Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick

by Maya Dusenbery

There’s one final thing that is important to know about patients with “medically unexplained symptoms”: doctors do not like them. “Patients with persistent somatization are not only well-known to physicians but also singularly disliked by them. Their widespread unpopularity is reflected in the mostly derogatory labels they have acquired, such as ‘crocks,’ ‘gomers,’ ‘turkeys,’ ‘hypochondriacs,’ ‘hysterics,’ and ‘the worried well,’” Lipowski explained. “These labels express the frustration of doctors faced with patients who claim to be physically ill, clamor for medical diagnoses and treatment, tend to be dissatisfied with any therapy they get, and are inclined to ‘doctor shop.’” Women with “medically unexplained symptoms” also featured prominently in an influential article from the late eighties that coined the term “heartsink patients” to describe patients who “exasperate, defeat, and overwhelm their doctors by their behavior.”