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Hysterectomy — the surgical removal of a woman’s uterus, and sometimes ovaries and cervix — might be the most common gynecological surgery in the U.S. today. (Some researchers say caesarian-section birth is No. 1.) It’s long been prescribed for ailments like cancer and fibroid tumors.
Now, increasingly vocal critics are making the provocative argument that the surgery is almost always unnecessary. A new book, The H Word: What gynecology doesn’t want you to know about 100 years of hysterectomy and female castration in America, chronicles a year of anti-hysterectomy activism by its authors and their foundation, Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services (HERS). The activists traveled the country protesting outside hospitals in all 50 states and staging a reading of un becoming, a play about the topic by one of the book’s co-authors, Pittsburgh-based playwright Rick Schweikert.
The H Word consists of a series of vignettes, and is flush with first-name-only anecdotes from women who say their lives were destroyed by hysterectomy. Their complaints range from depression to loss of sex drive to incontinence. The protesters encounter doctors who don’t want to take their pamphlets or who say they never do unnecessary surgery.
The self-published book argues that women are uninformed about and bullied into the surgery by profit-motivated doctors. It says that women would never consent to have their sex organs removed if they knew what they were in for.
Schweikert and co-author Nora W. Coffey — who herself underwent a hysterectomy — assert that women whose uteruses are removed lose sexual function, age more quickly, and develop problems with their hips and backs which can compromise mobility. It says that many of the problems that hysterectomy is supposed to solve will go away by themselves, and that most of the others don’t merit major surgery. Fibroids, for example, are small tumors in the uterine lining that can cause heavy bleeding and discomfort, but they aren’t cancerous, and can be removed without hysterectomy.
Schweikert and Coffey say that the overwhelming majority of hysterectomies performed — their figure is 98 percent — aren’t lifesaving procedures. They want to codify consent for hysterectomy — in part by requiring that hospitals show a video they produced that details their take on the procedure.
“These organs have lifelong functions — you cannot say a woman is improved by having her sex organs removed. If the uterus is removed, the woman is damaged,” Schweikert says, sitting in his Downtown theater space.
Such views challenge medical conventional wisdom. For instance, UPMC’s patient-information pamphlet on the surgery says, “A woman’s sexuality and femininity are not changed by a hysterectomy.” However, in seeming contradiction, it adds, “some women may notice a change in their sexual response after hysterectomy.” And it says that removal of the ovaries will cause “surgical menopause,” and that women can expect hot flashes and night sweats. The pamphlet urges women to ask lots of questions of their doctors before consenting to hysterectomy.
There are 22 million hysterectomized women in the country. Some 600,000 hysterectomies were performed in 2004 alone. Schweikert says the motivation behind all this surgery is profit, plain and simple.
“Either you get out of med school and struggle to pay your bills doing Pap smears or you start doing surgeries and you become a millionaire,” he says.
For-profit health care draws criticism from plenty of places, not just anti-hysterectomy activists. A system that pays doctors by the procedure, whether it be hysterectomy or tonsillectomy, is fundamentally flawed, says New York-based journalist Maggie Mahar, author of the book Money-Driven Medicine and HealthBeatBlog.org.
“Patients don’t drive their own care. Doctors and hospitals guide what we get,” says Mahar. “More care just isn’t better care.”
Moreover, Schweikert and Coffey are far from the only people ringing alarms about hysterectomy. It’s become something of a cottage industry, with articles and blog posts dueling the issue out. Some doctors and hysterectomized women say the surgery is safe and relieves women of pain. But other doctors and hysterectomized women say it’s a barbaric and unnecessary way to make a buck.
The late Robert Mendelsohn, a self-described “medical heretic,” medical-school instructor and president of the National Health Federation, was a vocal opponent of hysterectomy. Schweikert cites him saying doctors will give up hysterectomy only when a more profitable surgery arises to take its place.
“Every doctor is an accomplice unless they stand against it,” Schweikert says.
This article appears in May 14-20, 2009.
I bought my copy of THE H WORD on Amazon, I gave one to my gynecologist, and I’m telling my local library to get it. This is a must-read, people!
