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Medical misogyny
Series

Medical misogyny

This is an investigative series by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald into medical misogyny. We will explore how this happens in Australia, look at the impacts on women and share the best ideas to address it.

11 stories
All in your head index illo
Investigation

A woman thought she had a stalker. Authorities sent her to a psych ward

This masthead has uncovered a series of disturbing cases where women say they have been disbelieved, misdiagnosed, and wrongly admitted to mental health wards. Others have been told their pain is “all in their head”.

  • by Aisha Dow and Kate Aubusson
Jenny Piper has been told she has just months to live.
Investigation

‘Never taken seriously’: Jenny says doctors dismissed her concerns for years. Now she’s dying

More than 1800 women told us their stories of medical misogyny. Today we begin sharing those stories and building the case for change.

  • by Kate Aubusson, Aisha Dow and Emily Kaine
Art by Monique Westermann.
Investigation

The $8.5 billion health pledge doctors say will disadvantage women

Longer consults already attract a smaller rate of funding per minute than shorter consults. The gap is set to widen despite additional funding.

  • by Aisha Dow and Kate Aubusson
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Keira Rumble.
Investigation

‘I thought I was insane’: Doctors kept ignoring Keira’s pain. It almost killed her

Keira Rumble was a victim of a poorly researched health phenomenon known as medical misogyny. Its consequences can be fatal.

  • by Kate Aubusson and Wendy Tuohy
Many studies have demonstrated women are more sensitive to pain.
Opinion

‘We offer anaesthetic but only men need it’: The persistent myth about pain

Do women or men have a higher threshold for pain? It’s a question that raises a number of problems with Australia’s medical system.

  • by Wendy Tuohy
Women’s health is a tricky issue.
Investigation

‘It’s all in your head’: How medical gender bias affects Australian women

What is medical misogyny? How do we know it exists? Our reporters reveal the background to this series for the Morning Edition podcast.

‘Almost killed me’: 1000 women dismissed, left in pain and misdiagnosed
Investigation

‘Almost killed me’: 1000 women dismissed, left in pain and misdiagnosed

More than a thousand women have shared their disturbing encounters with the medical system as part of an investigation into medical misogyny.

  • by Carrie Fellner and Emily Kaine
Victorian woman Suzanne Boatto, who was turned away from the emergency department after suffering a heart attack.
Exclusive

‘Like someone took a hot poker and stabbed it through my heart’: Women left behind by medical research

Australian medical research currently does not account for the needs of women, a scoping review from the Department of Health and Aged Care has found.

  • by Emily Kaine
Medical misogyny has a long history.

From wandering wombs to the missing clitoris: How medical misogyny works

From Ancient Greece right through to modern medicine in Australia today, the treatment of women in science started badly and remains a serious problem.

  • by Kate Aubusson and Emily Kaine
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Teacher Nikki Purtill was lucy to survive a missed diagnosis of a cyst on her brain.
Investigation

‘These mistakes cost lives’: The medical bias that affects half of Australia

Nikki Purtill was lucky to survive an undiagnosed cyst on her brain. Her experience is part of the under-researched phenomenon of medical misogyny.

  • by Aisha Dow, Wendy Tuohy, Emily Kaine and Kate Aubusson
Kirsty Costa was 31 and had just lost a pregnancy when she was told she had gone into early menopause, a condition with which more young women are being diagnosed.

At 31, Kirsty had just been pregnant – but she suddenly faced a ‘brutal’ reality

The months-long “medical limbo” Kirsty Costa fell into while trying to get a diagnosis has now helped to inform new guidelines for doctors.

  • by Wendy Tuohy

Original URL: https://www.watoday.com.au/national/medical-misogyny-20241204-p5kvq7.html