This is a clip from a Substack Live conversation with Zed Zha, author of Consented: A Doctor’s Call to End Medical Violence and Reclaim Patient Autonomy.

Watch the full episode and sign up for the newsletter here.

In this segment, we examine a pattern many patients recognize immediately, of having to ask their doctor questions in JUST the right way.

This is a conversation about managing power, perception, and risk in every medical interaction. For patients, it's exhausting

In this clip, we discuss:

Why patients feel pressure to “perform” to be believed
How medical training and culture reinforce this dynamic
The impact of labels like “difficult” and “non-compliant”
What patient autonomy should actually look like in practice

This is one part of a longer, in-depth conversation on medical culture, consent, and the future of patient care.

Subscribe to Long Covid, MD on Substack

You’ll get:

Full-length conversations like this
Physician-level breakdowns of treatments and care decisions
Live discussions and workshops

Chapters

00:00 — The Performance Patients Have to Master
Patients describe navigating tone, behavior, and perception just to be taken seriously.

02:15 — How Medical Culture Creates This Dynamic
Training, hierarchy, and identity formation in medicine.

04:30 — The Problem with “Difficult Patients”
How labeling shifts responsibility away from the system.

07:30 — Moving Toward Real Collaboration
What a functional doctor–patient partnership looks like.

10:30 — What Consent and Autonomy Actually Mean
Why consent is an ongoing process—not a form.

Keywords (SEO)

substack live interview, Zed Zha Consented, medical culture, patient autonomy, doctor patient relationship, medical gaslighting, difficult patient, healthcare system problems, long covid, chronic illness advocacy

Support the show

Subscribe for free written summaries of each episode, resources, and more. LongCovidMD.substack.com/subscribe

Support by donating at BuyMeACoffee