Disclaimer: Gaslighting at South Tees is not an attack on individual clinicians or institutions. This post documents serious systemic failings and institutional harm. It is in the public interest; I am drawing attention to this neglect as part of my campaign to push for systemic change so that no one has to experience what I have.

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Summary

Gaslighting at South Tees was horrific and terrifying. I experienced medical gaslighting at James Cook Hospital by two powerful male clinicians, consecutively.

Both gaslighting instances left me questioning my judgement and my sanity. They left me in a state of acute distress and delayed me getting treatment for my facial pain condition. Additionally, they participated in the cycle of cover-ups, responsibility deflection, and institutional bullying that I have become entangled in for twelve years. This is what took place at South Tees:

Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

I saw an oral maxillofacial surgeon at James Cook Hospital, South Tees, in 2022. I took the radiology images from NHS Lothian with me to my appointment. As I mentioned in the previous post, I was unable to get answers to my questions regarding these scans because the ENT surgeon at NHS Lothian declined to provide me with a follow-up consultation. I still had questions about the visible asymmetry in my face.

He was shifty and defensive from the off. He didn’t like the case—I could tell—and I found his manner threatening from the minute I walked into the consultation room. I felt I was in the presence of an army officer, not a doctor. Even the accompanying nurse in the room looked frightened.

I showed the surgeon the CT radiology images on my iPad from NHS Lothian. I asked him if he would explain the visible asymmetry and the dense areas of white on the left side of my face, as I have been wondering if these are areas of calcified tissue. Below are some of my radiology images that I showed him.

The exchange that then took place was frightening. He told me that the asymmetry that I was seeing in the images was because ‘my face was lopsided in the scanner.’

Firstly, my face was in a cage during these scans. It was not lopsided. Secondly, these scans were done in 2022, two years previously, in Edinburgh. This surgeon is based in Middlesbrough, and he did not see me go into the scanner. So how could he know if my face was lopsided?

The Joker

My gaslighting nightmare at South Tees was diabolical. The clinician’s attempt to pull the wool over my eyes made him seem like a joker. I remember him as a joker because of that. A sinister clown.  It is well known to all patients and healthcare providers that a radiologist will not allow a patient to enter a scanning machine unless they are positioned in the centre.

This consultant insulted me and questioned my intelligence. He gaslighted me and attempted to silence me because he didn’t want to deal with my medical issue. He then rudely told me to “live with the pain” and “stop shopping around”. This abuse is more than just gaslighting. It’s institutional bullying.  “Shopping around” is not what I’ve been doing. I’ve been showing up at a lot of new clinics because NHS trusts keep closing my file.

Broken Promises

The surgeon told me that he would “get to the bottom of my problem”. In his clinic letter to my GP, he stated that he would “leave no stone unturned in finding a diagnosis”. He promised to look into my persistent head pain by performing an MRI of my brain and parotid gland. However, two weeks after seeing the surgeon, he wrote to me telling me that he had cancelled the scans and discharged me.

This incident hurt. He raised my hopes about someone who was willing to help, and then, like the others, he smashed those hopes. This surgeon left me with no alternative care or means of treatment when I was in pain.

Infectious Diseases

My experience with the infectious diseases consultant at James Cook Hospital, South Tees, was even worse. I saw him a few months later. I asked him to explain why these antibiotics that I have been taking for twelve years subdue my symptoms when I am on them, but when I come off them, my pain returns.

In his dismissive reply, he claimed that the antibiotics were a “placebo effect”. The placebo effect is when a patient’s physical or mental health improves after receiving a “fake” treatment, such as a sugar pill, simply because they believe it will work and expect to feel better. He was basically saying to me that my mind or brain is convincing my body that this fake treatment is the real thing.

This interaction was deeply insulting. Firstly, it was insulting to the doctors who have been prescribing these antibiotics, as it questions their judgement. It was also insulting to me. I am not imagining the therapeutic effects of these tablets. They are the only medication that quells my pain, and to reduce my reality to an imaginary effect was deeply offensive and degrading.

No Investigations

This consultant’s arrogance was vile. He made this grossly insulting comment, but he didn’t do any blood tests or investigations of his own. He also failed to take into account the blood test findings over the years. Numerous blood tests have revealed elevated MCHC, WBC, RBC, haemoglobin count, and neutrophils. These are significant clinical findings that require explanation because they suggest that my illness is infectious.

Below is a selection of blood tests that different hospitals did at different times over the years. They all exhibit the same elevated WBC, MCHC, and neutrophil markers.

He did not, however, take note of all those discoveries. This rendered his remark regarding the antibiotics being a “placebo effect” irresponsible and contemptuous.

Good Medical Practice

This kind of gaslighting that I experienced at South Tees violates many principles set out in Good Medical Practice. The General Medical Council (GMC) sets out key principles in its guidance, which asks doctors to:

– Make the care of patients their first concern.

– Respect every patient’s dignity and treat them as an individual.

– Listen to patients and work in partnership with them, supporting them to make informed decisions about their care.

– Act with honesty and integrity, and be open if things go wrong.

– Protect and promote the health of patients and the public.

– Never unfairly discriminate against patients or colleagues.

– Never abuse patients’ trust in you or the public’s trust in your profession.[i]

The Doctor-Patient Relationship

Gaslighting of this nature undermines these principles, and it defies the principles of what a doctor-patient relationship is. The Doctor-Patient Relationship Toolkit, which is published by the British Medical Association, provides ethical standards that clinicians are supposed to uphold when relating to and with their patients.

Healthcare professionals are among the most trusted and respected groups in society. The onus is principally on the healthcare professional to make contact with patients work well. 

The BMA

The toolkit’s key principles are:

• Doctors must make the care of patients their first concern.
• Good communication requires openness, honesty and an ability to listen.
• Good patient care is person-centred and takes into account the patient as a whole person.[ii]

Conclusion

The gaslighting that I experienced at South Tees does not in any way comply with the above principles set out by the GMC or the BMA. It’s an antidote to the fundamental principles of what doctoring is. Their behaviour contradicts the principles of kindness, care and respect. In the medical field, gaslighting has become commonplace. It is accepted as OK. But it is not OK. It is not what healthcare is about.

It’s time that gaslighting is properly challenged. Clinicians need to be guided to act with far greater grace and compassion, and they need to be made aware of the risks of their actions. My gaslighting experiences at South Tees were deeply traumatic. They have had a long-lasting impact on me, particularly in relation to becoming hypervigilant. I now go into medical appointments, expecting clinicians to gaslight me.

Gaslighting in healthcare is dangerous, especially when a powerful male clinician does it to a vulnerable woman. I felt silenced. I felt frightened, and I felt unable to challenge both clinicians. Gaslighting is an insidious form of abuse. It can leave a patient in a high-anxiety state, suffering with both confusion and insecurity.

Most critically, gaslighting prolongs the patient’s suffering by delaying diagnostic outcomes and delaying the delivery of urgent medical treatment.

Medical gaslighting can represent a significant risk to patient safety, contributing to diagnostic errors and disparities in care. It undermines patient safety and trust, and hospitalists have a unique opportunity to lead in reforming this aspect of care.

The Hospitalist.

Footnotes

[i] The BMA: Ethics Toolkit: The Doctor-Patient Relationship, February 2025. https://www.bma.org.uk/

[ii] The BMA: Ethics Toolkit: The Doctor-Patient Relationship, February 2025

Video 8: Advocacy Video Campaign

Photo Credits: Sven Ciupha, Sohail Nawaz, Akram Huseyn, Chuttersnap, the National Cancer Institute and the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases on Unsplash. Yankrukov and Alexander Krivitskiy on Pexels.