Aug. 19, 2026

A wrong diagnosis that almost killed a doctor

For years, doctors told this pediatrician her pain was fibromyalgia and depression. It was quietly starving her aorta. Victoria Rundus is a board-certified pediatrician who spent four years being misdiagnosed before an ER physician finally listened to her abdomen and heard what everyone else had missed. This episode is based on her article "Diagnostic bias almost cost me my life," published on KevinMD. You will hear how a single label can close the door on everything else, both for the physician treating you and for the patient who starts writing off new symptoms as just the old diagnosis. She explains why the physical exam still matters when labs come back normal, why she felt she was not being heard, and why curiosity and humility belong next to medical knowledge, not beneath it. We usually see horses, but the zebras are real. Press play to hear how a diagnosis can close a door that should stay open, and what it takes to keep looking.

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