While my doctor or nurse is an expert on health and medicine, I am an expert on my own body and how I feel.
This guide was created with survivors for survivors to help you understand common challenges and connect with tools and support that can meet your needs.
To start, here is a video which shares simple ways for survivors to speak up for their needs, ask questions, and understand what safe, respectful care should look like during medical visits.
Survivors have shared that negative experiences in health care can look and feel like:
- My level of pain or experience not being taken seriously
- Certain symptoms being dismissed
- Assuming that I have a higher pain tolerance than someone of a different race or other identifying factor
- Refusing to treat or test for certain issues
- Being blamed for the state of my health
- Being accused of being noncompliant with, not following, or not dedicated to treatment
- Being stereotyped based on any assumed identities
- Not using or accepting my pronouns
- Feeling singled-out, maybe even segregated or isolated from others
- Avoiding certain hospitals because of past poor treatment
- Being spoken to in a patronizing way or like I am stupid
- Being talked over and interrupted
- Being treated like I am “crazy” or being dramatic or too concerned
- Being judged about my experience of abuse
- A health care professional’s own history of abuse impacting how they treat me or see my experience
- Being ignored or judged for my need for an accommodation (Accommodations are special help or changes that make it easier for me to get the care I need. Accommodations include but are not limited to providing me with a qualified interpreter, adaptive equipment, a female practitioner or other practitioner who understands my background, use of tapping, deep breathing, and other tactics to calm myself, etc.)
Sometimes we can feel like we are receiving differential treatment based on:
We have options!
Strategies for preparing for a medical visit:
- Packing a “go-bag” ahead of time with items I may need at an appointment or emergency hospital visit: snacks, a water bottle, medications that I may need, medical marijuana card, etc.
- Writing down specific health questions ahead of time (A site like AHRQ question builder can help!)
- Ask a trusted person to come with me and speak up for me if I need help.
- Look up doctors or clinics ahead of time to find places that may treat me better.
- Make a card with important health information (like past surgeries, medicines, or an emergency contact).
- Make a card that says I am a trauma survivor and share it with medical staff if I want them to know my needs.
- Learn about what it might look like if your doctos does a screening for intimate partner violence, here.
Here is a sample:
Strategies for taking care of myself during a medical visit:
- Making sure to eat and drink enough water.
- Taking medications as prescribed (the way the doctor told me to).
- Asking a trusted person to take notes for me or advocate for me during the visit.
- Asking for the accommodations that I need.
- Asking for a patient advocate that can be provided by the agency
- Practicing deep breathing tactics, tapping, or other practices that make me feel grounded
- Ensuring that I understand the next steps and any referrals provided.
- Scheduling a follow-up appointment, if needed, to discuss progress or further concerns
If I want to talk to my doctor about my abusive relationship, I have options, here.
Strategies for taking care of myself after a medical visit:
- Creating a plan for how I can take care of myself after my appointment or hospital visit.
- Scheduling in extra time after my appointment to relax and decompress.
- Making sure I have someone with me following the visit if I need support.
- Doing yoga, exercise, or anything else that makes my body feel good following the visit.
We have rights!
Learn more about your rights here, with the Patient Bill of Rights and here, with the Maryland Patient’s Bill of Rights Law.
*This document was co-created with the Maryland Health Care Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Physician and Health Disparities Researcher Dr. S. Michelle Ogunwole, and survivors of intimate partner violence.
