Every Undiagnosed Patient Needs a Physician Like Dr. Miranda Bailey

The "Grey's Anatomy" surgeon is known for exhausting every option when it comes to finding a way to heal — and that's how all doctors should be.

I’d never related so deeply to a TV character until Nina Sullivan (Bess Rous) appeared on Season 15 of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

“Unfortunately, we’ve exhausted every test that we can think of,” Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) told Nina. “We’ve run out of tests.”

“Then find me a test. I can’t keep living like this. I can’t keep being told it’s in my head when I know that it’s not. I can’t keep being told that I’m crazy when I’m not crazy,” Nina responded.

As I watched Nina plead for medical help, trying to convince doctors her words held true, it was as if I were watching my own nightmare replay before me. For more than a decade, I was told I was exaggerating, that my condition was undiagnosable, and that I looked healthy and capable despite the way I felt. My words didn’t matter anymore because each time I sat in an exam room, relaying my medical history and begging for help, I ended up in the same place: undiagnosed ― struggling to walk and alone.

Approximately 30 million Americans experience significant health problems that defy diagnosis. Undiagnosed patients are often met with resistance when lab work continuously fails to reveal an answer. Without a physician leading them, these patients push onward alone and without the guidance they so desperately need.