r/interesting • u/tyrion2024 • 11h ago

MISC. A Virginia man inadvertently left his phone recording while he was under anesthesia for a colonoscopy, which captured audio of the doctors: mocking him, instructing a medical assistant to lie to him, and discussing giving him a false diagnosis of hemorrhoids. In 2015, a jury awarded him $500,000.

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u/One-Earth9294 8h ago

Absolutely get your colonoscopy done. And absolutely sneak your phone in and record. Might save your life AND make you a half a million dollars.

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u/CAADrider 7h ago

Just stay awake. I've been awake for all my colonoscopies and I don't understand why people get sedated. It's nothing. You can't feel a thing. I always watch it on the monitor.

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u/martifero 7h ago

if the doctors know you are awake they won’t mock you so you don’t get the opportunity to make half a million dollars

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u/ducatista9 1h ago

I could feel stuff when they bumped around the turn in the upper left corner, but it just felt like a bit of cramping. Nothing terrible.

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u/yardlard 1h ago

I have never found a doctor that would do it awake. So I don't get it done. Apparently something weird happened during the one I did have in my life, and Idk what that was.

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u/FlashyAd6747 6h ago

Honestly I would rather not hear people talk like that about me lol. I’m also a lawyer so I know that the stress of the legal process generally probably made that $500k look a less awesome (and the legal fees make it look a lot smaller).

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u/bluechip1996 6h ago

I had to sue a man in Texas that rear ended my vehicle back in the 90's. The deposition was so brutal it definitely made me question my decision.

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u/masimbasqueeze 7h ago

Gastroenterologist here - please don’t “absolutely sneak your phone in and record”. Yes this is a terrible case but this is not the norm. Bette to find a good Gastro who is a kind person and you trust.

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u/One-Earth9294 7h ago

Honestly, don't care. It better not be the norm. But if it happens at all how the hell are people supposed to know? Abusing people under sedation might seem like a free pass to the people willing to do it. I'm more than happy to provide the specter of surveillance to make them think twice.

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u/masimbasqueeze 5h ago

I know, it is such a disgusting thing to even have to think about. I don’t think that advising everyone to surreptitiously record their doctor is the answer. Sometimes we talk and joke during the procedure (we do this all day every day) but nothing mean. Some patients wouldn’t even like that.. I wish I had a good solution, but I don’t think there’s a one size fits all solution.

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u/Ok-Shock8420 7h ago

I worked in healthcare. when the nurses and doctors saw patients they considered aberrant, odd, too fat, too something, they joked about it.

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u/Fast_Association_764 6h ago

Yep. People are still on the kindergarten playground talking trash behind your back at every level of life.

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u/MAGAHATESTHEUSA 7h ago

It’s not like you can hang out with doctors to gauge how much to trust.

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u/masimbasqueeze 5h ago

It’s true. It sucks there are some bad doctors out there. A good solution here - ask the doctor if you can record. I would always say yes. Doing it surreptitiously is a different story.

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u/salsafresca_1297 6h ago

If the gastro is trustworthy, why worry about being recorded?

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u/masimbasqueeze 6h ago

Because there has been a societal movement towards an ever increasingly adversarial relationship between doctors and patients. It hurts doctors and patients alike. (Defensive medicine if often not best practice). Now here’s a solution - if you ASKED me if you can record during our visit or procedure I would say yes! But doing it surreptitiously is a different story

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u/ZoominAlong 6h ago

This is fucking stupid. if it's happening at all, we as patients should know. 

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u/yerffejytnac 7h ago

Easier to sneak in a phone tbh, and after reading this article, I plan to do it for any procedure where I’m under the knife 🤷‍♀️

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u/masimbasqueeze 5h ago

There are multiple issues with doing this (ethical and practical), but I think the biggest one is that if/when the team finds out (we catch people doing this not infrequently) you have now created an adversarial relationship with the people that are ultimately trying to help you. (Obviously there are a few bad doctors/people out there but most are ultimately kind folks who want to help).

The adversarial relationship between doctor and patient is already a big problem in our society, especially with the proliferation of influencers, bad medical advice, etc.

Just something to think about.

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u/Hot-Bluebird3919 7h ago

Seems like a great idea, other than the false diagnosis. $500k for people talking behind my back. Thank you for the unprofessionalism.

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u/masimbasqueeze 5h ago

What? I don’t understand your comment. Can you elaborate? How was I being unprofessional?

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u/Hot-Bluebird3919 5h ago

No the people they made $500k from were unprofessional, but if you also don’t want to be recorded I wonder how professional your colonoscopies are?

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u/masimbasqueeze 5h ago

Oh yes of course they were and they deserve to pay. With regard to your attack on me, cmon man I don’t know you and you’ll never meet me. But what can tell you is that I try to be a good doctor and help my patients. Sometimes we talk and joke (we do this all day every day, got to try to enjoy work to some degree) but not in a mean way at all. I do high quality colonoscopy. And still, I wouldn’t want to be recorded surreptitiously. Would you? Nobody would. Why not ask if you can record?

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u/Hot-Bluebird3919 2h ago

I’m not attacking you and I hadn’t thought about it, perhaps I will have my next colonoscopy recorded, not sure I want to watch the video though, it’s a difficult angle to look good in when you’re awake.

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u/AcceptableProduce582 47m ago

Some of my family members are doctors and they have told me some pretty disgusting stuff that nurses and doctors have said about patients. When I went for hernia surgery, I had to stay at the facility a couple of days and since the nurses never realised I'd be awake in the middle of the night, I'd hear the horrendous things they said about patients.

Can't even tell you how many times my friend who's a surgical technologist, has told me that his boss has to tell the others in the middle of surgery to stop their comments because it goes well beyond humor and jokes.

Don't even get me started on everything I heard over the phone or saw in an email when I was working in medical manufacturing.

Ah yes and what I've shared here isn't in just one area except for when I was in surgery. My family members have worked in a few countries, my friend lives in a different country and my experience touches on locations in 2 different countries.

No, No! Absolutely sneak in your phone to record these so called medical professionals. There's a line between dark humor and just humiliating/degrading someone. Those people deserve to be exposed when they least expect it.