29/08/2025
Here’s the thing: in medicine, being labeled “that patient” is real.
Sometimes it’s said with an eye roll in the exam room. Sometimes it’s written into your chart. And once it’s there, it can follow you from one doctor to the next. It’s shorthand for: she asks too many questions, she pushes back, she won’t just go along.
But history shows us why this happens: women’s pain has been dismissed for centuries. We’ve been told we’re “hysterical,” “emotional,” or “noncompliant.” And so many of us have learned to censor ourselves to stay polite, apologetic, agreeable just to avoid the label.
Yet here’s the truth: asking questions, saying no, or trusting your gut doesn’t make you “difficult.” It makes you discerning. It makes you informed. It makes you powerful.
As a physician and midwife, I can tell you this with certainty: women who advocate for themselves not only change their own health outcomes, they change the culture of care for all of us.
👉 Follow .avivaromm if you’re If you’re done with being dismissed, if you’re tired of shrinking yourself to be acceptable.