I’m so glad to know it’s not just me. That’s huge. It’s been almost three years since my hysterectomy. I told the doctor all the problems I’ve had since the surgery. I’m always exhausted, my sex life is over, and I just don’t feel like myself now. The doctor said it’s in my head, she’s never heard it before. I hope she reads this article and the book.
I was given an unnecessary hysterectomy and castrated because of a benign ovarian cyst, even without my consent. It is hard to fathom that this happens in the U.S. until you read “The H Word”. By reading it, I now understand what was done to me. The book talks about many of the health problems I now have which I never had before which most women seem to keep silent about. I am unable to become aroused or have any sexual feelings, and I’ve lost most of the feeling in my genitals. Why on earth is this being done to women? For the first time in three years after reading the book, I don’t feel alone. Everyone in the world needs to read this book, and help stop this atrocity against women. It is very well written and done in the most interesting way, but describes the horrible truth that everyone needs to know. I am sure that gynecologists do not want anyone to see this. This book will save countless women.
I bought a few copies of “The H Word” and will be ordering at least 8 more copies to send to some of the hysterectomy perpetrators (doctors and hospitals) in my city. My life was ruined almost 3 years ago after being told by my long-time trusted ob/gyn that I needed “emergency” surgery to remove my uterus and ovaries due to a very suspicious cystadenoma. He said he wanted me to see an oncologist but I wouldn’t have time (all part of the fear tactics). When I questioned the need to “remove everything,” he said it would prevent me from having another surgery in 2-3 years. Like many women, I was dismissed as his patient several months after the surgery when I called desperate for help. The pathology report showed a perfectly healthy uterus and ovary and a benign cyst on the other ovary. Hysterectomy is the gold mine of ob/gyns and they will fight to continue castrating women.
The new book, “The H Word”, by Nora Coffey and Rick Schweikert, is a must read for every women. No woman would ever lie down like a sacrificial lamb to have this cruel, damaging and inhumane surgery performed on her for benign conditions(non cancerous)if she reads this book and knew the dire consequences. Those of us human females who have experienced unnecessary hysterectomy and/or castration, must live with this damage and suffering for the rest of our lives. We know the debilitating consequences and pray that hysterectomy will cease NOW for non cancerous conditions. We want to help our fellow sisters, daughters, friends to age naturally, in tact, the way god made us with our miraculous hormonal systems in sinc with our entire body and producing beneficial secretions for a lifetime. We want them to be educated and save them from the gynecologist’s gold mine, hysterectomy. One hears about the prevention of cruelty to animals as dogs. One even hears about a group that wants to stop castrating and neutering dogs/pets. Where is the national outcry to stop ruining human female’s health and lives by unnecessary hysterectomy? Women need to unite and stop this criminal surgery now! Please give this book to everyone you know, doctors, professors in women’s studies programs in Universities and educational institutions, and anyone else with a humane sense to save womankind and society from unnecessary hysterectomy now! If unnecessary hysterectomy ceases, we will have a healthier, wealthier more productive society that will benefit woman/mankind.
Hysterectomy is a barbaric ritual done by greedy doctors. It causes vast permanent injury to women and is therefore immoral. There are many other alternatives in 2009. What makes it particularly heinous is that any woman who would be given informed consent would NEVER choose this assaultive surgery to begin with. This book serves women well.
I brought a copy of the H word as well as copies for my sisters and mother. It’s been 11 years since my surgery and I hope that no one else in my family will have to endure what I live with every day, every hour, and every minute of my life now. The surgery short-circuit’s the entire being and it is really endless and pointless in cataloging symptoms. I was diagnosed with fibroids during a routine gyn exam, had heard all the usual media reports of women knowing their options. Found a well-known female ob/gyn and discussed the option of myomectomy since I hadn’t had children and the fibroids were asymptomatic. Doctor assured me that my choice was adequate, had me sign a “Myomectomy Consent Form” and proceeded to perform a total hysterectomy. Hopefully this book will ensure that my experience and the experiences of 22 million women alive today, won’t be in vein, and other women are saved and free to enjoy whole lives and whole selves. After 11 years, if I had it to do over again, I would not submit to any surgery – the fibroids were better than the living hell that exists now.
Hmm, “The H Word” is self published by a hysterectomized woman and a male playwright,– so what could they possibly know? On this subject, the short answer is, “everything.”
