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Why women are still under represented and undervalued in medicine
- Errin Martin-Foley
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
For many decades, women have been told that modern medicine is equal and
objective; every patient will receive the same care, regardless of their gender.
However, the reality tells a very different story. From the clinical trials that exclude
women, to doctors who dismiss female pain as stress or hormonal, women
continue to face systemic under representation and bias in the medical field.
In the 20th century, women were excluded from medical research and drug trials
(McCarthy, 1994).
Often being justified with reasons due to hormonal cycles complicating results or the potential risks during pregnancy. As a result, many medications and treatments have been designed based on how male bodies react, therefore leaving women at risk of being misdiagnosed, having terrible side effects or ineffective therapies. For example, cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death in women, with research being primarily done on men. Women often experience different symptoms of a heart attack when compared to men, such as fatigue, nausea or shortness of breath, not only chest pain (Mehta et al., 2016).
Countless studies show that women are less likely to be taken seriously when
reporting pain. Women often wait longer for their treatment in emergency
departments and are more likely to be told their symptoms are psychological (Turris
& Finamore, 2008). Chronic conditions such as endometriosis, fibromyalgia and
autoimmune diseases are infamously under-researched and underdiagnosed (Boal,
2022). What is the result of this? Years of suffering before a correct diagnosis, if one
ever comes.
Even today, women's experiences are often still shaped by the outdated gender
stereotypes that were seen decades ago.
“She is overreacting”; “It is just anxiety”; “It is hormonal”
These biases not only affect patients but also the women who work within the
medical sector, from doctors to researchers, who face barriers to advancement in
medical conditions and under representation in their leadership positions.
In my own experience, I had attended the hospital on several occasions for pain I
have never experienced in my life. The first time I had experienced this pain, I was
woken up in the middle of the night with a tightness in my chest and an aching in my
back. I thought I was having a heart attack. I was sweating profusely and panicked,
not knowing what to do. I phoned my mother, who works in the medical sector,
hoping she would know what to do.
I was standing over my bathroom sink, pacing back and forth while grabbing onto my sink, when my mother answered the phone, and I could only get a few words out due to having shortness of breath from the pain. I attempted to tell her what was going on, and then the pain disappeared, just like the click of a finger. I was shocked and confused. My mother was, too. We had no idea what happened. We narrowed it down to maybe being indigestion, but in my mind, there was no way the pain could be that severe.
It was not until six days later that it happened again. This time, I was at home, and it
was more intense. My mother decided to phone for an ambulance. I could not speak,
I could not breathe, I was curled up in a ball one minute, crawling about the floor,
pleading for it to stop the next. Because I was having chest pain, the NHS told my
mother that they would be out immediately to see me. The ambulance arrived about
3 hours later. Just as the ambulance arrived, my pain disappeared again.
This time, I was furious. The paramedic checked me over, and everything was completely
normal. She told me I should go to the hospital immediately, so we did. When I
arrived at our local hospital, they only had out-of-hours GPs, because it was a
Saturday. I felt as though someone had squeezed the life out of me. When a doctor
saw me, he told me it sounded like period cramps and gave me no painkillers, but
told me to have a bath when I get home and to use a hot water bottle. I was
speechless and left. I took two weeks off work after this episode because my head
was in pieces and I was still experiencing after-pain.
After this, I knew it would be beneficial to go to one of the bigger hospitals in the city
if it happened again, which it did. We visited four hospitals over two months. Every
time I attended the hospital, even with chest pain, it took them at least 6 hours to see
me. The process was becoming tiring, and I felt utterly helpless. Without any
answers, I was given medications that were not related to what I was going through,
taking them, and they did not help me. I stopped eating due to the attacks happening
after I was having something as small as a biscuit. They told me the pain was due to
stress, hormones, or my periods, and I felt as though no one was taking me
seriously.
After about three months of back-and-forth trips to the ER and speaking to doctors
and specialists, I finally got something. I had attended the hospital in late December,
just before Christmas, and they arranged an ultrasound for me and found that I had
gallstones. I remember looking in the mirror at this hospital and seeing how unwell I
looked, my skin pale, my eyes bloodshot, my hair falling out and being too weak to
walk.
They told me that my condition was terrible and that I had to have my gallbladder removed, which happened a month later. Within that month, I suffered a further eight attacks, worsening each time. I was so mentally low due to my health being ignored by many professionals, friends and family members. I was thankful for the doctor who arranged things for me, and I just forgot about it all. After four solid months of agony, I finally had my surgery, and immediately after, I felt well again.
After months of countless hospital visits, stress and depression, I finally got the
answers I was looking for. The weight the process had on my mental health was
draining. It took me months to mentally recover. I believe that I had experienced
what it was like to be ignored by doctors, not take my situation seriously, and stress
me out in the process.
The process could have been quicker, more efficient, and less stressful if the doctors had really listened to me. The process helped me understand what it was like to go through a significant event in my life, a health scare at that, and how medical professionals do not always handle things the way they should be handled. I only hope things will change in the future, for the better, for patients and their mental and physical health.
References
Boal, A. (2022). The Chronically Undiagnosed: How American Society and Health
Care System Lets Ambiguously-Ill Patients Fall Through the Cracks.
McCarthy, C. R. (1994). Historical background of clinical trials involving women and
minorities. Academic Medicine, 69(9), 695.
Mehta, L. S., Beckie, T. M., DeVon, H. A., Grines, C. L., Krumholz, H. M., Johnson,
M. N., Lindley, K. J., Vaccarino, V., Wang, T. Y., Watson, K. E., & Wenger, N. K.
(2016). Acute Myocardial Infarction in Women. Circulation, 133(9), 916–947.
Turris, S. A., & Finamore, S. (2008). Reducing Delay for Women Seeking Treatment
in the Emergency Department for Symptoms of Potential Cardiac Illness. Journal of
Emergency Nursing, 34(6), 509–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jen.2007.09.016
