During my 14 years with type 1 diabetes and my time spent interacting with the diabetes online community, I constantly hear the same theme: Doctors aren't listening to their patients, and their bedside manners are deteriorating. Every day, it seems, I hear about people who have been treated as if they are simply a number or dismissed as uneducated in their own health conditions.

On one occasion, a doctor misled me about an issue in which he didn't have any experience. Instead of admitting that he didn't have the answer and would follow up with me after he got one, he told me wrong information. The result was that I became severely sick and required hospitalization. Another doctor blatantly blamed me for a miscarriage that was not my fault. She could have researched my file or learned more about my condition before blaming me, especially during such an emotional time, when I was already laying unwarranted blame on myself. I've had doctors tell me that they don't have an answer and leave it at that, offering no guidance and leaving me to find answers on my own. I've even had doctors accuse me of lying. Some have completely ignored my concerns. Others have simply not listened to my inquiries at all.

A few days ago, while I was in a local store, a woman approached me. I had never met her before, yet she told me of a very troublesome time earlier in her life. At that time, she had extremely poor circulation, which made her lower body swell. Doctors told her that she had only two months to live, but she was young, with small children to raise and a future to enjoy. The countless specialists she saw told her that the issue of raising her children was "not their problem," then sent her on her way.