Dismissing Patient Concerns: A Big Safety Issue in Healthcare

Published June 2, 2025

Many doctors and other healthcare providers are so busy that they struggle to listen carefully to patients, family, or caregiver concerns. This can lead to missed or delayed diagnoses.

A survey by HealthCentral found that over 94% of patients said their symptoms were ignored or dismissed by a doctor. This is referred to as "medical gaslighting," which happens when a doctor doesn't take a patient’s concerns seriously without proper evaluation. Unlike the usual meaning of gaslighting, this isn’t done on purpose—doctors often don’t realize they are doing it.

There are many reasons for medical gaslighting to occur. Doctors may feel rushed because of all the things they have to do. They have scheduled time to see patients, do hospital rounds, review lab tests and other test results, and document or dictate their notes on the patients’ medical record, and more. This can harm patients by delaying their treatment, causing prolonged suffering and emotional distress, or losing their trust in healthcare providers.

Examples of medical gaslighting include the following:

• Ignoring or refusing to discuss symptoms or medicine concerns
• Minimizing the severity of symptoms, especially pain
• Interrupting patients
• Blaming symptoms on mental illness, weight, age, or other factors
• Refusing to order follow-up tests
• Blaming the patient or speaking down to them

This can harm patients by delaying their treatment, causing suffering and emotional distress.

Certain groups, like women, people of color, overweight patients, older patients, patients with a disability, and LGBTQ+ patients, are more likely to have their concerns dismissed.

For example, Black patients, especially women, are less likely to have their pain taken seriously, leading to inadequate pain control and delays in treatment. Female patients are more likely to have their symptoms blamed on mental health, weight, or lack of self-care. One study found that women were twice as likely as men to be misdiagnosed with a mental illness when they had heart disease.

Medical gaslighting can make patients lose trust in their doctors and the healthcare system, making them less likely to seek care in the future. Over 40% of women in one study avoided medical care because of past experiences with medical gaslighting. This can lead to worse symptoms and missed opportunities to prevent illnesses.

Here's what you can do: To address this issue, healthcare leaders and professionals can:

• Make patient trust a priority
• Talk openly with staff about how medical gaslighting and biases can affect patients
• Avoid using phrases that undermine patients' ability to speak freely
• Ensure clinicians have enough time to address all patient concerns
• Promote diversity and inclusion in the workforce

Patients and families can:

• Use tools to clearly tell their health stories
• Ask open-ended questions and avoid leading questions
• Make sure all their concerns are addressed
• Know their rights and seek a second opinion if needed

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