It’s a commonly shared sentiment that the medical world doesn’t always treat patients as kindly as they’d hope.

Faced with a dismissive doctor and endless phone calls, a woman figured out how to fight an unjust system in the most creatively defiant way possible.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

“Ma’am, you can’t just not pay your medical bills. You need to pay!” Cue capital letters M and C!

This was told to me 43 minutes ago by a colleague I respect, admire, and regret that this is one of our last lunches together.

Her stories and life are more entertaining than any show on any streaming device…totally binge-worthy.

Finally, she throws one up there that not only fits this sub, but she let me use as well, saying, “Go to town!” This story is from her point of view.

One day, she found herself at the doctor’s office.

I had a shooting headache, the worst I ever had.

I didn’t want to go to the ER, but I had to. This was the worst feeling of my life.

My blood pressure was 260 over something, I don’t know.

I get into the room, and the nurse was pretty good, but it took a while to get the doctor in.

She definitely didn’t get off on the right foot with this doctor.

The doc finally shows up, and I am trying to describe my feeling, my headache, the feeling of a weight on my chest…super heavy.

He thought I was faking it.

I wasn’t.

The doctor didn’t take a word she said seriously.

He tried to give me morphine, and I told him I’m allergic (I am).

He thought, even more so, that I was faking it to get pills.

I don’t even know how rejecting morphine gets me pain pills, but okay.

He was a total AH every step of the way.

He didn’t listen to me when I talked, and every time he came into the room, my numbers kept spiking again.

The people there said to my husband, “You’ve got to calm your wife down,” like that’s his job or something.

It soon became clear this doctor’s rude attitude was actively making her condition worse.

Every time the doctor came in, my EKG went up.

We wound up barring him from the room.

Seriously, I’d rather have had a chimpanzee, anybody, in here instead of that guy.

Anyway, they finally get the guy out of there, and a new doc in, which took a while, but I’m glad they did.

When this doctor mentioned the other doctor, my numbers spiked again, blood pressure up. I found out I was having a panic attack and just didn’t know it.

But then came the bill.

So anyway, I get treated, head home, and about a month later, I get the bills from the ER, and of course, the AH Doc.

I pay all of the other bills I receive, but I’m thinking of not paying this one because he didn’t treat me, just tried.

My husband and I discussed it back and forth for a couple of weeks, and in the meantime, I keep getting calls from his doctor’s office.

The office wasn’t buying her story.

“Ma’am, I understand that you saw a different doctor there, but he did treat you, he consulted with you, he attempted to diagnose, but you refused…” and more garbage that rang true but still tasted, well, like garbage.

I didn’t tell her I wasn’t intending to pay, I just told the truth that I didn’t have the money right now.

They kept calling and calling.

She keeps calling. Every. Single. Day.

Each time I pretend I’m not frustrated by the calls and repeat the same spiel about not having the money.

She got frustrated by my repetition, probably, and said: “Ma’am, you can’t just not pay your medical bills. You need to pay!”

Oh yeah?

That’s when she decided to send this office a message they wouldn’t forget.

Enter Malicious Compliance.

I decided this was going to be a whole thing.

I decided I was going to take a nice picture of me and my whole family, flipping off the camera, and order those as my actual checks from my second bank account.

This took longer than I expected to get, but when I finally got them, I decided it was time to pay…. right before collections.

She wanted to make this process as difficult for them as humanly possible.

I wrote them a check for $1 and sent it in.

They call one day soon thereafter and ask if there’s any way I can pay more than $1.

I tell them that, yet again, I don’t have the money to pay more than that. They just hung up.

The next month, and the following 13 months, I wrote a check to that AH Doc for $1.

She’s left wondering just how long she should keep this up. But in the meantime, it sure felt good.

They took payment, it never went to collections, and I’m currently considering whether to increase the pay to $10 monthly until the bill is paid or even pay it off.

I don’t think I want this guy’s name in my mailbox anymore.

But then again, I want to make good use out of the $12 I spent getting these checks made.

Paying $1 monthly would take up all the checks I ordered.

I mean, who else could I write these checks to?

This woman ended up turning a frustrating experience to her advantage!

What did Reddit have to say?

Turns out, you can fight medical bills with pettiness!

What a great way to stick it to the system.

This commenter has a great idea on how to make this malicious compliance even more effective.

This payment method may not have been conventional, but it certainly got her message across loud and clear.

Sometimes the best way to handle frustration is with a little bit of creative payback.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.