Have you been judged by a health care professional?

Yes it was horrible I’ve only experienced stigma in a Drs office. I was diagnosed while pregnant through routine blood work from my OBGYN she admitted in my diagnosis appointment that I was her first HIV positive patient.


My next appointment a month later I waited in the waiting room well over an hour past my appointment and they claimed my appointment I had a conformation email about wasn’t on the schedule, but they were going to squeeze me in.


After I was finally brought back to a room my Dr spoke to me from clear across the room claimed she had a cold. If she was that sick why was she there seeing other pregnant women?
I was referred to a high risk/HIV OBG for half of my medical care anyway so I ended up switching and never went back.
My first infectious disease doctor was so robotic and matter of fact. I was in shock from an HIV diagnosis two days after my first child’s sonogram. He not only told me I had AIDS but that I was going to die of cancer and not AIDS. 😳 Yes this might be something he says every day, and to him I was just another face to stereotype.


I can’t stand having Drs who lack empathy and are on autopilot. My mental health should not be affected because of my medical care providers emotional burnout.

I have faced healthcare practitioner stigma in multiple ways. One would be a cardiologist who asked me every appointment when my transfusion was done which caused me to be positive... Which is not my story! When I would remind him of my story, he would tell me how uncommon it is for a heterosexual woman to get HIV from a partner.... Um.. What!?! Needless to say, there are reasons I do not see him anymore. So many reasons.


I have had nurses at the ER completely change how they treat me upon finding out that I am positive (even when they were not dealing with blood draws). I Have had an ID doctor continuously ask me about drug usage like I had to be a drug user to be positive.


Personally, I try to remind everybody that a doctor works for you. If they do not treat you correctly, FIRE THEM! After that initial ID doctor, I had a consultation appointment with 3 other ID doctors before I found the one that I have now. I love my current ID doctor and her nurse and I could not be happier that I chose to look around for a new one.
It is harder to deal with healthcare practitioner stigma in a ER / hospital like setting. But typically if the nurses are treating you poorly, you can ask for the charge nurse and make the complaint. I typically ignore any extra precautions nurses feel they need to take (even when they are not drawing blood). By this I mean that if a nurse chooses to wear two pairs of gloves, it is not my problem. But if they decide to treat me poorly, that is a problem.
It is important to remember to advocate for yourself. Or have another person advocate for you. You do not have to accept poor care because you are HIV positive! - Heather R (team member)

Alafia (Peace) I recently experienced stigma and Bisexual erasure when trying to get a monkey pox vaccine. I handled it by not leaving the clinic until I received the vaccine. I pushed back. Khafre (H-I-V.net Team Member)

Usually everyone judges me