Doctors And Nurses Are Confessing "Dark Secrets" About The Medical Field That No One Knows
Liz Richardson
Tue, January 6, 2026 at 4:31 PM UTC
13 min read
We recently wrote a post where medical professionals revealed "dark secrets" about their jobs that the public doesn't know. In the comments, doctors, nurses, and others shared more experiences about working in the medical field, and it's seriously eye-opening. Here's what they had to say:
1. "I worked as a nurse for 40 years! At the end of my career, I was working 12-hour shifts at one facility and 8-hour shifts at another facility, owned by the same people. The scheduler would schedule me for a 12-hour shift at one facility and then schedule me for an 8-hour shift at the other facility, with less than eight hours in between. Unsafe practice to say the least, but they didn't care. They micro-managed everything, including having to count gloves every time a pair was used! Unbelievable! Exhausting and unnecessary."
"God forbid you take your lunch or get a drink of water. The facilities were skilled facilities with minimal staff. Gave up my license when I retired because I never want to do that stuff again. When money is more important than a human, we have lost sight of the purpose of nursing and medical care."
2. "I'm a surgical technician. I don't know where to begin! I've been one for the greater part of 20 years (closer to 30 years). It's at a beyond-critical point; we're constantly running out of basic surgical supplies (unsterile gloves, sanitizing wipes, sponges, etc.), and we're still expected to perform our jobs at a high level, despite the constant handicaps from management and corporate, who do not have a clue!"
"I can go on and on, but you get the picture. At this point, I am trying my best to retire early."
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—Anonymous
3. "It's not that the hospital is the worst place to be, but it should be a place you go to strictly for emergencies. Patients are being discharged quicker and sicker, and this has been true for quite some time, but more so as healthcare workers leave the bedside in droves. It's becoming increasingly challenging to provide good care, thanks to the added responsibilities and the unrealistic expectations of our patient population, who often do very little to help themselves (at times). If you can have your issue managed in an outpatient setting, you are going to end up much better off for it."
"Yes, you will wait longer, and I think that's why patients don't take this route (because it's slower)."
—Anonymous, 35, Florida
4. "Home care RN here. There are so many poor/disadvantaged people. Whether it's mental or physical health, some (lots) of people struggle. If you've ever heard about people making decisions to eat, pay rent, or buy meds, that's very real! Either way, it's exhausting trying to help people who consistently fall through the cracks because there simply isn't enough help for those who really need it. It's heartbreaking and causes burnout."
"Please just be kind to the medical staff. They truly are doing their best."
—Anonymous, 62, Maine
5. "Morbidity and Mortality meetings. I used to type up the minutes of the 'Morbidity and Mortality' meetings for a teaching trauma hospital. I was shocked at the mistakes 'covered up' and NEVER disclosed to the patients or family members. (I have never disclosed ANY of them to anyone, either.) In addition, I wish that I was surprised that the hospital 'overlooked' repeated LOST malpractice lawsuits and hired the physicians without explanations. These were often physicians hired before the FULL background check was completed. Some of these physicians originated from other countries, and some were homegrown in the USA."
"I had a deep respect for ALL medical personnel and still do! I loved my job and the people I worked with! This warning is not written by a disgruntled employee."
—Anonymous, 75, Nevada
6. "The insurance companies and Medicare/Medicaid are cutting their compensation so drastically that I went from seeing 15–20 patients a day to almost 70 a day in order to make LESS compensation! On top of that, the preauthorization process effectively denies needed surgeries for no clear reason. In addition, the companies that provide the authorization clearances are incentivized to deny first and only begrudgingly approve."
—Anonymous, 59, Georgia
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7. "I left clinical practice in 2019. This is the straw that broke the camel's back: An insurance company that our office manager had put off for about six months, as she knew what they wanted, came to meet with the providers in my office over lunch one day. The largest insurance company in the state. They spent the hour berating the other doctor, me, and our nurse practitioner about metrics. Too many people weren't getting the medications and preventative tests we ordered. Our clinic was deep in doomsday prepper country, so most of the patients refused to get mammograms, colonoscopies, bloodwork, etc. This was always documented in the chart that these had been ordered and that the patients were counseled, but still refused. Or they were ordered, but the patients never went to get the test done or fill the prescription."
"Come to find out, the insurance company was not properly reviewing charts because oftentimes, prescriptions weren't filled because the medication had been changed. Or the cost of the med or co-pay was too high. So, we were berated for things outside our control or because they couldn’t be bothered to look at the full picture. The insurance company then offered incentives (aka, bribes) to persuade the patients to fill these discontinued prescriptions or tests they didn’t want. My colleague, who owned the clinic, asked them how far they wanted us to go. Did they want us to pay for their prescriptions? Drive to their homes and shove the pills down their throats? Remove them from their homes and drive them kicking and screaming to the lab, radiology place, or surgicenter? I have never been prouder to work with him. Of course, the insurance company didn’t like that at all and said we were being unreasonable.When I left for the day, I called my husband to discuss borrowing money from my parents to pay for my tail coverage (around $22K), which is essentially a buyout of your malpractice coverage that continues to insure you for a specified amount of time once you stop practicing. I was so worried he’d think less of me for wanting to quit medicine. I’d spent so many years where I’d worked so hard under awful conditions to get where I was. Was it a waste? Nope. He was so supportive. Just wanted me to be happy. Wanted me to be able to sleep at night without sleeping pills. For my terrible work-related anxiety to get better. My family was the same way. My stepdad didn’t even let me finish my story before he asked how much money I’d need to quit. I’m so lucky to have that kind of help. After a few months, I got a university teaching job, quit medicine, and have never looked back. I miss some patients, but nothing else."
