Chronic illness and #MyositisWarrior patients often report that they encounter disbelief from medical professionals; sometimes women with chronic illness state their treatment is even worse amounting to condescension. No patient should feel their medical staff is not taking them seriously, especially because of their gender. Does this harken to the antiquated notions of female hysteria? Does it play on stereotypes of women as drama queens?
For whatever reason that it does occur, it can be frustrating and upsetting for women, especially ones who view themselves as independent and perfectly capable of speaking for themselves to feel they need a spouse or other person to come along to new appointment to provide “back-up” or validation of the symptoms they are reporting.
The long-term bias against women in medicine (including how medical studies have been conducted) can actually lead to delays in diagnosis, treatment, and in the long-run can cause lasting harm in women’s health matters.
Don’t take our word for it:
https://www.today.com/health/gender-bias-health-care-may-be-harming-women-s-health-t133583
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4800017/
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