Last Updated on June 29, 2022 by Alexander Burgemeester
There are hundreds of thousands of ethical, highly skilled physicians and surgeons that perform professionally every day to save or heal lives.
They have a deep understanding of the body and mind and use their expertise to help patients because they genuinely care about the human race. But then there are the Narcissistic Doctors.
What Are Narcissistic Doctors?
I am talking about the narcissists who became doctors because they learned, early in their lives, that was where money, power, control over others, and admiration could be found.
Did these narcissists want to become primary care doctors or pediatricians?
Absolutely not. They knew exactly where to go to reap the benefits they sought–to the “specialties” such as radiology, orthopedics, oncology, plastic surgery, and anesthesiology and so on.
Are There a Lot of Narcissistic Doctors?
Please don’t misunderstand–there are many gifted and dedicated specialists who are not narcissists and care deeply about their patients.
We need them and they perform a great service. However, it is safe to predict that narcissists would be over-represented in these fields.
Unfortunately, narcissists are naturally inclined to gravitate toward the professions which guarantee plentiful and continuous provisions of “narcissistic supply”.
They seek to interact with people only from their position of authority, advantage, and perceived superiority.
In this power position, they are able to elicit automatic admiration, adulation, and affirmation from patients– or failing that, their fear and obedience.
How To Spot a Narcissistic Doctor?
As compared to their non-narcissistic colleagues, narcissists in authority lack empathy and ethical standards.
Thus, they are more prone to abuse their position and patients’ rights immorally, callously, and consistently.
You Can’t Question a Narc Doctor
Have you ever tried questioning a narcissistic doctor? They display tremendous confidence and presence, and their walls are covered with diplomas from the best medical institutions.
They will let you know in no uncertain terms that they are the experts and that they know what is best.
With their perfect backgrounds and expert personalities, most people would never suspect that the physician standing before them is so narcissistic that he or she believes that they can never be wrong.
Not in the consultation room, examining room, reading medical reports, in the emergency room, or in the surgical suite.
They Are Liars
This is a very worrisome trait. Narcissists are liars and exaggerators.
They misrepresent their credentials, knowledge, talents, skills, and achievements.
So many people are in such admiration of doctors that they can’t imagine that their physician could be wrong—sometimes gravely wrong.
They Always Need To Be Right
There have been too many misdiagnoses and mistakes made by narcissistic physicians due to their intense need to be right.
Obviously, there are incorrect diagnoses and mistakes made by non-narcissistic doctors as well.
But in the case of the narcissistic physician, they will find a way not to be wrong at all costs.
You misheard or misunderstood, it was the nurse’s fault, or you must not remember him telling you it might be something else.
A narcissist cannot, and will not, apologize or take responsibility.
If you or a family member asks them a question that in any way can be perceived as questioning their authority or their expertise.
Be ready to receive a snide, disparaging remark bordering on insult. Asking for a second opinion is tantamount to outright betrayal.
Narcissists know how to instinctually find your weak area and expose it.
You have to remember that you have the right to seek and know the truth about your medical condition, in clear terms, or as an advocate for someone else.
They Don’t Listen
Furthermore, narcissistic doctors don’t listen to their patients. They may go for a “quick fix” and not even try to find the cause. Everyday problems bore them.
They want to get on to the next patient, the next potential intricate procedure or surgery that will garner their much-needed attention and admiration as well as confirm their superiority to themselves.
They Stand Above Authority
Perhaps the most frightening trait is that the narcissist physician is not deterred by potential punishment.
They do not believe that the laws and policies apply to him.
Their sense of entitlement, along with the conviction of his own superiority, leads him to believe that they are invincible. They truly believe that they are immune and not vulnerable.
The narcissist holds rules and regulations in disdain and human penalties equally in disdain.
They regard other people’s needs and emotions as weaknesses that can be exploited if it will benefit them.
Final Words
Trust your own judgment and your intuition. Don’t let a narcissistic doctor manipulate or intimidate you.
If you are the patient, remember it is your life and wellbeing at stake, not the doctors.
Be an advocate for yourself or for the patient in your care, stand strong, and be unwavering about your right to ask questions and receive detailed answers or explanations.
Reading Suggestions:
References:
- http://www.zimbio.com/Narcissistic+personality+disorder/articles/99f-c6jrGlY/Narcissistic+Doctors+Always+Right+Never+Wrong
- http://samvak.tripod.com/journal70.html
- http://www.healthyplace.com/personality-disorders/malignant-self-love/narcissists-in-positions-of-authority/
My primary care physician is a narcissist. His behavior is erratic and he is inconsistent. When questioned he simply does not respond. I am in the process of finding another healthcare provider.