And I know because I’ve lived it every miserable day since my unnecessary hysterectomy and ovary removal. The sexual loss? No uterus, no uterine orgasm. The rapid aging and the loss of energy? The ovaries, like their male counterpart, the testes, measure the blood, then secrete multiple needed hormones in a dynamic life long fashion on a 24/7 basis, so, yeah, being without ’em is an unhealthy downer. And, leave us not forget the bladder and bowel losses…which is what happens when you have a hole cut in your pelvic floor. I could go on, but, I know that you don’t want to know.
But, folks, here is the most important part: this article already notes the UPMC’s own hysterectomy pamphlet’s
incriminating “seeming contradiction.” Well, what if I told you that there really is no such thing as its’ “surgical menopause?” You see, the ovaries function throughout a woman’s life. Menopause is just when the menstrual cycle ceases. Though the ovarian hormone production may be reduced, in an intact woman, the ovaries remain in production. That is, unless the woman is no longer intact, the uterus and the ovaries having been surgically removed. Removed ovaries are removed gonads and the medical (as well as the lay) term for that is castration…but UPMC wants to sell a profitable surgery, hence, the UPMC’s pamphlet has its’ knowingly flawed euphemism of “surgical menopause.” Whatever you do, read “The H Word” before you buy.
The brutality of this surgery and the lifetime of suffering it causes to the women, their families and society must be stopped. The world is deprived of the fullness of these female lives. The conspiracy of damage, the silence of shame, the cruelty of emotional and physical pain, the legacy of ignorance, and the deceit of wellness and the myth of necessity must be exposed. Silence implies consent. “The H Word” is a shout of truth—I wish it came with a megaphone. And I wish I’d heard it earlier—I might have been saved and my family spared all the repercussions.
I am 50. I was 47 turning 48, in the hospital, after my total abdominal hysterectomy. TAH. I am ( was ) a UPS driver. No job for the faint of heart! I was married for the first time in my life 2 months before my TAH. My husband, during playful pre-sex ‘ fun ‘ noticed a lump on my right side. I went to a GP and after tests was sent to an OBGYN. The minute I walked into this mans office he started talking TAH. He said it would save my life. Save me from cancer and more surgery ”down the road’. There was NO option. He pushed TAH. He said he would,”Gladly, give my wife and even my daughter one”. GLADLY! I would not sign but as he continually pushed ovarian cancer I felt I should have the lump removed. This ‘butcher’ came into pre-op when I was gowned and IVed with a release for me to sign, “Just in case” and then took everything anyway. EVERYTHING.The cyst was benign, my uterus was normal, my left ovary was normal. EVERYTHING. I lost my life that day. This is no joke. I had good insurance and he made out well. I now have no energy, no sex drive, sex is extremely painful, my hips and legs hurt, I cannot remember,. I cannot return to my job and I may be loosing my husband. If not for discovering Nora and The H word I can honestly say I would be dead by now. I am not alone and EVERY PERSON needs to read this book. This book tells the truth. Hysterectomy is female castration. It is profit for the medical industry. IT IS WRONG. I have talked with so many people and I am just one small person. The stories are the same. They all say, I WAS USED AND UNINFORMED. I WAS LIED TO. Please, read this book.
READ THE ‘H’ BOOK. I could not put the book down until I had read it all. I ordered 12 books; one for the doctor who hysterectomized and castrated me along with a letter telling him how he has destroyed my life; a couple for the local libraries and the rest for family members. 20 years ago I was castrated for a pea-sized fibroid. I was told I could get cancer or that I could die. I believed him. I was never told about any alternative surgeries or the consequences and after-effects of this surgery. I was told everything would be great or better and that it wouldn’t change my sex life. ALL WERE LIES! Why would doctors do this to a woman and her family? Why? Money is the only reason I come up with. You are told it is all in you head and then you go from doctor to doctor trying to find answers as to why you are feeling so terrible. My advice is to STOP giving the clinics and doctors more money and STOP going to an OBGYN for check-ups. Their job are giving surgeries. Once they remove your ovaries, uterus and cervix your life will change forever. Not only do doctors take your health, but your marriage, sexual feelings, career, dreams and zest for life. That is why it is so important you give this book to as many women as you can so they can spread the word about the damages this surgery does to a woman’s life and her family. I challenge all the women reading this to order 12 ‘H’ Books. Thank you HERS Foundation, Nora Noffey and Rick Schweikert for the ‘H’ book. It is like reading your life in words.
