Disturbing footage shows doctor swearing and laughing at anxious patient

By Ksenia Novikova

Aug 22, 2018

04:17 P.M.

A father filmed the female doctor who was supposed to be treating his son suffering from anxiety attacks, but she ended up insulting the patient and invalidated his condition.

The emergency room physician was working at El Camino Hospital in Los Gatos, California. Later on, it was revealed that the hospital suspended her after she was caught on videotape belittling her patient.

Samuel Bardwell, 20, was admitted at the hospital after he went through a series of anxiety attacks after his basketball practice.

Speaking to SFGate, Donald Bardwell, Samuel’s father, explained that it wasn’t the first time his son suffered an anxiety attack.

Donald shared that his son was supposedly taking Klonopin, which is a sedative that can prevent seizures, anxiety, and can treat panic disorders.

Days before he had the anxiety attack, Samuel had not taken his prescribed medicine.

"He had a prescription waiting for him at the pharmacy but couldn't pick it up, he's a student and he works. We didn't know what the consequence of not taking the meds would be," explained Donald.

At the emergency room, Samuel was treated by Dr. Beth Keegstra. Donald noted that she never introduced herself or asked the patient’s name. She allegedly did not even examine the patient thoroughly.

Donald said that Keegstra was accusing them of coming to the hospital for drugs and was trying to get them to leave the emergency room. As soon as she was rambling angrily, Donald decided to film the encounter.

The video showed Keegstra saying that Samuel should get up and leave since he was already awake after Donald tried to say that he witnessed his son losing and regaining his consciousness a couple of times.

Keegstra also said that Samuel was “the least sick of all the people” that were inside the room.

Soon after, Samuel can be heard telling the doctor that he “could not inhale,” Keegstra laughed as she responded, “He can’t inhale, wow! He must be dead!”

After the encounter became viral on Facebook, the hospital acted quickly and had Keegstra "removed from the work schedule, pending further investigation."

They also apologized to the patient and his family for Keegstra’s inappropriate behavior.

Meanwhile, a previous study revealed that doctors only tend to listen to their patients for an average of 11 seconds before interrupting them completely.