Thank you- so much, for posting this article. As a society, we assign to the individual the integrity the role of being a ‘doctor’ implies- they do not have to ‘win’ our trust- they already have it. Narcissistic doctors are the ultimate wolves in sheep’s clothing.
I have actually been lied about- outrageously- by a doctor who, it seems, decided to ‘play god’. Mercifully- if you can call it that, he was rather stupid in the way he went about it leading to the Scottish ombudsman seeing through him and his statements… I got through it in the end. It was a horrendously traumatic experience to go through, however. And I certainly wouldn’t have coped without my family. And even with that my sense of trust has been severely damaged.
Narcissistic individuals are very callous indeed.
Catherine I agree. Having a doctor take advantage of a patient’s vulnerability is truly a traumatic and lasting experience. Thankfully you were able to find resolution.
I like the explication describing the Narcissist dr. And I will be quoting it in court. Drs have lots of money & can buy expensive lawyers, victims virtually have no rights as a lawyer will not take a case unless he can make thousands off you. Malpractice suites are costly, you are required to have other Drs. testify against your dr almost impossible to do for they have a code of ethics between them. So here is what I have done and why.
My dr deliberately gave me a hormone pellet with fillers in it that I told her I would have a serious reaction too, she claimed they were 100% natural no fillers. First LIE. 2nd she gave me more than twice the amount I asked for knowing my previous dr had reduced my dosage due to problems. All this was done because “I had told her what to do” after I started having severe problems she then admitted the pellets had fillers, I also knew from my reaction that she gave me more of it then told too. Her rely was “it is not too much” if my dr of 5 yrs said it was then who gives this dr the right after an 8 min consultation to say otherwise? I also asked her why she would give me what I told her not too after being informed I would have serious problems, her words were “I don’t do what my patients want I do what I think is best” I ended up being sick for almost two years, the pellets were time released, and for 9 months I was poisoned daily I have never been so fatigued in my life, I could hardly function, suffered with a headache for 8 months straight. I have been detoxing my body for two years now and finally seeing some improvement. No Lawyer would help me. So I recently filed a lawsuit in small claims charging her with Violating my civil rights by giving me something she was told not too, Lying to me right up to the moment she surgically implanted them & lying about how much she gave me. Then too make matters worse when I told her to remove them she refused making one excuse after another. Suing for pain & suffering, Battery Tort, Assault, Negligence and punitive damages. Will I win I don’t know, but I did record my phone conversations proving she deliberately went against my instructions and my will thereby voiding any consent given prior as it was obtained fraudulently. Her actions prove she is not only a Narcissist buy a danger to her patients. She even went so far as to alter my medical records trying to cover up her incompetence.
She has obtained an atty. while I am left on my own due lack of finances, if anyone out there is reading this & knows an atty. in Georgia who pro bono or on contingency wants to see justice done please let me know as I will save this page and check back periodically. If even one dr can be made accountable for their actions without costly court costs & greedy lawyers in higher courts then my case could set a pressidence showing narcissistic Drs. that they can no longer deliberately destroy patients lives and get away with it.
She violated her hypocritical oath “I will do no harm to my patients” violated my rights to say what I will and will not accept in my body. She is required by law to inform her patients what she is giving them and how much & required to get permission before she can proceed, she obtained my consent through lying & fraud, committed assault by severely bruising me, put the pellets other than where she was told too, and committed an act of violence toward me. So why is it I can’t find anyone to help me simply because I am poor. Is there NO ONE out there interested in justice and putting a stop to Drs. Like her? Because I could sure use some help. One thing I forgot to mention is my blood pressure soared, as high as 224/123 at times, it remains in the danger zone as I am unable to take prescription medicines due to severe reactions so she as also put my life at risk. The only thing that has helped me is I was an herbalist for 33 yrs.
I know a lawyer who might help. I havent talked to him in a while, but in certain cases he won’t require payment until after things are over and done. He even helps some of his clients out financially if they need it. What he loans is lumped into the final price, but he’ll help them if they really need it.
Have you contacted or filed a formal complaint with the Georgia Board of Healung Arts? They are the regulating body for the physicians licensure in that state and with a formal complaint filed the particular physician will be investigated by the board. The physicians continued licensure will be determined if the board finds malpractice. If malpractice is noted then attorney’s will pay heed, as well as private and federally funded insurance carriers which can result in the physician being unable to file insurance claims and ultimately hinder revenue for her practice.
