Medical gaslighting is one term for a situation where a doctor, nurse or other health care professional dismisses or downplays a person’s symptoms in a way that can make them doubt their own symptoms or experiences. There is no official term for this type of situation, and while medical gaslighting is the most common, others include "medical invalidation" and "diagnostic overshadowing". Medical gaslighting can involve attributing physical conditions to psychological factors without proper investigation, failing to investigate the patient's symptoms or disbelieving their reports in a way that makes the patient feel unheard or unimportant.

Understandably, this dynamic can erode the trust between a patient and their doctor, and runs the risk of significant harm. In the most serious situations where medical gaslighting happens, it can lead to serious conditions being missed or incorrectly diagnosed, which can be the basis for a medical negligence case. This phenomenon can have a profound impact on a patient’s physical and psychological health, and prevent them from receiving the correct diagnosis and treatment.

If a patient experiences harm as a result, they may be entitled to compensation. This can cover the physical and psychological injuries sustained, along with any financial losses related to your experience. This includes the costs of support needed recover your health and quality of life after a medical condition was missed, such as therapy or treatment, medical equipment and care.
While medical professionals should provide clear information about your condition, treatment and their advice, poor communication alone is not grounds for a legal claim. You need to prove that the care you received fell below a reasonable standard and that this has caused an injury. Understanding this distinction is vital for anyone who feels their health has been compromised because their concerns were not taken seriously. The expert medical negligence solicitors at JMW have a wealth of experience in representing patients who have been failed in this way by the healthcare system. Here, we can discuss the treatment you received and whether the failure of a doctor or nurse to listen to your concerns can become the basis of a medical negligence claim.

What Are the Signs of Medical Gaslighting?

The core of medical gaslighting is the dismissal of a patient's lived experience, and recognising the signs of this can be the first step towards advocating for yourself, making sure your health is taken seriously and evaluating whether you may be entitled to compensation.

The signs can be subtle or overt, but they all contribute to a feeling of being unheard and disbelieved. If you are experiencing medical gaslighting, you might notice your doctor or another healthcare professional engaging in the following behaviours:

• Downplaying your symptoms or suggesting that you are overreacting without a thorough examination. This might include interrupting you frequently and not allowing you to fully explain your symptoms, or drawing quick conclusions about your condition without referring you for tests.
• Blaming persistent physical symptoms on psychological factors like stress or anxiety without investigating possible physical causes that may also be relevant, but haven’t been fully investigated
• Refusing to order medical tests or refer you to a specialist without providing a clear medical reason.
• Failing to prescribe pain medication or any other treatments based on your description of your symptoms.
• Making assumptions about your health based on your age, gender, race, weight or mental health history.
• Questioning your memory or perception of your own symptoms.

If you leave an appointment feeling confused, frustrated and doubting your own instincts about your body, you may be experiencing medical gaslighting. However, while these behaviours are unfortunately common to a lot of patients - especially women, people of colour and those with chronic or invisible illnesses - they do not necessarily amount to medical negligence on their own.

When Does Medical Gaslighting Become Medical Negligence?

Medical gaslighting could be a basis for a medical negligence case when the dismissive behaviour of a doctor, nurse or other professional causes an injury to a patient, leads to their condition worsening or results in a delayed or incorrect diagnosis that causes preventable harm.

To make a successful medical negligence claim in the UK, we must prove three key elements:

1. A duty of care existed. We must establish that you were owed a duty of care, which is almost always present in a doctor-patient relationship.
2. The duty of care was breached. We must show that the care you received fell below the standard expected of a reasonably competent professional in that field of medicine. Medical gaslighting can be an indicator of a breach of duty if the medical professional has failed to consider all symptoms and aspects of your presentation and dismissed these. For example, a reasonably competent GP would not dismiss concerns about a lump that a patient has found without considering referral via a cancer pathway. Failing to investigate symptoms properly to provide an accurate diagnosis is a breach in the duty of care owed to you.
3. The breach directly caused or materially contributed to an injury or other harm (causation). There needs to be a clear link between the doctor’s failure to act and the injury you sustained or the worsening of your condition. For instance, if symptoms of bowel cancer were dismissed as irritable bowel syndrome and there was a missed opportunity to diagnose the condition that resulted in the disease progressing to a more advanced stage, causation can be established.

Essentially, when the act of dismissing, ignoring or downplaying your symptoms results in a worse health outcome that could have been avoided or materially improved with proper medical care, and this leads to harm, it can be classed as potential medical negligence. This can entitle you to claim compensation for your losses.

In the most serious cases - for example, where patients are dismissed by an accident and emergency department, or where a late diagnosis minimises the number of treatment options available - patients can sadly die as a result of an element of medical gaslighting. In these circumstances, a family member may be entitled to claim on behalf of someone who has died due to fatal medical negligence, and seek compensation for their lost loved one.