The hashtag #DoctorsAreDickheads is trending on Twitter, after a YouTube presenter made the remark in a video.

Stevie Boebi shared the story of her diagnosis with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a tissue disorder, which causes pain in the joints and muscles, as well as sensitive skin which can take a long time to heal.

After suffering for eight years, and in her words, being “gaslit by doctors and nurses”, Boebi was diagnosed. She ended the 11 minute video with the words: “Doctors are dickheads”.

The phrase was then adopted by many women who have struggled with chronic pain conditions historically dismissed by the medical profession, like fibromyalgia, PCOS, and endometriosis.

One user wrote: “I discovered that I most likely have PCOS. My doctor basically said ‘you don’t want to get pregnant so it doesn’t matter if we diagnose you or not’. NOT LIKE PCOS can cause diabetes, depression and anxiety, and endometrial cancer or anything :)

#

DoctorsAreDickheads”.

I discovered that I most likely have PCOS. My doctor basically said “you don’t want to get pregnant so it doesn’t matter if we diagnose you or not”. NOT LIKE PCOS can cause diabetes, depression and anxiety, and endometrial cancer or anything :) #DoctorsAreDickheads

— jay :) (@kadena_dee) October 24, 2018

Other tweets included:

My mom tore when she gave birth to my sister. When the doctor sewed her back up, he sewed her up “tighter” for my dad, without asking her OR my dad. It caused her a lot of pain when it was ripped back to the original size. The husband stitch isn’t a myth. #DoctorsAreDickheads 3

— Artic (@ArticDragoness) October 24, 2018

My doctor put me on anxiety meds when they couldn’t find anything physically wrong to explain symptoms I was having. Of course if you’re a woman it’s all in your head. Instead of doing her job she medicated me into a depression. I still have no answers. #DoctorsAreDickheads

— Faith (@FaithBek) October 23, 2018

A troubling portion of these #DoctorsAreDickheads tweets are people with dysautonomia, POTS, fibromyalgia, ME, EDS, and rare disease. There are patterns people. Maybe we’re not teaching the right things in med school, no? Perhaps we need a redux.

— Lindsey (@VMLDSMom) October 26, 2018

When I was in foster care at age 15 my foster mom wouldn’t let the girls go to anything with boys(sports, dances, study groups) unless they were on birth control.

I was a virgin and the doc told me ‘if you want birth control you’ll have to stop lying to me’ #DoctorsAreDickheads

— Stevie ???? (@stevieboebi) October 23, 2018

Went to the Dr at age 14 for chronic disabling fatigue and pain. He said I was probably just in love. Was so mortified I stagnated in my room, pushed myself and denied my own reality and did damage to my body in the process. 11 years later was dx with EDS. #DoctorsAreDickheads

— Emily (@revolverbunny) October 24, 2018

Over my 13 years of illness, doctors have: -Neglected me -Degraded me -Caused me unnecessary physical pain on purpose -Sexually harassed me -Lied to me -Withheld treatment from me -Literally ruined my life

But yeah. #PatientsAreDickheads, I guess. #DoctorsAreDickheads

— #TransRightsAreHumanRights #WontBeErased (@ShutUpDanni) October 27, 2018

When I was having severe shortness of breath/syncope due to (not yet diagnosed) dysautonomia, the ER doctor would always tell me I was just panicking and that I seemed “anxious” when I came in. Like fuck yeah I was anxious I couldn’t BREATHE. #DoctorsAreDickheads

— june (@JCommunisto) October 24, 2018

Patient harm is far more common than most people realise. Those who complain are gaslighted and silenced by various means. Now a hashtag called #DoctorsareDickheads is trending and doctors are flooding it with complaints about ‘rudeness,’ and their hurt feelings. Oh the irony.

— Kate Orson (@kateorson) October 26, 2018

The grievances shared by patients failed by the medical system are insightful and valid.

We know that there is a lack of research behind ‘women’s issues’ like endometriosis, which can be crippling for the person suffering.

Some doctors have perpetuated myths about pregnancy being a cure, which not only fails to address the problem, but can cause more harm to the patient.

But two things can be true at the same time.

There are, of course, doctors who make the wrong calls. Doctors who dismiss women’s health issues. Doctors who misdiagnose and prescribe the wrong medication and shame patients who are at their most vulnerable.

But there are also doctors who call patients on their days off. Who comfort the person who has just received a life-threatening diagnosis. Who go above and beyond what is expected of them – because they are there, first and foremost, to do good.

It’s interesting that this hashtag has emerged in the same week that three Jewish doctors tended to Robert Bowers, the man who yelled “I want to kill at the Jews” as he attacked the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh.

Bowers murdered 11 worshippers.

But those doctors, who knew their patient had shot innocent people simply because they were Jewish, upheld their Hippocratic oath.

Despite the circumstances, they did their job.

Sure, some doctors are dickheads.

But most – we ought to remember – are not.

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