A paralyzed woman was told by a doctor to ‘go for a walk’ three times, so she pointed at her wheelchair, and viewers are calling it out

Riley Fennewald was lying in her hospital bed in Denver, Colorado when a doctor told her that going for a walk would help get her GI tract moving again, as reported by The Nerd Stash. She responded the only way she could. “I can’t feel or use my legs,” she said in a video posted to TikTok. Fennewald regularly shares content about her condition, which stems from spinal and neuromuscular injuries, along with updates on her sobriety journey.

She has also opened up about a range of digestive issues tied to her spinal injury, naming gastroparesis, intestinal dysmotility, malabsorption, CIPO, and colonic failure among her diagnoses. During this latest hospitalization, a doctor suggested walking as a way to help with her digestive issues. “I just had a doctor tell me that going on a walk would be really helpful in terms of getting my GI tract moving again,” she said. She responded by pointing directly at her wheelchair, which sat next to her hospital bed.

This was not an isolated mix-up. Roughly a year has passed since her spinal injury, and in that time, she has now heard the same walking suggestion from three separate doctors, this incident being the latest. “I literally just pointed at my wheelchair,” she said in the video. The doctor’s reaction, according to Fennewald, was one of clear embarrassment once the mistake became apparent.

Her hospitalist made the suggestion

The doctor who made the suggestion was reportedly her hospitalist, meaning she was responsible for coordinating all of Fennewald’s care during her stay, which made the oversight even more concerning to her. Frustrating experiences with dismissive healthcare providers have gone viral before, including an Oregon mother who says she was denied access to her son’s patient portal despite being his legal guardian.

Reactions to the video largely echoed Fennewald’s frustration. One person asked, “Why is it so hard to read through a patient’s past medical history?” Another pointed to the value of nursing staff, writing, “Unfortunately, this is why nurses are so important. They know more about a patient than the doctors, usually.” Several commenters shared their own experiences with being given advice that ignored their specific medical conditions.

One person, who identified as a type 1 diabetic, said a nutritionist once told them ice cream was fine as a snack. Another said they were told to take ibuprofen instead of Tylenol despite having kidney disease and undergoing dialysis. Fennewald’s experience reflects a documented pattern in healthcare settings. A study published in the journal Health Affairs found that only about 40 percent of physicians surveyed felt very confident in their ability to provide the same quality of care to patients with disabilities as to non-disabled patients.

Separate research led by Dr. Lisa Iezzoni found that only 22 percent of doctors surveyed routinely used wheelchair-accessible scales, and nearly 60 percent lacked accessible exam tables or chairs. Researchers have linked these gaps in training and equipment to delayed diagnoses and lower quality care overall for wheelchair users and other patients with mobility limitations. Fennewald said being dismissed by healthcare workers for not visibly appearing sick has felt “wild” at times.

It remains unclear what steps, if any, were taken afterward to address the oversight or update her care team on her full medical history.