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A review by jane_henningsen
Doing Harm: The Truth about How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick by Maya Dusenbery
5.0
Oof what a tough read. If you are a woman or you care about any women in your life, you should probably read this!
A couple of years ago some friends and I picked up “Invisible Women” as a part of a book club and it opened my eyes to the fact that a lot of the innovations we rely on, from seatbelts and airbags to prescription drugs, are not adequately tested on women or designed with women in mind.
This is a great followup to that. It’s specific to the healthcare industry, and it documents a recurring vicious cycle in healthcare where women are not studied, then they present in a clinical setting with some nagging issue, and are told that their problems must be psychological because there is no current medical explanation for their symptoms. But of course there’s no explanation - nobody bothered to look for it!
Women’s mysterious health issues have been written off as psychosomatic until research identified them as lupus, MS, endometriosis, and many other diseases that occur in women. These are all difficult conditions to live with and my heart aches for the women of previous generations who spent years being told that their pain was in their heads, or was a personality flaw.
Another topic is the medical community’s bias against women. (there are literally quotes from medical school textbooks in the ‘70s that teach students to look out for attention seeking irritable women who surely have no real problems - it is WILD to see these things in writing in a “credible” source.)
It also discusses how common medical problems such as heart disease present differently in women than men, and that some women suffering heart attacks have been sent home from multiple emergency rooms before anyone took them seriously. The lack of research and documentation of women’s symptoms means their symptoms don’t align with what’s taught, and they are dismissed as anxious when they are actually very ill.
I really do think that everyone should read this. Women should read it so that they can understand how to advocate for themselves and trust the messages they receive from their own bodies. Men should read this because it will help them understand and advocate for their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters. And if you’re not on the gender binary I think it’s applicable too - you are not the typical male
patient.
A couple of years ago some friends and I picked up “Invisible Women” as a part of a book club and it opened my eyes to the fact that a lot of the innovations we rely on, from seatbelts and airbags to prescription drugs, are not adequately tested on women or designed with women in mind.
This is a great followup to that. It’s specific to the healthcare industry, and it documents a recurring vicious cycle in healthcare where women are not studied, then they present in a clinical setting with some nagging issue, and are told that their problems must be psychological because there is no current medical explanation for their symptoms. But of course there’s no explanation - nobody bothered to look for it!
Women’s mysterious health issues have been written off as psychosomatic until research identified them as lupus, MS, endometriosis, and many other diseases that occur in women. These are all difficult conditions to live with and my heart aches for the women of previous generations who spent years being told that their pain was in their heads, or was a personality flaw.
Another topic is the medical community’s bias against women. (there are literally quotes from medical school textbooks in the ‘70s that teach students to look out for attention seeking irritable women who surely have no real problems - it is WILD to see these things in writing in a “credible” source.)
It also discusses how common medical problems such as heart disease present differently in women than men, and that some women suffering heart attacks have been sent home from multiple emergency rooms before anyone took them seriously. The lack of research and documentation of women’s symptoms means their symptoms don’t align with what’s taught, and they are dismissed as anxious when they are actually very ill.
I really do think that everyone should read this. Women should read it so that they can understand how to advocate for themselves and trust the messages they receive from their own bodies. Men should read this because it will help them understand and advocate for their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters. And if you’re not on the gender binary I think it’s applicable too - you are not the typical male
patient.