Pharmacist rushed to a hospital for chest pain, then she was allegedly ignored by the healthcare workers: ‘They let me pee all over myself’

Dr. Cliff Luxable (@cliff_notes), a TikTok pharmacist, was rushed to the hospital after she experienced severe chest pains. Although she urgently needed help, Cliff alleged that the hospital kept delaying her medical care.

“As a pharmacist, you don’t have the luxury of being sick,” Cliff explained on social media. She had been experiencing chest pains throughout her shift but couldn’t leave the pharmacy immediately and had to close up shop. States like California require pharmacies to close when no pharmacists are available to dispense medication. Cliff was in immense pain, and other people had to park her car for her.

@cliff_notes

Black women die in hospitals. We need to talk about what happens when we advocate for ourselves. I’ve been hospitalized since yesterday with chest pain, waiting for testing and a physician evaluation. But when I firmly question my care, security gets called instead of the medical professional I requested. Black women face documented healthcare disparities, including differences in pain assessment and how our symptoms are taken seriously. My experience raises a difficult question: Why does advocating for my health result in a security response instead of a clinical response? Patients deserve answers, appropriate medical care, and dignity — not to feel punished for speaking up. When a Black woman says something is wrong, is anyone listening? #BlackWomen #PatientAdvocacy #HealthcareDisparities #fyp #HealthcareEquity

♬ original sound – Dr. Cliff Luxable

But when she got to the hospital, she alleged that she wasn’t given medication for chest pain. She further alleged, “When I pressed the pain button, they asked me, ‘Why are you pressing the button?’ This is why Black women die in the hospital. Because I am Black, but I am not immune to pain.” Cliff was disappointed by the staff’s alleged inattentive approach to her pain. She further alleged that staff ignored her, even when she needed to use the restroom.

Feeling neglected at the hospital

“So, I pressed the toilet button. Mind you, they let me pee all over myself before I got up to observation,” Cliff claimed. Instead of helping her, she alleged that the staff handed her a stick and left her alone. Even her medication has been allegedly delayed.

I want you to think about that. Because it was written in the chart, yet I haven’t received it,” Cliff said. The patient was supposed to take nitroglycerin every five minutes until help arrived. The tablets are given to relieve chest pain. However, even with staff present, she alleged that she hasn’t received the medication.

“They will let me die,” she expressed. Cliff told staff she wanted to go to a different hospital because she believes her needs weren’t being met. Some healthcare professionals aren’t as sensitive to their patients, and one former paramedic recalled how a hospital failed her patient. But Cliff believes that she is being discriminated against as a Black woman.

“This hospital? All they see is the color of my skin,” she alleged. After four hours of requesting medication, Cliff said she was finally given nitroglycerin pills. She alleged she wasn’t given instructions on how to take them, but because she is a pharmacist, she knew how. Then, a staffer peeked into her room. They asked Cliff if she was recording, and Cliff confirmed she was. She alleged that afterward, staff sent security into her room. However, Cliff didn’t show footage of that event.

Discharged at her own terms

Cliff continued to document her struggle in the hospital. Aside from dismissing her needs, she also claimed that the hospital took issue with her child staying over. They allegedly insisted that Cliff couldn’t take the test she needed while her child was unattended and that she had to call her friend, Caitlin, to watch over her child.

@cliff_notes

I raised my emergency childcare concerns yesterday and requested social work assistance. My medical testing was supposed to happen at 4 PM. At 5:30 PM, I was still waiting—and now the conversation had shifted to hospital policy about my child staying overnight. When I asked whether I was being discharged, the answer was no. So my medical care was still unresolved, but I was being confronted with a childcare crisis I had already asked the hospital to help me address. How can a hospital address a patient’s emergency medical needs while leaving an urgent childcare situation unresolved? #PatientAdvocacy #PatientSafety #fyp #EMTALA #HealthcareDisparities

♬ original sound – Dr. Cliff Luxable

Eventually, she got the test she needed and received the oxygen and aspirin she has been insisting on taking. In the early hours of October 19, she was finally discharged, but on her terms. “Let’s not act like me advocating for myself didn’t get me out of this hospital, because they were trying to keep me ’til tomorrow,” she commented. She advised other patients to be vocal about their needs so they could be attended to.

But even outside the hospital, Black women can experience discrimination based on their appearance. Another woman was called out at work for wearing her natural hair, and she didn’t stay silent about it.

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