Few fields have achieved gender parity and medicine is one of them. A recent study also shows that as patients, women can be victims of implicit sexual prejudices that can potentially lead to a fatal outcome. How is this possible?
Gender parity is progressing slowly, but much more progress still needs to be made. Indeed, sexism is tough. Moreover, a recent study shows that patients can also be victims of sexism and be given a diagnosis that can seriously harm their health . In short, a woman with a male doctor is more likely to die.
As part of their work published in the journal JAMA Surgery on December 8, 2021, doctors at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Center in Toronto (Canada) analyzed medical records approximately 1.3 million patients supported by approximately 3,000 surgeons. The results are chilling. Indeed, the risk of death is 32% higher for women when in a man-led operation. As for the additional risk of operative complications, the increase is 15%. Unsurprisingly, men operated on by women do not encounter any additional risk.
Angela Jerath, lead author of the study and epidemiologist, explains that any technical differences between men and women cannot explain these results. Indeed, all surgeons receive substantially the same training. On the other hand, the reason may lie on the side of implicit sexual prejudice , stereotypes and other subconscious attitudes. Researchers also point to differences in communication and interpersonal skills. This would manifest itself in the exchanges between surgeons and their patients before the operation.
The latest testimonial of this kind of phenomenon is that of Hannah Catton, a 24-year-old Briton living in Australia. In an interview with BBC News on January 24, 2022, she explains that she consulted several doctors about irregular periods, abdominal pain, fatigue, chronic urinary tract infections and bloating. In response, doctors advised him to manage his stress and lose weight. The ordeal lasted two years before the young woman was diagnosed with a 2.5 kg ovarian tumor . This example of medical wandering, which is far from being an isolated case, could have cost the life of the patient.