I didn’t realize how lucky I am and how right my sister was until I read this review and all the comments! Last year my gynecologist (a woman!) said I needed a hysterectomy because I had a fibroid the size of an orange. My sister was sure I didn’t need it, and because she was so angry about it, I didn’t have it. Last week I had my yearly exam she said I should have a hysterectomy because my fibroids have gotten bigger, a cantelope now, and I don’t need my uterus since I don’t want more children. I’m not going to have a hysterectomy. I’m going to buy this book!
I am a 58 year old Canadian woman who resisted hysterectomy after every doctor told me that that was my only “treatment option” for fibroids.Eventually I found an American surgeon who removed just the fibroids.Not every woman is so lucky.Hysterectomy is a brutal,life-altering surgery that causes millions to suffer needlessly.The H Word exposes the truth about hysterectomy and is truly a milestone in human rights.Every woman should have a copy,share her copy with a friend,and show her copy to her doctor.
As a former gynecological nurse I’ve seen women sign “informed” consents for hysterectomy. Until a friend directed me to the HERS Foundation I never knew that these women were actually “uninformed.” What a revelation!! Anyone who views the HERS website video will have full discosure about this surgery. Now that the “The H Word” is available everyone can “hear” women’s voices in every state of this country as they disclose the severe, life-altering consequences they’ve suffered as a result of the surgery. It is evident that doctors throughout the country are continuing in their resistance to disclose these effects. It is also evident that the protest will continue.
Everyone needs to read ‘The H Word’. EVERYONE. When I read it, I cried. I cried as I realized just what had happened to my wife,to us. We were/are victims of this horrible ‘scam’ called hysterectomy and female castration. We were lied to, patronized, given false hope of full recovery. You do not ‘recovery’ from this surgery. How DO you recover from a surgery that was not needed in the first place.
‘The H Word’ exposes our medical community. It exposes the people we trust, the people we are raised to believe know what is BEST for us to be nothing more than money hungry scam artists. And where is our government??
This book is a powerful read.
Truth be told in this great book. My hysterectomy was two years ago and I was only told that I would never get my period again and that was a good thing. I have had so many other complications since the Hysterectomy! My life hasnt been the same. The H book is a wonderful book that all should read. Thank you HERS Foundation, Nora Noffey and Rick Schweikert for the ‘H’ book. It is like reading your life in words!
I have read most of the posts here. I am crying right now. I had to stop reading the rest of the posts; in that, these women/men posting have ‘hit home’, and it is all so cruel with their experiences, and so painful to read; as I am a victim too (yes, victim). I am one of millions of women talked into having an unnecessary Hysterectomy, just as the others who have posted here. It is so interesting that all posting have similiar experiences, same and like problems with the aftermath of a Hyst., and this should raise a HUGE FLAG. The ‘H Word’ book is a book to ‘raise’ this awareness of this fact alone. A key word here is “Fact”.
With regarding the similarities posted here, so many have said,
“I wish I had heard earlier”, (Great reason to read this book);
“I’ve lived in every miserable day since my unnecessary Hysterectomy”;
I have experienced “Rapid aging – loss of energy, sexual loss”;
I have had “bladder and bowel losses” – “what happens when you have a hole in your pelvic floor?”;
“I had good insurance” (and I love this one), “I have no energy, no sex drive … I was used and uniformed”;
I have now a “lifetime of suffering”, and “cruelty of emotional and physical pain”;
People have lost “fullness of these females’ lives” (what an excellent statement right here…);
“The fibroids were better than the living Hell that exists now.”.
Shall I go on?
Every single post here rings out with what I have experienced, dealt with, live with now. I could not express with enough feeling, as one person said on a post here that “EVERYONE” needs to read this ‘H Word’ book, and get more than one – in order to have on hand, in case to share with whether a family member, friend, and how about this… a GYN?
