In many places of the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has reshaped the way people view health care. In the United States, for example, a nationwide survey led by Northeastern University found that public trust in physicians and hospitals plummeted, going from 71.5% in April 2020 to an abysmal 40.1% in January 2024.
And the consequences of this can look surprisingly revealing. There's a thread on Reddit where healthcare professionals have been sharing the things patients try to keep a secret from them—ranging from minor embarrassments to bizarre habits—and it proves that doctors are detectives just as much as they're medical experts, constantly piecing together clues to get the full story.
