Medical Sexism In Healthcare Is Real … Women Are Sharing Times They Were Misdiagnosed Because Their Doctors Didn't Take Them Seriously

[Strawberry]

If only this could be shoved down medical throats. I was told women can’t get heart disease. While I’ve had distant family members die of heart attack. It’s so wrong! Ditto to your other thread of similar topic.I could go on, but won’t out of political correctness…..

 

[Jammy88]

That’s a shame .

Unfortunately it doesn’t happen to women only . I am a man and doctors rarely help me out. Especially men ones . Women doctors are more empathetic

 

[Revel]

This woman wasn't even told she'd had a stroke. She only found out after requesting her notes, but by then it was too late to treat (unless antidepressants and a manicure are how strokes are dealt with on the NHS, I dunno . . . ):

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...34-suffered-stroke-told-GP-home-MANICURE.html

 

[Zebra]

Here's another example of a woman's pain being dismissed up until the point of a catastrophic diagnosis.

This type of story is so F-ing familiar by now, I initially thought, "Oh, I've already read this one." Nope.

https://www.insider.com/doctors-dismissed-31-mom-pain-gallbladder-stage-4-cancer-2022-6?amp

 

[Rufous McKinney]

"Oh, I've already read this one." Nope.

tumors the size of grapefruits not noticed yet ultrasounds are happening?

the frustrating part is something that obvious could be detected by simply looking. (I get ads to do a full body MRI all the time: so they are perfectly capable of doing such things but do nothing instead....)

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

As a disclaimer, many of these medical sexism articles I post could be double entries under DOCTORS WHO ARE IDIOTS AND JUST DON’T GIVE A SHITE …. but for now, since they all center on female patients, I’ll keep posting as sexism and leave it up to y’all where they apply most in your life ….

I have to admit, I started feeling a lot better after reading all these examples of medical ….. uh, excellence. For a while, I thought that I’d just had seriously bad luck. Now I realize that I was super lucky I didn’t die …

New Mom's Colon Cancer Symptoms Dismissed as Postpartum Complications
https://news.yahoo.com/moms-colon-cancer-symptoms-dismissed-210714618.html

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Read the article, thanks for posting.

What strikes me is the description of "something is wrong" leads to such lame conclusions.

Why would your lower back hurt from a hemorrhoid? And what is the nature of "hurts". And it sounds like a really simply feel around the abdomen could have generated a follow up on that. And two minutes of an ultrasound.

Its like we show up and occupy bodies yet have no idea whats transpiring within them. Some things are a total mystery of course, but still.

Again it reminds me of the issue: called "My elbow hurts"...because of elbow bursitis but the practitioner in question, is simply parked on assuming its the JOINT hurts and arthritis. How about asking another question?

No the joint is fine. Why don't you ask? Its projections. Its assumptions.

why not actually ask? Of course I'd be attempting to better describe my symptoms, were the doctor or person in question be capable of listening....(my doctor does listen and ask questions, but my chinese herbalist is now a projectionist.)

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

my chinese herbalist is now a projectionist.)

Oh damn. That's really disappointing, and I imagine it must be more than disappointing to you.

It's certainly not what I expect from a TCM practitioner. Maybe it's contagious?

 

[Rufous McKinney]

That's really disappointing, and I imagine it must be more than disappointing to you.

not really surprising.. pretty much expected. People still exist within the culture they exist in.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

What strikes me is the description of "something is wrong" leads to such lame conclusions.

It's gob-smacking. Particularly when you consider how many different ways and times patients, including the woman in the article above, desperately tried to redirect the Drs focus, such as it was. But it's like trying to change the course of the Titanic in a rowboat.

Once a Dr has decided what's wrong with a patient, including the dread "It's all in her head", there's practically no budging them. They dig in their heels, treat you for the wrong thing, and move on to the next victi... patient and never look back.

Dr Jerome Groopman, who wrote a wonderful book called How Doctors Think, describes it as stereotyping and anchoring, and it feels like they must teach it in med school, probably using the time that ISN'T spent on even the most basic knowledge about nutrition.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

People still exist within the culture they exist in.

True, but I always thought that healers like TCM practitioners lived in a somewhat different culture, and it's depressing to find out that they dont.

I guess they like a shiny new Mercedes as much as the next guy.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

hat healers like TCM practitioners lived in a somewhat different culture

a baby boomer from South Dakota....

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

a baby boomer from South Dakota....

I was thinking more of the mental culture that the close study of TCM might create, rather than an actual GPS location, which can establish an unfair yardstick.

Tho not, it seems, in this case .....

 

[Rufous McKinney]

generally, the skill sets that is selected for primarily in the medical fields is heavily left brain.

And the complaints are about the lack of development of the right brain.

My TCM person is an outstanding healer, also has considerable intuitive skill. But still tends to view things through this left brain because its strongly developed.

and you can only do so much "teaching" such skills...

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

And the complaints are about the lack of development of the right brain.

My complaints are about the lack of left-brain diligence in actually paying attention to clues and following up on them, rather than sticking to their own pre-judgments and prejudices ....

 

[Jyoti]

Here is a nice piece that folds together some of the realities of medical sexism, Long Covid and ME:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/18/long-covid-women-symptoms-medical-misogyny

The long-term impacts of Covid-19 have familiar parallels. Long Covid has overlapping symptoms with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a complex and often debilitating illness that can follow viral infections. The CDC estimates women are diagnosed with ME/CFS at three to four times the rate of men. Distrust or suspicion from doctors when they report symptoms is commonplace.

“Long Covid is new, but in a way it’s not,” says Dr Ziyad Al-Aly, a long Covid researcher and chief of research and development at the Veterans Affairs Saint Louis Health Care System in the US. Chronic post-viral illness is known to have followed outbreaks of many viruses, including polio, Ebola, Sars, Mers, dengue and the 2009 influenza pandemic – all with common symptoms including fatigue and neurological disturbances. Chronic post-viral conditions, research shows, affect more women than men

 

[IThinkImTurningJapanese]

True, but I always thought that healers like TCM practitioners lived in a somewhat different culture, and it's depressing to find out that they dont.

I guess they like a shiny new Mercedes as much as the next guy.

I have rather limited experience, but of the two I've been treated by, one had zero interest in learning anything new and the second one was quite interested in the things I shared, but seemed to have limited access to recent research.

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

It's really good to see you, @IThinkImTurningJapanese .... I've been wondering where the incredible C.Cat had gotten to !!!!

 

[Rufous McKinney]

They can't ignore us any longer....from the Guardian........

https://www.theguardian.com/society...rvdFwuqise8pjHl3pBkDkImZOPvWL11fTwJ9dvTylj82E

 

[YippeeKi YOW !!]

They can't ignore us any longer....from the Guardian........

The first step towards the next series of articles, "Why Long COVID Is All In Your Head" ....