“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made”… especially when it comes to our healthcare.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Did you know that women in pain are much more likely to receive sedatives for pain, rather than pain medication for their ailments? Did you know that women wait an average of 65 minutes before receiving pain meds while at the ER, while men wait only 49 minutes? There’s even a study out there that women are half as likely to be prescribed painkillers for coronary bypass surgery as men.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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These gender biases in the US healthcare system can have serious and sometimes deadly consequences. For instance, women are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed and discharged than men while having a heart attack. This is because the majority of medical concepts are based on the male body, not the female, and we as women have altogether different symptoms during a heart attack.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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But wait, there’s more, women in the U.S. are sicker, have to worker harder to get good care, and spend more on medical bills than women in other wealthy nations. We are also far more likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth than women in other developed nations. And did you know that women of color experience all of the above at even higher rates?
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Our healthcare matters, and today on the podcast I talk to Liz Grant about all of this and how to advocate for our health.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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As a doula and a woman who suffers from a chronic disease, Liz gives us tips and tricks on how to get the most from our healthcare providers and how to make sure our voices are heard.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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This continues as part of our relationship series, focusing on the relationship we all have with our healthcare providers.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Information sourced from Laura Kiesel’s “Women and pain” article on health.harvard.edu.
Here are more resources: