By Liz Richardson

We recently asked medical professionals to reveal "dark secrets" about their jobs that the public doesn't know, and it completely astounded our editors. Nurses, doctors and other health workers shared their experiences working in the medical field, and it's gut-wrenchingly honest. Here's what they had to say:

1. "I'm a former pediatric home nurse. Parents thought you were there to babysit all their kids for free, not just your patient. Many parents had a sense of entitlement. The kids I worked with were cool, but I left medicine because of entitled adults and because of the companies that focused on their bonuses instead of treating nurses well."

"I make quadruple in tech over what I ever made as a nurse, and there's no doo doo to clean up. I'm so glad I listened to an MD friend that told me not to go to medical school because I'd regret it."

—Anonymous, Texas

2. "I worked at a large academic medical center as a high-level research administrator. Heard about several high-level issues that were kept quiet due to potential lawsuits: 1) A lawyer on the psychiatric unit was murdered. 2) Another patient in psychiatry was agitated and standing on the windowsill in his room; staff pulled him down, he lay on the floor in pain, didn't see a doctor for nine hours, and was left paralyzed. 3) Fetuses miscarried or stillborn were left in the morgue for years; once discovered, they were removed in the dead of night."

"There was one unit where patients were rarely seen by a doctor because they were nursing home patients who could not be discharged. There are many more stories that the hospital hid to avoid lawsuits."

—Anonymous, 78, North Carolina

3. "ICU nurse here. I can go 12–16 hours without a bathroom break."

—Anonymous, 63, California

4. "Home healthcare workers who work for Medicaid/Medicare patients are paid pitifully — and I mean you'd spit out your drink knowing how little. I'm not just talking about aides or CNAs, who are 110% just as vital and are likely in school. Well, maybe not anymore since nursing is no longer considered a PROFESSIONAL DEGREE, making it all but impossible to get a student loan. ... This is why if you or a loved one is on Medicaid/Medicare, it can be extremely challenging to find a practitioner. Medicaid/Medicare is 100% allowed to pay the bare minimum and sometimes even LESS (they can also take several months longer to pay out a claim)."

"I worked at a private practice clinic for a few years, and the owner/doctor would sometimes just see medicaid patients for FREE because by the time everything was said and done, including all the paperwork, it was like LOSING money. Should I just go ahead and start working at Walmart instead? I genuinely don't want to. I can sit here and BS you about how the only reason I stay is the patients —which definitely is part of it — but the other reason is being pissed that I'd even CONSIDER working anywhere else. I worked my butt off, paid student loans, etc., why the hell would I be forced to leave the job I chose??? It really is about patients, too. These are people who would otherwise be in the cheapest nursing home money could buy, using a reverse mortgage or something, knowing the day they die is when their home and any other assets will be taken away, and their families left with nothing, or older people who are dying and need more one-on-one care. This also applies to older and young people alike, whose families have to work somehow, or even just get a tiny bit of rest because being a caregiver for someone is physically and mentally exhausting."

—maskedghost60

5. "As an RN for 45 years, I have witnessed the horrific decline of quality health care directly resulting from insurance companies gaining too much power. They think they know better than the patient's doctor. Who is keeping track of how many deaths are caused by the insurance company's denial of health care? What's their accountability? NONE, except lining their rich pockets! And Joint Commission??? They are making hospitals and their staff spend more time documenting than caring for patients. Years ago, they made 'pain' the fifth vital sign. OK, all well and good. Then they tied hospital reimbursement to patient satisfaction. Initially, that sounded like a good idea, until the patients caught on. Then, they started demanding hotel-like service, treating staff like crap, and actually laughing about it."

"They threatened to give low scores unless they got their shot of Demerol or Morphine, even while they are sitting around visiting with friends, watching free TV, and demanding snacks for the entire room of visitors. Nursing was no longer nursing; it was all about making patients and their families happy. Thank you, Joint Commission. I no longer practice nursing — I retired early after COVID, when our government caused such dissent among health care workers. I don't know if the healthcare system in our country can be fixed! But it's terribly broken."

—Anonymous, Pennsylvania

6. "I'm a rehabilitation director. Your insurance coverage can impact the amount of time and frequency you get therapy as a nursing home resident or a short-term rehab patient. Therapists are treated like factory workers with barely any time to go to the bathroom or do all the required documentation, let alone time to think critically about patients. Medicaid funding that most of our nursing home residents rely on is so low that we squeeze as much therapy into as little time as possible to get the max reimbursement just to keep the facility lights on (let alone provide quality nursing care)."

"It's so unfair to the patients and staff, and the only ones benefiting are at the very top. My heart breaks when families think I agree with the practices. It's not why I went into therapy! I try to do the best I can for patients without living at work or sacrificing my job that supports my family. It's a constant battle, and it's exhausting to see such a vulnerable population being taken advantage of."

—Anonymous, 31, New York

7. "I worked for a popular healthcare company as a telephone nurse, calling people with chronic diseases. We had 'scripts' to read and were discouraged from going off script. Several departments constantly monitored us in various ways; they listened to our conversations and watched our monitors. Quality improvement graded our conversations. They made a list of employees they wanted to fire. They started by firing those nurses who had medical issues and used sick time. Once they were culled, they moved on."

"I was counseled after suggesting that a client with a cardiac condition take fish oil. My supervisor said I was practicing medicine. I did not mention fish oil again. Shortly after, they fired me, saying they had counseled me verbally and in writing, in accordance with their policy. They lied and falsified my record to be consistent. The program eventually closed."

—Anonymous, 78, North Carolina

8. "I'm a physician assistant. The type of medical insurance a patient has determines whether their life is valued. I had a young, 19-year-old man as my patient, and unfortunately, we found a very aggressive form of bone cancer. We tried very hard to get him the best care possible ASAP because of how aggressive his cancer was. Sadly, because he was on an HMO Medicaid insurance and had cancer, he was automatically put into a state-funded program for cancer patients. The only hospital that he could go to for treatment was a county hospital, and because of all the BS with getting referrals approved, he shortly passed away. I will forever remember this young man whose life was cut so short not only by cancer, but by a healthcare system that truly doesn't value life."

"I still work in healthcare, doing my best on a daily basis to treat my patients, but it's very frustrating to see how much waste occurs in hospitals. I can use a complete suture kit, but I'm required to throw away all the instruments instead of sterilizing them as other medical offices do. I have to throw away complete bottles of saline, betadine, and hydrogen peroxide, even if I only used an ounce!!! I tell patients this is one of the reasons your health insurance is so damn expensive!"

—Anonymous, 63, California

9. "I worked in the ED in Massachusetts on the 11:00 p.m.–7:00 a.m. shift, and the patients we treated were all extremely sick or in horrific traffic accidents. My cousin was brought into the emergency department, and I didn't even recognize him; he was so ripped apart from the accident. I will never forget what happened that horrific night."

—Anonymous, 76, New Hampshire

10. "My daughter went to phlebotomist school, and after training, she went to work in a local hospital in Texas, along with several people from her class. The first day they were there, the manager told them that during any downtime, they were to go to three specific rooms where they had patients that were in comas. They were to practice on these patients in low-light settings, in different areas of the body not usually used for draws. My daughter thought that the manager was joking, but then she got called into the office because she had not been doing the extra training."

"She immediately quit when the manager told her not to worry about the patients, as they could not feel anything. She then had to fight the hospital for her three-day paycheck."

—Anonymous, 49

11. "I'm a retired administrator. I'm sadly not surprised by the comments regarding health care. Education has been dealing with unmanageable mandates, expectations to fix things beyond our control, supply shortages, and the list goes on. The stress put on the nurses, medical professionals, and teachers who work one-on-one with the needy is causing them to walk away for their own health. Sadly, our society thrives on the blame game and putting bean-counting above the human condition. Just like education, the future of quality professionals willing to serve will dwindle, creating a downward spiral."

—Anonymous, 60, West Virginia

12. "I'm a nurse who has been in healthcare for over 20 years, and our workers eat their young! We have healthcare staff who are as cold as corpse feet. Some would rather watch the new ones struggle rather than share the knowledge. It's hard enough dealing with unrealistic expectations from admin, so we are all we have! Let's do better."

—Anonymous, 44

13. "Please, please, PLEASE have a conversation with your family about your 'Code Status,' or in other words, what you want to happen to you in the hospital should your heart stop and/or you can't make medical decisions. Even if you're on the younger side, please at least talk to someone you trust about it. I know it's hard to have that conversation, but it's so important. I've seen some very ugly and messy deaths because families couldn't come together about how to handle their dying loved one."

"Also note, a Code Blue can be a very ugly and traumatic experience. It is NOT like the shows and movies depict. Good compressions require us to push DEEP on the chest, and rib fractures are common. About 20 people rush in, and you hear lots of talking, shouting orders, and general chaos (albeit controlled). We also don't automatically shock everyone, only on certain cardiac arrhythmias (NOT flatline!). Meds and quality compressions are the best tools for a chance at resuscitation."

—Anonymous, 37, California

14. "I'm in nuclear medicine and used to work for a large healthcare system in California. As a technologist, I was lucky enough to have some experience in billing and coding procedures. I then moved to a small rural facility in Oregon. I immediately discovered, both on the job and through my own healthcare visits, that the radiologists were requiring additional codes to be added to specific order types for ALL patients, regardless of the indication. It resulted in $500 in hospital charges and $80 in physician charges, in addition to the test that was ordered. I confronted them about it and even provided a statement from my ordering physician stating that the additional code was neither needed nor ordered. They reluctantly took one of the codes off my bill, but HR literally told me to 'watch my back' after that."

"Yes, an employee reported my personal patient complaint to my boss since I work at the same facility. Yes, this was absolutely a HIPAA violation, but they protected the hospital on this complaint. Further, they are still billing other patients this way. This is technically part of abuse, waste, and fraud. The cherry on top? I reported this to my insurance company, since they are paying for some of this. It was never fully investigated, and they still ended up paying for an improper code on one of my visits. And we wonder why healthcare is so expensive…"

—Anonymous, 32, Oregon

15. "There is NOT a shortage of nurses. Hospitals prefer to chronically understaff rather than hire the number of nurses needed to provide proper care."

—Anonymous, 68, California

16. "The bottom line is more important than an individual patient's health to administrators. Administrators sit in their offices and make policies that create barriers for providers and nurses who want to implement best practices and provide patient care. They take away safe staffing and equipment at the bedside in hospitals and clinics that impact outcomes for patients, and then want to hold the providers and nurses accountable for worse outcomes. Funny how administrator positions continue to grow in an organization, while those providing direct patient care at the bedside or in clinics/offices keep declining to 'protect the bottom line.' Then, for administrators to prove their 'worth,' they create unnecessary and unsafe policies and practices that ultimately cost the patient."

"I've been working in healthcare for over 20 years, and this has exponentially become more of an issue in the last 8–10 years. Healthcare is no longer about providing the best care for the patient; it's about making money and putting a feather in the cap of administration."

—Anonymous, 43, Ohio

And finally...

17. "As you age through being a nurse, your management gets younger, and they don't want you around. They will use and abuse you and throw you away. A lot of our older nurses get let go in October since vacation season is over. They aren't needed to cover."

—Anonymous, 65, Illinois

Note: Some submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.