As a physician I must salute the author for shedding light on this rampant, oftentimes abusive, issue in healthcare today. This is problematic not only for patients, yet also for non-narcissistic colleagues attempting to effectively serve those patients. I sincerely thank you.
I live in Kendal, Cumbria and the local NHS seems riddled with narcissistic doctors and psychiatrists. I think they are particularly attracted to this semi-rural backwater.
A particular feature of narcissists that I have noticed is that they “flock together”, i.e., they admire and defend each other, and consequently appear as an organized block to anyone requiring treatment who refuses to grovel in their presence.
It’s true that these narc doctors love to defend each other and show each other the greatest respect to boost up each other’s ego. They see themselves as being on the same level, way above their little dumbfuck patients of course.
A typical example of my general practictioner who wrote a referal letter to another doctor:
He wrote my symptoms down of course referring to me in the third person that I then have to give to that other doctor as if I can’t explain those symptoms myself. Moreover I wanted to put the letter in my bag, but he was like ‘noonnononono, wait a minute !’
As I hadn’t seen he was also preparing an envelop to put the referral letter inside with Dr X written on the envelop. It was so pathetic the way he insisted on showing his colleague the extra respect by not allowing me to leave with the referal letter as is, but it had to be put inside an envelop addressing him with his Dr title.
I wish I had refused to give the letter back and instead would have crumbled it inside my fist and dumped it just like that into my bag to show the dipshits how I dont give a fuck of showing them the respect they THINK they earn.
I went to med school in the 90s at a UC school. I estimate that in a class of 100 students, only about 10 to 20 of them were the real McCoy. I mean, normal, caring, smart, dedicated to helping people. You have to be firing on all cylinders to make a good doctor. And also the training encouraged the dehumanization of doctors in training so that even someone not full blown narcissistic could be pushed in that direction.
Narcissist lawyers are horrid as well-they have no ethics and no problem using people,and actually even bar association won’t do anything to them!My ex lawyer slanders me,never did his job and now stalks me,no one cares!and it’s not even a criminal case,personal injury!
I was very trusting of doctors until I came across a female GP who was deliberately fabricating non-existent problems and sending me to gynaecologists who forced me into a totally unnecessary D&C, the fabricated I had cancer, and sent me to a gynaecologist at a teaching hospital who forced me into a radical hysterectomy. He bullied, threatened, lied, misled and misinformed me into immediate surgery. I begged for another option as I knew deep down I had nothing wrong with my female organs. He went berserk and threatened me with chemotherapy if I didn’t have the surgery in 2 days. After informing me he was experienced at laparoscopic surgery, he botched it horrendously, and I found out in the aftermath he had a consultant showing him what to do, but still caused severe internal damage. When I look back at the treatment of these doctors, I knew they were not only narcissists, but sociopaths and psychopaths. The #5 profession psychopaths gravitate to is: SURGEON…. Nobody is safe when they go to the doctors…
Yes, a narcissistic doctor is no easy feat. There will never never be a proper patient doctor treatment. After 2 years with my doctor, he gave up diagnosis, I became my own doctor, my injury on my neck, he used one finger to check. All those f situations you thought was ok. With erractic, some times go away, sometimes lie down. Learnt, narcissistic people vs normal general people are too powerful, sweetalking, crazy, erratic, jealousy. All fakeness.
My mother is a narcissist doctor, a psychiatrist. I believe she also has borderline personality disorder. She has spent decades trying to sabotage my career, frindships, and anything I care about in life that she isn’t to be endlessly praised for. She has used her medical degree to convince others, including a psychiatrist I was trying to get help from because of the problems my mother was causing in my life, and tried to project her narcissism and bpd on me for the purpose of having me c omitted because I know the truth of how she operates and she had to silence me. I am under the impression the the majority of doctors are nnarcissist who do not care about anything but their egos being fed by their title, and the money they make to show the world their false superiority. Medicine is a business after all, and it not only gives a great income, it grants a social respect of superiority. Lower a doctors salary to $40k a year and the real doctors who care will remain, the vast majority will look elsewhere for their false ego feeding incomes.
Because I am bound by a very specific settlement agreement, I must choose my words carefully. Having a negative experience with a specialist like those you described can have a profound and long lasting impact on your life. At this link (gvotour.wordpress.com) you can read (in a lawyer approved form) about my personal experience with a surgeon who operated on my now deceased wife who then sued me for defamation years later when I wrote about my experience.