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—Anonymous, 47, Arizona
8. "EMT for 15 years now. Multiple times, I've had to transfer patients from hospital to hospital. These transfers are not always for emergencies. These are because the crew that picked you up at home takes you to the nearest hospital to offload you at a facility that cannot take care of you the way you need. So, you have to wait at the hospital for another ambulance to come and pick you up, taking you to another hospital. And if you leave the first hospital to drive yourself, then you leave AMA (Against Medical Advice). That means the insurance will not cover the hospital visit. Oh, and the second ambulance to transfer you is an additional bill. Now you have two ambulance bills and two hospital bills for one incident. I am so far down from administration, and I don't know how that can get fixed."
—Anonymous, 45, Tennesee
9. "Peri-op nurse here. I was initially chagrined to be told I would have to stay late on call for the OR. The orthopedic surgeon on call. I couldn't understand why at first, as this patient, a young woman, had an injury (broken elbow) that was over 10 days old. The surgeon responded that this patient was on Medicaid, and the hospital she had initially been taken to was part of a national chain notorious for farming out uninsured/Medicaid patients. They had cancelled her surgery three times, and the patient now had nerve damage. It took our surgeon, who specialized in upper extremities, over four hours to save the use of her arm. Yes, this really happened."
—Anonymous, 63, Texas
10. "There are no laws protecting medical students from the hours that they are required to work at the hospital for no pay. During my internal medicine rotation, I worked 120 hours a week for three months. We had to work every day of the week, including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. I had to be at the hospital every day by 4 a.m., which means that I was always tired and sleep-deprived. Attending doctors exploited us for free labor because they knew that we needed a good grade from them to graduate medical school."
"On top of that, they would insult us and call us racist names. I reported them to my school, and I was the one who paid. I wasn't accepted into any residency, and as a result, I was unable to practice medicine. I now work at a tech company and make twice what I would have made as a family doctor, working decent hours from the comfort of my own home."
—Anonymous
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11. "Retired ultrasound tech, premier hospital. Eighty percent of the techs in our department think DNR means no treatment at all, and didn't understand why exams were still being ordered on these patients. They would leave these patients until last, in case they die in the meantime.' I will never be a DNR unless my medical power of attorney makes me one by following my pre-discussed wishes."
—Anonymous, 76, California
12. "We are forced to acknowledge that we received uninterrupted breaks at the time clock before clocking out and reprimanded if we say we didn't receive our break. What a joke! There are no breaks for hospital nurses working the floors."
—Anonymous, 58, Colorado
13. "So many of our patients and families are entitled and treat medical staff horribly. They literally harass us and fill out surveys complaining about things like we didn't bring them apple juice fast enough, or they had to wait to get their medicine. You know why you're waiting on your juice? Because your neighbor down the hall was experiencing a life-threatening emergency. Meanwhile, all the people who responded to that emergency haven't eaten all day, haven't peed, are hours behind on med passes and charting, have 15 calls to make, and didn't get to sleep because we did this same thing yesterday. Hospitals are not hotels, and doctors' offices are not spas. Have some compassion."
"Also, we are not trying to 'run up your bill' with treatments and medications. We have no idea what the hospital will charge you. We don't even know what kind of insurance you have or if you have insurance at all, unless they call us to deny something.
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The new rules that came out a few years ago mean patients can see their test results before the doctor does. The point is good — it's intended for patients to access their records. But imagine logging into your healthcare portal to find out that your MRI detected cancer that you didn't even know about, and your doctor hasn't had a chance to come in and talk to you about it yet. Many people don't understand the wording in their test results, and they don't know what a lot of the lab values mean. So, it makes them very anxious, or they go straight to Google and read about worst-case scenarios. In the past, doctors would review the results first and then release them for patient review.
Lastly, Google is a great resource, but that's just it. It's a resource. It doesn't replace the education and experience of your medical staff. People will literally argue with us because they googled things and insist that we are wrong. We spend all day trying to help people. It doesn't benefit us to give you false information. Consider trusting the people who work in healthcare for a living."
—Anonymous, 46, North Carolina
14. "Some insurance companies have not raised their reimbursement rates for services during the 40 years I have been practicing. A woman's haircut costs more than the insurance companies reimburse for a yearly eye exam."
—Anonymous, 66, Alaska
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15. "Bathroom breaks. Oftentimes, they get put off. 'After the next patient. Just one more, then I can go.'"
—Anonymous, 57, Vermont
And finally...
16. "From someone who is on both sides of the healthcare train wreck as a provider and a caregiver to a family member, the system is crumbling. Healthcare administration is a business sector that monopolizes healthcare for profit and bonuses while undercutting healthcare staff with resources and pay for productivity. No one in healthcare is recommending this career path anymore due to the business shift model that major hospital systems are practicing. Dehumanization of staff and patients seen as numbers has become the norm."
"Insurance companies are a different market profiting beast that has more healthcare power decision-making than they should be allowed to have. I've seen so many patients, as well as family members, get denied for life-saving medications prescribed by a doctor with adequate evidence for proof of medical necessity. I've seen too many preventable deaths and injuries as a result of callous decision-making from insurance companies."
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—Anonymous
Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Medical professionals, what are some other "dark secrets" about your job that more people should know? Tell us in the comments, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.
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