I had fibroids, (two, he said) I was talked into having a TAH, and my GYN said to not only me, but my husband, as he came for one appt., and he was concerned about me having this surgery, and this GYN said, “You will feel so much better after having this, and how wonderful – no more bloody periods to have to worry about”, as he winked at my husband as he said this, the @#%*!$… It was as if he was trying to talk my husband into this with my husband not having to deal with ‘my time of the month’ ever again. Little did my husband know what price would be paid; in that, I would have my whole desire for sex ‘Gone Like The Wind’. I will never forget this either, and with another’s comment on a post here. I had great insurance, and it was to be changed after the first of the year, if I did not go with a ‘Cobra Plan’, and I am sure they checked this out with my Hysterectomy plan of surgery he wanted to do. In other words, if I did not have the surgery done before the end of the year; they did not know my next options with insurance, and I guarantee, this is why he said I had to have this Hyst. before the end of the year. Oh, he told me I could not afford “one more period” because of blood loss with each period, but what a horrible man to be thinking in terms of money for him (like so many others posting here), and his concern was of only greed for profit.
Why do so many posting here speak of the same? It is because this is so TRUE. We need to thank Nora Coffey and Rick Schweikert they have given their time to help and get this so crucial and vital information out. They are trying to SAVE LIVES HERE. It is as key and simple as this. I will stand tall with defending anything they put in this book as information and evidence of what the medical society, doctors, hospitals, and pharma companies are getting away with, and reaping rewards with; with not only making profits off of women, but a power. It is the sickest thing I can think of other than cruelty to animals. The only difference is we have a voice and can verbalize – animals can’t; yet, women are not that far away with being of difference; in that, our voices are still not being heard. The ‘H Word’ is one brilliant way for our voices to be heard. I say it again – I will stand up and argue with anyone who says doctors are justified with getting away with this female mutilation and castration.
On a final note – I feel so sorry for the men out there who have ‘lost their wives’, and divorces happening over this, and children questioning where their mothers went; so to speak (as my children have done). I am fortunate; in that, they knew who I was before and believe me when I say that it is due to the Hyst., and have benevolence. I have my heart bleeding for those women who have not gotten this understanding and suffered with this alone. The physical pain of abdomen, back pain, prolapsed bowels, nerves, ligaments, tendons, etc. torn is and should be enough to bear, as I feel and have. But, to have sex life completely diminished, and no energy – even emotionally is about as sick as it gets. I am sorry to admit, but if I ever read in the paper about a woman going ‘balistic’ at a GYN’s office, after he performed a Hyst. on her, and she was trying for justice — I would not blame her…
Read the ‘H WORD’ book. Let us save who we can, and get that book out to EVERYONE. I mean – EVERYONE, and what a novel thought… to especially, order the book and get out to every GYN you know of to have them read. Do it – do not just think about this with reading this book. It is time for women to be heard and by way of this book to stop this holocaust. It happened to me… I can speak, first hand, of the atrocities with all aspects of this. Isn’t it time? Doctors are not ‘Gods’, and we need to wake up to this with believing what they say is absolute truth, and get away with this greed and power over women.
Hysterectomies are damaging and yet we keep it such a well-guarded secret, barely mentioned above a whisper. Hysterectomy can cause a profound loss of sexual, hormonal, and physiological function. Women are not being informed of these, and many of the other, consequences. They are life-altering and irrevocable. Protect your daughters, mothers, and sisters- give them The H Word. Don’t let hysterectomy be a rite of passage for the women in your life.
