Introduction It's an unfortunately common story; a concerned patient approaches a doctor with a litany of unusual and unpleasant symptoms, and is told they are simply old, overweight, pregnant, mentally ill, or some combination of the four. Even as the patient eats healthier, exercises, reduces stress, and confirms they are not pregnant, the symptoms persist or worsen. If the patient is especially concerned or persistent, they may switch doctors, only to face the same dismissals. They may begin to suspect the presence of a particular illness and request testing or treatments, but are repeatedly dismissed by various medical professionals. Eventually, their affliction worsens to a point where it can no longer be ignored, and after a visit to a particularly observant doctor or, more commonly, an emergency room, doctors confirm what the patient knew all along; the patient is seriously ill, and years of neglect have worsened their condition significantly. If idle speculation and anecdotes are not sufficient to demonstrate the severity of medical dismissal, consider the following conditions. Autoimmune disorders have an average diagnostic period of approximately five years, with patients seeing an average of four physicians prior to diagnosis. Endometriosis, a painful affliction of the uterus, has an average diagnostic period of nine years, with over one-third of patients referred to multiple doctors in that period. Even cancer, a well-known and well-acknowledged affliction, goes undiagnosed, particularly in women and racial minorities, often with deadly results. Medical dismissal leads years of unnecessary suffering, greater medical costs, and worse health outcomes. Medical dismissal may be especially familiar to women and those belonging to racial minority demographics; prejudice unconsciously predispositions doctors to believe that women are assumed to be hysterical and minorities less educated or more likely to malinger for drugs. (It should go without saying that s