Woman Goes to ER With a Jaw Injury. Then the Doctor Allegedly Looks at Her and Walks Out: ‘Contacting the Texas Medical Board’
Going to the emergency room usually means something is wrong, and you need help quickly. Patients may already be in pain or scared, so being questioned about how they react can make the situation worse.
It can be even harder when a patient cannot speak properly. In those moments, they may have to rely on someone else to explain what is happening and help them communicate with medical staff.
That is what Brooklynn, who posts on TikTok as Bend With Brooklynn (@bendwithbrooklynn), claims happened after her jaw became dislocated. She says she went to an emergency room in severe pain but was surprised by the doctor’s response. A video showing part of the visit has received 11.7 million views.
She was already having a hard time
Brooklynn explains that her jaw dislocated around 4 a.m. after she yawned. She has hEDS and TMJ but had never experienced anything this severe. She woke her mother, who called an ambulance as Brooklynn vomited, had a panic attack, and tried not to pass out from the pain.
After EMS arrived, the family decided to drive to the hospital themselves. Brooklynn claims things moved slowly there, and because she couldn’t speak properly, her mother had to tell a nurse that her jaw was dislocated.
The TikTok begins later in the visit, with Brooklynn sitting on a hospital bed. Text over the video claims the doctor walked into the room and then sat near the door staring at her. When Brooklynn struggles to ask what is happening, her mother begins questioning him. The doctor can then be heard saying, “No, I’m just trying to figure out why she’s freaking out.”
Her mother immediately pushes back. “Why she’s freaking out?” she asks, before explaining that her daughter has “numerous issues” and is in severe pain. “Of course she’s freaking out,” she adds. Brooklynn tries to say “hello” despite her dislocated jaw, and the doctor appears to repeat it back. One viewer wrote, “Oooh hearing him mock you saying hello sent me into a rage please report him.”
After the recording stopped, Brooklynn claims the doctor asked whether vomiting caused the dislocation. Her mother explained that Brooklynn had yawned first and was vomiting afterward from the pain and gastroparesis.
When her mother asked if he had handled a dislocated jaw before, Brooklynn recalls him saying yes and mentioning his niece had the same issue. But when asked if he would put her jaw back into place, he allegedly replied, “I don’t know.”
Brooklynn claims the doctor later left the room. After nausea medication, morphine, and scans, he eventually put her jaw back into place while she was medicated. By then, she says it had been dislocated for three hours and 15 minutes.
Brooklynn says she knew the scans would take time, but she felt the doctor was prolonging her care. Her experience also raises questions about what happens when a patient’s pain isn’t taken seriously, especially when they are already struggling to communicate.
The way the doctor spoke to her only added to her frustration. With Brooklynn unable to speak properly, her mother had to step in several times, making the way doctors speak to patients in distress an important part of what happened in the room.
Viewers overwhelmingly encouraged Brooklynn to take her complaint further. “Patient advocate NOW!!! I pray he got fired,” one person wrote. An RN added, “Get that ombudsman. Also make note of that provider’s name. You can also report him to the board and submit this video as well.”
Brooklynn plans to take the matter further. “I’m so tired of being treated this way,” she wrote. She says she understood the wait for X-rays but felt the doctor was delaying her care. “I will be making a formal complaint and contacting the Texas medical board,” she added.
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