I just got off the phone with my older brother. He asked how I was doing. He is a very loving and caring brother, and I asked him to go to this site; as I have tried to explain my physical problems at times with him. I thought how better than for him to go here, and read, but also get the H Word book for him. He never knows; in that, he may come in contact with someone who is told by a GYN a Hysterectomy is needed. It is a matter of getting the “H Word” out there. This is not a matter of ‘if’ someone should read this book – it is a matter of when, and the sooner the better. I hope my brother is as smart as I think he is, and will help promote this book. Being he is smart; and after he reads it, he will do his part. See, he will trust in what I am saying; i.e., this does not just affect women. This affects men with the simple factor which should hit home with any male, and that is being deprived of SEX AND LOVE MAKING, and if that does not get a man’s attention – I do not know what else will – outside of deprivation of ‘Monday Night Football’, not being able to go fishing with ‘the guys’, not being able to play golf with ‘buddies’, and hmmm – the list can go on, but the first should be enough to have any man be ‘up’ and at attention with an erect (pardon the pun) attitude to help stop this insanity. Men, back your women up here, help your wives, sisters, mothers, daughters, and brothers, male friends, and get on this ‘band wagon’ to not let doctors do this to even one more woman. You are key to this, and never think you are not. Read my words again to get my points here. Men suffer too with all this… I tend to wonder how any GYN is with his spouse after she has been crippled if having a Hyst., and I just bet they have done/sought every alternative for the spouse other than a Hyst. because they know the devastation which happens afterwards. This would be an interesting survey. This is a tangent to ponder, but I bet if a survey was done, hmmmm…
I had to post one more comment. I am so upset about one matter with this book, the H Word. I feel it came too late for so many women, as myself. This is my only disheartening part about the book. We needed this book to read so long ago. Of course, nothing against the authors, but too bad this book was not out, as I said, previously, and on a ‘Best Seller List’ (which it should be, and hope it will – get the ‘word’ out).
The endocrine system regulates a woman’s bodily function and emotions through all of the human hormone receptors. I am convinced hiding the endocrine system from women through routine gynecological exams is vital to the gynecologists female iatrogenic illness contribution to the medical industry. The Gynecologist surgeons are “handing chronically ill woman (via: sex organ, endocrine organ amputation) to the medical industry for a life-time of various CAUSED (iatrogenic) HEALTH CARE PROBLEMS…This is what the Gynecologists are doing to women. The negligence of not informing women of the known medical facts regarding the amputation of the female sex organs including the endocrine system (ovaries) by deceit must be eradicated immediately. The known gynecological iatrogenic illness epidemic is embarrassing for the entire medical industry at this point and is “THE MOST HEINOUS ACT OF MEDICAL DECEIT RECORDED IN HISTORY-FEMALE SEX ORGAN AMPUTATION/CASTRATION BY MEDICAL DECEIT FOR PROFIT”. I believe every branch of medicine would be positively affected if the biggest “best kept secret” in medical history “female sex organ amputation/castration by medical deceit for profit” is brought “out” and ended by law. Sign the HERS Foundation-Petition to add informed consent to the gynecological consent form. Read “The H Word” and sign the HERS “Petition” to pass a “law” to end this heinous calculated medical de-sexing of the American woman by medical deceit for profit.
Thank you to the brave women and men who have posted here. It is not easy to display your feelings that are so personal for everyone to read. This is a must read book to get the word out that the majority of hysterectomies are unnecessary and when given one, how it destroys your life, your career, your marriage, your sexual feelings, your health and your zest for life. It was a pleasure to send my doctor the ‘H’ book along with a letter telling him how he has destroyed everything about me. I have been wanting to do that for 20 years. I am sure he didn’t add it to his book collection, but his name is listed who received the book.
I was one of ‘those’ women. My doctor preformed a total abdominal hysterectomy on me even though my consent form stated ‘Only if cancer detected’ He told me it ‘LOOKED’ bad. My reports showed a benign ovarian cyst. My uterus and left ovary were normal. I had excellent insurance and he took advantage of this.
Because of the profound changes to every part of my being, I carefully planed my suicide. My doctor had repeatedly told me my symptoms were ‘All in my head’ He convinced me I was a VERY RARE case. He told me women stop him in the street and thank him for this surgery. He insisted ‘I must get over my silly feelings’
After 2 years of suffering, and days from ending it, I stumbled on to the HERS Foundation web site and ordered The H Word. I AM NOT ALONE! I am not a rare case. I was tricked and used and lied to.
Every person must read this book. It should be a part of all sex education programs, taught anywhere. OB/GYN’s should have, and insist, on every patient reading it. If your doctor cares about YOU or your WIFE or your DAUGHTER, if he/she HONESTLY cares about us as women, you will know about this book.
Please don’t wait. Read it now.
