The pain gap: Women (still) aren’t taken seriously by doctors

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Almost every woman has been told that it’s all in her head or she’s imagining it, and almost every woman was never imagining it.

 

(Mary Elizabeth Williams/ Salon) — I’m obsessed now with just hearing women’s doctor stories,” says Anushay Hossain. “Everyone has one.”

The author of “The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women” definitely has her own. After growing up in Bangladesh, the writer, podcaster and policy analyst felt “relieved” to be delivering her baby in the nation with “the best healthcare in the world.” Instead, she almost died in childbirth, an experience that left her shocked at how ineptly her medical team had handled her pain and symptoms — and how uncharacteristically compliant she’d been in her vulnerability.

It was an ordeal that led Hossain to delve into the ways in which women are treated (and mistreated) in the American health care system, and “how misogyny in medical practice profoundly impacts women’s health.” (…)

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