Why do so many women have trouble getting effective and compassionate medical treatment? Diagnosis Female examines this widespread problem, with a focus on misdiagnosis and gender bias. The book zeroes in on specialties where women are more likely to encounter particularly troubling roadblocks: cardiology, neurology, chronic diseases and obstetrics/gynecology. All too often, when doctors can't figure out what is going on, women receive a diagnosis from the "all in her head" column - this pattern is even worse for women of color, who may face significant challenges in medical settings. Throughout the work, Emily Dwass profiles women whose stories illustrate how medical practitioners often dismiss their claims or disregard their symptoms. Because women were excluded from important medical research for centuries, doctors don't always recognize that male symptoms and female symptoms can vary from issue to issue. Even today, most diagnostic tests and treatment plans are based on studies done on men. Throughout the book, women state that their voices do not matter, or worse, their concerns are greeted with skepticism or simply ignored when they seek help. The results can be devastating and long-lasting. Examining the bias inherent in the system, Dwass offers measures women can take to protect their health and receive better care. She offers advice, too, for the medical community in addressing the problem, so that outcomes can improve all around. If you're a woman, and you seek medical care, this book is a must-read. Your health depends upon it.
Emily Dwass has written about health, food and cultural issues for numerous publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, and the Chicago Tribune. She also has written television and movie scripts for the entertainment industry.
Introduction 1 All in My Head 2 All in Her Head 3 Voices Not Heard 4 Heartfelt 5 Chronic 6 Cracking the Ceiling 7 "There Is Somebody Sitting Here" Resources Notes Selected Bibliography Acknowledgments Index About the Author
Women are not the weaker sex, they are the less studied sex, and as a result, their health suffers. Journalist Dwass reveals how medical research has long over-focused on men, leading to misdiagnosis, mistreatment, or no treatment for women. Even most brain studies have been conducted on male animals. Why? Often it's unconscious gender bias. What can women do to counter this aberration? A lot, according to Dwass. Don't suffer. Ignore "it's all in your head" comments. Get multiple opinions. Ask what tests are available. While focusing on cardiology, chronic diseases, gynecology, and neurology (she had a benign brain tumor), Dwass also touches on sexual harassment in the medical world, and offers inspiring portraits of female physicians who have cracked the glass ceiling and improved the field. One woman, for example, taught fellow doctors how to perform painless breast and pelvic exams. Some valuable parting tips for readers seeking diagnosis: Believe in yourself and what Dwass calls "the truth of your symptoms," and find healthcare providers who trust you and listen to you. * Booklist * Prior to 1993, women were excluded from participating in medical research as case study subjects, just one piece of shocking information discovered in this work by food and health journalist Dwass. The author combines her experience of being diagnosed with a benign brain tumor after years of living with a misdiagnosis of Guillain-Barre syndrome with interviews with other women who have survived major health scares and dismissal of their symptoms by physicians. She notes several areas of specialty-neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiology, and chronic diseases-to detail women's struggles, and how they navigate physician egos, gender and racial bias, and symptoms classified as anxiety or panic attacks. Advocating for more female doctors, particularly more African American female physicians (currently only two percent of U.S. doctors are black women), Dwass also emphasizes the salary gap in medicine, with women earning 26.5 percent less than men. . . . A solid addition to the growing field of female patient advocacy. * Library Journal * In conversations about the deficiencies of the medical-industrial complex, we often forget to center those who bear the brunt of medical oppression: the most marginalized. Women, people of color, disabled people, and more - and worse so, folks at intersections of those identities - are ignored. But these experiences, when uncovered, bring to light the most egregious treatment by the medical community. With Diagnosis Female, Dwass bravely offers readers a look into medical misogyny, validating women's common experiences in doctors' offices, with both wit and candor. And in doing so, she reveals that our culture is the most sick of all -- Melissa Fabello, Former Managing Editor, Everyday Feminism, PhD Emily Dwass offers an accessible and forceful addition to the growing chorus exposing the deep-seated gender bias within medicine. Diagnosis Female will speak to any woman whose voice has gone unheard at the doctor's office. -- Maya Dusenbery, author of "Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick" A smart and supremely telling addition to the vital body of work by women transforming pain into power. -- Abby Norman In Diagnosis Female: How Medical Bias Endangers Women's Health, Emily Dwass masterfully takes on the medical establishment for overlooking and sometimes perilously ignoring the unique medical symptoms and needs of women. She tackles this complex topic with deep knowledge of the history of medical research, current clinical practice and a medical education system that has too often turned its head away from sexual harassment within its ranks and intentionally disadvantaged female professionals. She does this by interweaving statistical data from academic studies of gender disparities in health care treatment and outcomes, anecdotes from women who have been disbelieved and embarrassed by uncaring doctors, and by sharing bits and pieces of her own medical journey which astonishingly includes a brain tumor that was misdiagnosed for four years. While the book is thoroughly researched, it is written with sympathetic insight and even a touch of humor. -- Diane E. Hoffmann, Jacob A. France Professor of Health Law, University of Maryland School of Law, co-author of "The Girl who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women in the Treatment of Pain," Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics (2001).
