A woman has accused a staff member at a hospital in Mesa, Arizona, of calling her a “Dilaudid Guppy,” a term she says was used to dismiss her as an addict rather than a patient experiencing a legitimate sickle cell crisis. The patient shared videos of her confrontation with the staff member on TikTok, and the posts have now gone viral, drawing millions of views.
According to the woman, who goes by @tanaep3 on TikTok, she overheard a staff member using the slang while she was seated in a room waiting to be seen. She claimed she also heard other coworkers laughing at her.
When a doctor entered her room and began asking about her condition, she quickly asked him to bring in the person who had allegedly made the derogatory remark. The doctor responded that no one had called her that and remained seated.
Refusing to take the doctor’s word for it, the woman got up and walked to the nurses’ station outside her room, saying she could identify the individual based on their voice.
Patient Challenges Doctor Over Alleged Remark
The doctor immediately followed after her but continued insisting that no one had said anything against her. He also asked her to stop recording, but she refused.
It was during the back-and-forth that the woman pointed the finger at the doctor, claiming his voice matched the one she had heard outside. She also accused the other employees of laughing after hearing what he had allegedly said.
None of the other staff members responded to the accusation or even acknowledged her presence. The doctor, however, repeatedly denied that he had called her a “Dilaudid Guppy” and even went so far as to swear on “the life of my mother and children.”
The woman did not believe him and continued pressing him about the alleged remark. After realizing he could not get through to her, the doctor walked away.
The woman said she was later removed from the hospital for trespassing after the doctor contacted the Mesa Police Department.
Netizens’ Reaction to the Arizona Hospital Incident
In the comments section under her TikTok posts, many viewers said they believed the patient’s account of what happened. “‘Dilaudid guppy’ is definitely something a medical professional would say. That’s way too niche of an insult for her to create herself,” one viewer commented. “As a nurse, this is the first time I hear dilaudid guppy. But it definitely sounds like something that someone in healthcare would come up with,” another chimed in.
Some picked up on the doctor’s response immediately after hearing the allegation. “He didn’t ask who, he immediately said no one called you that,” one person pointed out. Another added, “You know he did. Because if someone accused me of saying the words ‘dilaudid guppy’ my initial reaction would be ‘I’m sorry, a what?'”
Others urged the woman to take formal action. “How disgusting! Report him!” one commenter wrote. Someone else said, “File a complaint. That doctor has no right to talk to you like that.” A third suggested, “Please report this to your insurance, they will investigate, hold payment, and not charge you.”
A few other comments were also sympathetic toward the woman. “I hate the way sickle cell patients are treated,” one netizen remarked. “Uhhhh isn’t sickle cell KNOWN for being a painful condition? I don’t even work in human health care and know that. Why they harping on you!?” another asked.
In a later update, the woman said she filed a complaint against the doctor but claimed that nothing had been done about it. As of this writing, the hospital has not released a public statement addressing the allegations.
