Background <p>To date, few (international) studies have examined general experiences of discrimination from the perspective of doctors and medical students. The aim of the present study was therefore to record the experiences of discrimination that forensic pathologists and medical students have encountered in their everyday and professional lives and to determine their own attitudes toward discrimination.</p> Method <p>In a&#xa0;prospective, anonymous online study, <i>N</i> = 1660 individuals (German Society of Legal Medicine, DGRM members and medical students in Düsseldorf) were invited to participate in an exploratory survey. The overall response rate was 17% (<i>N</i> = 285, of which <i>n</i> = 130 were forensic doctors and <i>n</i> = 155 students).</p> Results <p>The majority of respondents felt that the educational material provided as part of their studies was only partially or not at all sensitive to discrimination (74.1%). More than one third could spontaneously recall at least one discriminatory term from textbooks (37.8%) and even more frequently from everyday medical language (53.0%). Both medical students and doctors most frequently experience discrimination in their working lives (31.2%), in the health and care sector (29.0%) and in public/leisure time (22.2%). The respondents’ experiences of discrimination most frequently relate to characteristics, such as (assigned) gender (34.1%), (assigned) age (21.1%), and physical appearance (19.4%).</p> Conclusion <p>Experiences of discrimination are widespread in the respondents’ medical studies as well as in their professional and private lives. The implications for discrimination-sensitive medical practice and communication in medical education and practice are discussed.</p>