and immediately apologize in the hopes of getting her arm reset right then and there.

Additionally, she cited examples of her fortitude as part of her plea to the doctor to reset her arm. "So I was like hey you know what? I've got my head entirely on me. I'm sorry for tearing up. I can totally handle getting my arm reset. I'm very strong. I've given birth unmedicated, I can totally handle this."

But according to the doctor, giving birth to a child isn't really all that agonizing. Subsequently, he doubles down and states that he isn't going to reset her arm. "He goes on to say birth's not painful, birth is natural. This is a little painful and you crying before it event starts, I can't work with you."

Following this, he sent Sarah off with a new appointment time. "So here's your appointment. We don't need a prep appointment cause you could have asked questions right now. So we'll just see you there."

However, she pushed back against the rescheduling and insisted that she didn't want to be cut open to have her arm reset.

"I said I don't want surgery. How many people would need surgery with this break? And he said one percent of people need surgery, and you're that one, cause you already cried."

Adding insult to injury, the doctor informed her that it would've been much easier if she had just gotten her arm reset during her first visit.

"He said it's too bad you didn't just get your arm reset at the ER, all this could've been avoided. But here we are."

Refusing the doctor's advice, Sarah drove to the emergency room and went through the whole process again. Upon having her arm x-rayed, she was finally able to get her arm reset. "So I get in the car and I drive to the ER and I get X-rays and get my arm reset."

Afterward, the emergency room workers recommended that she see a doctor for further care. And as it happens, it was the same doctor who scheduled her for surgery previously.

Sarah said that Ricky, out of spite, refused to see her because she opted not to undergo a costly procedure.

"And they refer me to the same doctor and he won't see me cause I didn't get his fancy expensive surgery. That's medical gaslighting and I think it's misogyny. And I think it might also might be malpractice. America, baby."

Throngs of folks who saw Sarah's video urged her to gather all of her medical records and correspondence with the doctor to use against him in a lawsuit.