Jeanne, I think we all know why this is being done to women-for the money. Why else would a OBGYN give a surgery that wasn’t necessary. Around 98% are not necessary. I ordered 12 books and have only one left, so I will be ordering more because I want every girl and woman in my family to have The H Word Book so they are aware what will happen if they have this damaging and dangerous surgery with many consequences and after-effects. I hope the doctors are getting the message that we are not going to be abused anymore! Can you imagine what would happen if this many men were being castrated every year?
I think US women need to stand up to their doctors, that
will immediately improve your health and peace of mind.
I was really shocked to hear from my US colleagues what your doctors say is necessary for all healthy women from an early age AND how it’s carried out…(the use of stirrups!)
It is SO different to the way women are treated elsewhere that it made me wonder whether sadists control women’s health in the States.
Annual gyn exams are unnecessary in asymptomatic women and in fact, my Dr believes they can be harmful.
Why? Because they can lead to more invasive and possibly harmful testing and unnecessary surgery or other intervention. They are also of low clinical value. This exam is often very difficult for many women and should only be carried out when absolutely necessary…
Annual breast exams are unnecessary for women under 40.
Younger women have naturally lumpy breasts and CBE often leads to unnecessary biopsies for benign things.
Breast cancer is uncommon in this age group as well.
Mammograms are recommended from 40 – again, excessive – there are risks with mammograms and especially in women under 50 or 55. The Nordic Cochrane Institute are so concerned, they have released their own information sheet for women. (see below)
If you have them, be very careful before age 50.
US women are hugely over-screened for cervical cancer as well.
This does not improve your health – it jeopardizes your health.
Over-screening puts you at high risk of a false positive and unnecessary and possibly harmful colposcopy and biopsies. Some women are left with continuing health problems after these procedures – mental and/or physical.
Your doctors DEMAND screening of women and even withhold the Pill until you agree…
Cancer screening and the Pill have nothing to do with each other. Screening has risks as well as benefits and your informed consent must be obtained prior to testing.
The US Food and Drug Admin, WHO and the American College of ObGyns all say these exams and test are NOT required for the initiation or continuing use of the Pill.
Your doctors have been told to stop over-screening, yet the majority of your doctors continue to push annual screening, putting you at risk.
They argue if women are only required to have three yearly screening, they won’t turn up for “their other checks”.
Given these other checks are NOT recommended by the majority of the worlds doctors and are optional at best…what does that say to you?
It says to me that they fear losing control of women and profits will fall…
This has nothing to do with your health.
I read that 1 in 3 US women have had a hysterectomy – this is a VERY HIGH figure. THAT figure alone should be cause for an investigation.
Women should understand the risk of cervical cancer is low and understand the pap smear is an unreliable test.
Protect yourself from over-screening.
If you wish to have screening, have a look at the Finnish and Dutch programme.
The Finns have the lowest rates of cervical cancer in the world and just as importantly, send the smallest number of women for colposcopy. (55% will have a colposcopy and usually biopsies, in her lifetime with only a very small number having any sign of malignancy)
Two yearly screening – 77%
Annual – 95%
The Finns and Dutch don’t screen women under 30…
A very high % of smears in this group are abnormal thanks to benign changes that naturally occur in young women…changes that resolve without medical intervention. Cancer in this group is rare.
Screening does more harm than good in this age group. The UK also does not screen women under 25.
The Finns and Dutch then screen 5 yearly until age 60.
Know your risk profile before agreeing to smears.
US doctors are so unethical they even screen women who’ve never been sexually active from age 21 and some even younger.
Couples who were not sexually active before getting together and are mutually monogamous…screening is very unlikely to benefit these women.
The risk of this cancer is so low and the risk of false positive and biopsies really quite high, some low risk women may choose not to have screening.
Note: You are more likely to die from almost any other form of cancer.
Testicular cancer kills almost as many men as cervical cancer kills women, yet we don’t hear much at all about testicular cancer.
The risk of this cancer has been exaggerated….
Sadly, many people over-treated for false positives walk away thinking they had a cancer scare. Over-treatment in the minds of some women means cancer, it rarely means cancer.
Angela Raffle, UK cancer screening expert released some figures a year or so ago – 1000 women need screening for 35 years to save one woman from cervical cancer. (mentioned in article by Anna Sayburn)
The following articles show the extent of the over-screening and over-treating of US women.
