Doctors as patients

[mattie]

Dutch documentary. Has english and dutch subtitles.
By Anil.

In this film, five medical doctors open up about living with #PAIS/#IACC conditions like ME, #longCOVID, and chronic #Lyme. It’s a format that I believe has never been shown before, not just in the Netherlands but possibly worldwide!

They speak candidly about their experiences with illness, what they were taught (or not taught) in medical school, and how that shaped their own treatment decisions—sometimes even leading to harm. They reflect on how becoming patients themselves radically changed their views on medicine, science, and what needs to change in healthcare. It’s raw, honest, and incredibly insightful—for medical professionals, researchers, politicians, and patients alike.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

This is an outstandingly well done documentary. Deserves major awards.

I'm rather blown away at how remarkable this is. I was not aware of Anil.

Under the video, he described this:

This project was a true labor of love. We had zero budget. Three amazing cameramen, a few behind-the-scenes heroes, the MDs themselves, and those from the community who shared material for the film—all volunteered their time and energy. It wasn’t easy: illness and #PEM often got in the way, but we somehow made it.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

It's so odd that decades ago, the doctors told me: I have impossible Mononucleosus, again. (the again part as considered impossible).

In 1974, a new GP stated: I had Chronic Eppstein Barr.

People spend years, trying to get an answer and I simply accepted what I was told and went on with my life, odd as it was. Including that nobody was ever going to fix it. Their pill did nothing, so I learned to not expect a pill to fix it.

 

[mattie]

I was not aware of Anil.

He's on this forum also, but haven't seen him for a while here.

(dutch and english subtitles)

His YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@anilaboutme

Also wrote some excellent Blogs: https://anilvanderzee.com/blog/

 

[BrightCandle]

It is a really great documentary its fantastic work.

One thing I have noticed across all the testimony of doctors that get IACCs, not just in this documentary but written and other accounts is they never ever talk about the sheer numbers of patients they failed to diagnose and in practice dismissed and abused. They must have denied 1000s appropriate medical care. Its not possible that every doctor that comes down with an IACC actually only ever saw one or two people with this condition and they treated the condition indifferently for us all to have this universal experience of appalling dismissive care. This is certainly true of the GPs, they will have seen thousands and been told by hundreds they had ME/CFS and chose to dismiss those patients.

We do need them to admit to what they did because otherwise they are still erasing the harm the medical system is doing, what they personally did. They need to say it so that other doctors can be aware of what it is they are doing in the rare circumstance they see a documentary like this. We need some guilt and remorse for the harm they did to people we need them not to mix their words and talk about the great crime against humanity that they were part of and that all doctors are part of.

 

[Mary]

Thanks @mattie for posting this documentary - It's excellent! Though I'm not happy that anyone has to endure this illness, I was glad to see these doctors speaking so openly about their experiences. And a couple of them are even shrinks! It was very moving and a bit hard to watch - but that's the nature of this illness.

The doctors are very articulate and readily admit they basically had no knowledge of ME/CFS or Long Covid before becoming ill and in general didn't take their patients all that seriously. I can't imagine anyone watching this and still insisting this illness is all in one's head, although, of course, there are people who would do that.

The interview questions were spot on, and all the doctors unequivocally repudiated the "treatments" of GET and CBT. This would be perfect for family, friends, one's doctor if the least bit open-minded, to educate them about ME/CFS, Long Covid, etc.

Deserves major awards.

Totally agree!!

 

[L'engle]

Thanks to the filmmaker Anil and all the people in the video. Such honest and personal accounts from doctors themselves are of great value to the community. It takes bravery for medical professionals to publicly identify themselves as either treating or even researching ME/CFS, let alone admit to suffering from it themselves.

Doctors as patient advocates is exactly what we need, and these folks shared their limited energy to make this film. You can bet they all crashed after their interviews, and they deserve our thanks.