Gender bias in medicine is no secret, but often women don’t notice or complain because it’s not obvious. Women of Reddit.
In a since-deleted post, she explained the stark difference in the medications prescribed for her and her husband after they both required painkillers following a medical intervention.
The woman’s husband was prescribed narcotics for her vasectomy surgery, but she received “over-the-counter” medication for her C-section birth.
“A lot of people are focusing on the C-section part. This isn’t necessarily about C-sections… it’s about principle. The fact that it wasn’t even considered, but in the case of vasectomies, it’s being handed out like dangerous candy.”
After her husband underwent an outpatient vasectomy, a 15-minute minimally invasive procedure, she was shocked when he came home with a bottle of Vicodin. Highly addictive drugwhich is usually prescribed to relieve “intense pain.” Vicodin is usually too intense for a vasectomy. At worst, it can cause discomfort. For a few days.
“My C-section required spinal surgery [injection] “It left my entire lower body paralyzed and I couldn’t move my legs at all, so in basic comparison a C-section is major surgery and a vasectomy isn’t,” she wrote, “but then he was prescribed some strong narcotics and I was told to hang in there with Tylenol and ibuprofen.”
Gender bias and systemic stereotypes about women’s pain tolerance often contribute to these significant differences in healthcare.
She couldn’t believe what a difference the medication prescribed for her and her husband made, especially considering the birth she’d just experienced (which included a completely invasive abdominal C-section that was painful throughout the six-week recovery period). “This is major abdominal surgery that takes six weeks,” she stressed. “I was out of the hospital 36 hours later. [for my] I had a C-section and was told to take over-the-counter Tylenol and ibuprofen.”
Although she could tolerate the pain for a few weeks, she couldn’t believe her husband had overcompensated with prescription painkillers, especially given the risks of opioid addiction. Savings from providers Prescribing these medications in recent years has left her disappointed, to say the least.
Doctors often disagree about what type of medication is needed To treat pain during childbirth And they often wait until complications arise before treating with narcotics.
However, most doctors agree on what a vasectomy entails. Technically not considered a serious procedure By medical standards, the risk of pain and complications is extremely low. 95% of patients who have had a vasectomy Although doctors allow the surgery to be performed without the use of narcotics, the woman’s husband underwent treatment with narcotics.
So, although there seems to be a degree of irresponsibility on the part of her doctor husband, this woman’s situation is very much indicative of the struggles many women face in the medical profession.
Intersectional discussions on health disparities are essential, especially for marginalized women.
Gender stereotypes and harmful biases impact everyone’s lives on a daily basis, even in the doctor’s office, a place where we expect universal openness, honesty, and openness. But research shows that assumption is simply ignorance, and doctors often underestimate and sometimes mistreat women’s pain. Based on gendered assumptions about tolerance.
The prejudices and stereotypes that are commonly referred to as medical negligence Daily Standards for Medical Professionals — Situations like this are often the result of ignorance, carelessness, and even patriarchal superiority complexes.
But medical malpractice requires a much larger and more complex discussion. Specifically characterized as medical or institutional racism — for people of color in our country. For Black and other women of color in particular, disproportionate recognition of distress at both the individual and systemic levels in healthcare institutions leads to health disparities, from mishandling of medications to completely incorrect medical diagnoses and procedures.
Women are being ignored, mistreated and harmed in medical settings that are meant to support their health, so it’s no wonder there is distrust for the medical establishment in general.
It’s impossible to cover all the ways this distrust affects women, but here are a few examples: Less likely to seek preventive care In the medical field Low trust in vaccine campaigns Deep-seated fear of abuse during COVID-19 Major medical events such as childbirth At the doctor’s office and in everyday life Find a doctor you can trust When you need it.
Not only are women less likely to seek early treatment when they face difficulties, they are also less likely to be treated fairly when they do – a sad cycle of ignorance that plagues women’s lives.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a News & Entertainment Writer at YourTango, specializing in health & wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.
