Medical gaslighting: Women’s pain ignored and serious health problems left undiagnosed due to sexist healthcare system

Ged Kearney knew there was a crisis brewing in Australian hospitals and GP clinics following the tragic death of her cousin, just hours after she was sent home with some Panadol by a doctor.

Australia’s assistant health minister was a nurse for 20 years before entering politics. She says women were systematically fired at the time, accused of “doctor shopping” for pills, and girls as young as 12 took contraceptive pills without any consideration. Unfortunately, not much has changed.

Most of the issues she’s aware of boil down to a lack of understanding and appreciation of how women’s health differs from men’s, a term called “medical misogyny.”

“If you look at it really deep down, the whole system was designed for a 50-year-old white man from Pennsylvania,” she told Daily Mail Australia.

“I’m not saying doctors are misogynists. Not at all. I’m just saying they operate in a system designed over the years by men, for men.’

In the case of her cousin Resa, Mrs. Kearney said that thinking about what she went through “still makes me want to cry.”

Resa, 60, presented to the emergency department with numbness and tingling from the waist down.

She was saddened and concerned about her symptoms, but the doctors “completely discharged her, gave her a Panadol and sent her home.”

She died later that night, alone in bed, from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Mrs Kearney said, ‘I thought, oh crap.

“If it had been a middle-aged man in a suit who came in with tingling from the waist down, they couldn’t possibly have ignored him.”

Ms Kearney is leading a new National Women’s Health Advisory Board that will reshape women’s health in Australia. She is determined to change the system.

“It’s like putting your shoulder against this huge building and trying to topple it over,” she said.

“I needed help.”

Australia’s assistant health minister was a nurse for 20 years before entering politics. Women were systematically fired, accused of ‘doctor shopping’ for pills and girls as young as 12 were given the contraceptive pill without any attention.

In July, she publicly called on women to contribute their own stories to the project. Less than a month later, she has already received more than 600 responses.

The stories are poignant and have painted a picture of the crisis across the country.

A woman in her 70s was dismissed by her doctor when she complained of severe pain during sex. He said ‘what do you expect, you are an old woman’ and sent her home.

Three days later, her appendix ruptured.

“He didn’t even give her a pelvic exam,” Mrs. Kearney said. Instead, she left her doctor feeling ashamed and horrible about herself.

Other stories describe women who report to hospitals with concerns about their babies, only to be discharged and told they suffer from “anxious mother syndrome.” In one case, the baby had juvenile dementia.

“Women just aren’t believed, even when they have children of their own,” she said.

‘My advice is to believe your own body; you know better than anyone. Don’t be told that because you are a woman you should be in pain.

Ms Kearney is leading a new National Women’s Health Advisory Board that will reshape women’s health in Australia. She is determined to change the system

“Be prepared to defend your body and yourself. If the doctor rejects you, stick to your point of view. It’s hard and I’ve struggled with it myself, but I want to build a system where you never have to.

“I want women to be believed, I want them to be safe and I want them to be treated.”

Ms Kearney is calling on women across Australia to do this share their experiences for the committee before 13 October via an online portal. The survey is available in 17 languages ​​and participants can submit video or audio if it’s more convenient for them.

“I want thousands of women so I can go to those in power who are here and say look at all the women this is affecting,” she said.

This committee will primarily focus on four main research areas; security, research, access and empowerment.

It will explore research, funding and treatment of medical issues that affect women, from menopause to cancer care, reproductive health and cardiovascular disease.