I found out after my ophthalmologist botched my pretty low prescription Lasik operation that he was a narcissist. After getting a second opinion I found that most refractive surgeons were narcissists in my opinion. My first surgeon would not speak to me afterwards and the only reason I sought out a second opinion was because of this.
The biggest problem was that both of them lied. My first who said that my surgery would be the easiest he had done in months, that I would come out at least 20/15 because he could do this one with his eyes closed. That all changed when he dropped a F bomb during my surgery which was rather unnerving.
I sought out the absolute best for a second opinion and even though I wasn’t jaded, from visit number one there was something about him that struck me as weird. To condense this he did another surgery that made things worse. He showed absolutely no remorse but said he would take care of it. He referred me to a surgeon in England who wanted $30,000 US. That one is definitely extremely arrogant but since I never went I don’t know if he is also a narcissist.
The thing that gave away my first surgeon were reviews of him and his general I don’t care if I maimed you attitude. The thing that gave away my second surgeon was the fact he acted like he could do no wrong and lied to me for years. Then the bombshell that cemented it. His teenage daughter committed suicide. He actually played the pity card, I genuinely felt horrible for him. When he said “Oh well girls, what was I supposed to do to prevent it” I thought OK maybe he needs some kind of help.
Then his son killed himself in his early 20s and he just tried to act like the kid never existed. These were his only two children, at the very least the common denominator was him. I started reading about narcissists and it hit me. How could I be so stupid? If this guy had no regrets about maiming me, what would it be like to be one of his kids?
I read the posts on this blog and I can relate. The constant lying, the fact that they act nuts at times, the Hipaa violations, the sociopaths and psychopaths statement and finally “survivors” story. What this guys kids must of had to endure that eventually led them to committing suicide. He was on vacation in Europe within a month after his son killed himself. I lost most trust in doctors after all of this but there are still some good ones out there. My GP is one of them. I avoid ALL surgeons and specialists.
Nick he sound like the butcher who bullied and slaughtered my healthy female organs for personal gain. He told me he’d done hundreds of laparoscopic hysterectomies that he could do them with his eyes closed. He went berserk when I pleaded for another option and threatened me with chemo. I had nothing wrong with my organs to start with. He has many qualifications but he is the opposite of what he portrays to be…
I commented, above, 3 years ago, and now I do so again.
In Britain, the cases of mass-murderer Harold Shipman, and TV presenter Jimmy Saville, were both high prominence and involved 2 people with narcissistic personality disorder.
But the media made little of this fact because it, like British society as a whole, is riddled with professionals who have the same disorder.
Saville went unnoticed at the BBC because he was surrounded with people with huge egos. He was “special”, so the rules could be bent for him and others like him, as they turned a blind eye to his obvious indiscretions..
I was profoundly shocked when I took my baby son for his newborn assessment, and the gp I had trusted and liked commented on his hypospadius (a congenital malformation of the penis) and said in a nasty tone “Dicky doodle and a turned eye…but your Mum loves you”. It is a terrible moment when the mask of feigned decency is removed and the ugly reality of the flawed man underneath is revealed.
I was also one of those people who believed that trusting your physician was all that was required for a good result. I was wrong. Many NPD doctors, and few pros. I’ve met both. The NPD ones are manipulators, and abuse people with blind hatred. They feel that there are no laws that can stop them from this hateful abuse they do, and they constantly want gratification from hurting people.
Why wasn’t I warned about narcissistic doctors before a group of them tricked and slaughtered my healthy female organs for personal gain, harming me irrepably. Everything I’ve read about narcissistic, sociopathic, psychopathic and bullying doctors in the aftermath of this surgical crime against me, all had the traits of these evil medical workers involved in the hysterectomy racket..
I was searching for help with a narcissistic physician who has used his license to use and abuse women in order to gain control, admiration and sex. Complicating matters, , I have Borderline Personality Disorder. I was in a relationship with him for 7 years’ while he was separated from his wife (she found out about multiple affairs) and lied about his win-at-all-costs to get her back, all the while keeping me on through lies and false promises while spreading lies and defaming my character, going so far as to call me crazy and a fat, ugly hooker. My health was failing and he continued to use me saying he couldn’t treat me, yet carried on relationships with certain patients to which he’s denied. He then promised to pay for some oral surgery that was the culprit of my health problems and has reneged, claiming that I’ve misrepresented what he said. I’ve put down $3k towards the procedure as a down payment that I can’t get back. This article has opened my eyes and I’m thankful for all the information. I hope to find a lawyer in Southern California who can help me. I can only imagine all the others he’s hurt personally and professionally. He also has an opioid addiction. He is no good.