Medical researchers and journalists have confirmed that women are more likely to be inadequately treated by health care providers than men.
Pain and Prejudice
It is also the experience of many Clinical Negligence Lawyers that women suffering avoidable injuries as a result of inadequate treatment, are being forced to seek justice and bring claims for compensation.
Common themes identified are:
- Women are considered to complain more about pain and are listened to less by health professionals;
- Historically women are perceived as hypochondriacs, whereas men are seen as stoic sufferers;
- The medical world give every impression they know less about female biology compared to male biology;
- Women are underrepresented in health professions.
Women’s Health in History
Ancient history has considered women weak, inferior, and their wombs making them vessels of all manners of ailments that requires them to be segregated from society. Almost every female has experienced, at some point in their life, being told that their change in mood, or expression of emotion is as a result of their wild, untameable hormones- often met with the patronising advice to “Calm down dear…” A famous phase that even made its way into media advertisements in the early 00s, and one of our recent Prime Ministers only a few years ago.
In medicine, historically doctors often recommended marriage as a cure for female psychological issues. Little interest was given to a woman’s ailment unless it directly related to an issue which would impact on her ability to produce a child.
Studies suggest the medical profession/pharmaceutical industry give every appearance of understanding less about the female body then men. This has been compounded by the fact that women were excluded from significant studies that didn’t revolve around child bearing. In 2001, landmark studies published in the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, set out a clear bias against women in the treatment of pain. The study concluded that women were more likely to be inadequately treated by health care providers who are more likely to dismiss women vocalising their pain.
The Present Picture- Nothing has changed
Over a decade later, has anything changed and are Lawyers seeing this reflected in the types of Clinical Negligence cases they take on?
From campaigning over the last two decades for better access to justice for women complaining of clinical negligence, it pains me that the picture has not moved on more. Women all too often are still being accused of having ‘fixation on their health’, or dismissed with hypochondria and anxiety, and more often than not, provided with substandard treatment or delayed diagnoses.
Women are being forced to seek justice for the substandard treatment that they have received, impacted by the gender bias they have experienced, which has caused them to suffer avoidable injury.
Recent studies have shown that women are:
- Less likely to receive CPR- American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health, found that only 39% of women who have a cardiac arrest in a public place were given CPR, versus 45% of men. Men were 23% more likely to survive.
- Delayed/missed diagnosis of Endometriosis- 1 in 10 women suffer from the disease, but it takes on average seven to eight years to be diagnosed. It causes chronic pain, debilitating periods, fatigue, nausea and other serious, life-altering issues. In September 2019 new guidelines were published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), in a bid to speed up diagnosis of endometriosis. Nice added that the NHS must “listen to women”.
- Receiving substandard treatment of Dementia – University College London studies found that women with dementia receive worse medical treatment than men, receiving less health monitoring and more harmful medication.
- Delayed diagnosis of Heart Attacks- Women get symptoms more easily confused with indigestion, are more likely to be treated less seriously by their GP and less likely to have tests such as an ECG and are less likely to be offered implantable devices that prevent later deaths
- Suffering with Vaginal Mesh Implants – have caused life altering complications, pain and suffering, leading actions against health professionals ( for their failure to obtain informed consent ) and drug companies ( see the recent example of a class action product liability claim in Australia )
- Having stomach pains ignored- Women have to wait on average 16 minutes longer than male patients to see an A&E doctor for stomach pain;
- Delayed cancer diagnosis- due to pain symptoms being ignored for extended periods of time
Our advice if you feel unheard:
- Be willing to try another GP or request to see a different consultant;
- Keep a symptom diary and take it to all appointments;
- Don't be afraid to push the point with your doctor if you feel you are not being heard;
- Complain if you aren't being listened to as each GP and NHS trust has a complaints procedure which can be used to get clear answers if needed.
Our advice for health professionals: overcome ‘structural sexism’
Whilst it may not be fair to call most doctors sexist, countless studies and case law confirms that the health industry is suffering from ‘structural sexism’. This needs to be accepted as the current position rather than theory.
Urgent change needs to take place to help save women’s lives, and protect and enhance female patient safety. GPs and NHS workers need to listen to female patient’s needs. As awareness increases, the medical profession needs to learn from past mistakes so it does not run the risk of being regarded as a structurally unevolved industry without a memory.
Robert Rose, Partner, and Victoria Sheldon, Solicitor both at Lime Solicitors