Empowerment, Resilience, and Advocacy: Transforming Patient Experiences Worldwide

A hospital in Vienna left me bleeding on purpose, called it educational, and told me I was a burden. Also: notes from the Global Patient Participation Summit.

I need to tell you what happened at a hospital in Vienna this week, because staying quiet about it is exactly the problem.

During an appointment, a doctor implied I was a burden because of my chronic illness. Then I was left intentionally bleeding after a blood draw, an "educational" measure, in the doctor's own words. That is not a communication failure. It is mistreatment, and it is the kind that chronically ill patients are trained to absorb quietly because complaining costs more than the injury did.

I told the doctor, "I am sorry you are having a bad shift, and I wish you get more rest." Sometimes that is the only response that doesn't cost me more than I have. It does not mean the conduct was acceptable. It wasn't.

On a better note: I spent part of this week at the Global Patient Participation Summit in Vienna, alongside patient leaders from around the world working on standardizing patient experience data, patient academies, and design-led approaches to closing gaps in patient care. Thank you to Boehringer Ingelheim and everyone who helped put it together. Healthcare moves when patients are in the room deciding, not just being discussed.

Both of these happened in the same week. That's usually how it goes.