You don’t need this level of medical intervention and control in your lives.
Protect your health, make informed decisions and don’t allow your doctors to over-examine, over-screen, over-treat and perform unnecessary hysterectomies.
I think fear of litigation may be another factor that has created this harmful environment in the States.
If you make it clear to your Dr that you’ve made informed decisions, that should help or keep looking..
I’m sure you still have some balanced and ethical doctors working in your country.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/health-hands-off-my-chest-doctor-1177987.html
http://ajcp.ascpjournals.org/content/supplements/114/Suppl_1/S48.full.pdf+html?sid=fb361d0c-ca1e-432b-a6dc-2c23cc95e16d
http://www.screening.dk/folder_uk.pdf (Nordic Cochrane Institute)
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/176_11_030602/dic10690_fm.html (Great chart which shows the HUGE over-screening of US women)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/may/22/genderissues.publichealth
I am so grateful for finding HERSFoundation and for Nora and Rick to publish the H Word Book. I have several copies and also donated the book to the local libraries. This is something all of you can do. Get the book into your libraries! Tiger
……..MY HORROR STORY…….
I was one of those lucky women who never suffered any gynaecological problems in the 58 years I had my precious female organs. I trusted the female doctor who did my yearly Pap smear (which she insisted I have every year, despite never, ever having abnormal cells). I did not know she was in cahoots with corrupt gynaecologists looking for easy prey to use for greed and training material. She forced me into seeing a gynaecologist writing that I had post-menopausal bleeding, which was a blatant lie, as I NEVER had a single drop of blood since my menopause finished 5 1/2 years before. She would not take “NO” for an answer. She did everything to gain my trust, so I didn’t understand what was going on. She wore me down until I gave in. I went to the gynaecologist she referred me to so he could examine me, say I’m fine and send me home. I’d never seen him before in my life. As soon as I sat down, he opened the referral, and the first words out of his mouth was: “You have bleeding. I’m giving you a curette.” I was shocked. He didn’t ask me one single question, and he didn’t examine me. I said I had no bleeding, and I was not having a curette, but he would not take “NO” for an answer. He already had me booked in for a curette. And unbeknownst to me he also gave me a hysteroscopy for extra profit….. I was not told that it is my choice. He manipulated and coerced me until I gave in. At the post-op appointment 2 weeks later, he said I had cancer and had to have a hysterectomy. He’d already sent the referral to MMC (a public hospital I had never been to before, and was not told Monash Medical Centre is a teaching hospital). I only went there to be examined, told I’m fine, and sent home. Martin Oehler., the Clinical Fellow in Gynaecology/oncology called me in after the waiting room was empty. He then mentioned the bleeding. I was so angry, I said: “Why do you people keep saying I had bleeding, when I hadn’t had a single drop since my menopause finished over 5 years ago, until I was given the curette and bled for 3 days”. He ignored me and told me he was going to take out my cervix, my uterus, my fallopian tubes, and my ovaries. And he was going to do it by laparoscopy, but still may have to cut me open.” Again I was shocked. I said: I have no bleeding, I have no pain, I have no symptoms whatsoever, and begged for another option.” He went berserk. His face was full of anger and contempt as he yelled at me: “YOU HAVE NO OTHER OPTION. YOU SHOULD CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE CHEMOTHERAPY. NOT LIKE ALL THOSE WOMEN IN THE WAITING ROOM”, and he flicked his hand toward the empty waiting room and said: “THEY WEREN’T SO LUCKY”. I was shocked. He then answered every question I asked with: You’ll be fine, and insisted I go in, in 2 days. Then he shoved a piece of paper in front of me and pointed where to sign. He did not go through one thing written on that form. I asked him if he’d done laparoscopy surgery before, and he looked me in the eye and told me he’d done hundreds that he could do them with his eyes closed. A blatant lie. I did not know that after I left he added on the form he forced me to sign that he may take out some pelvic lymph nodes as well. He sprung that on me just before the surgery. To make a long story short. He mutilated 6 healthy organs from my body, and God knows how many lymph nodes, as that was covered-up. He botched it beyond repair leaving me wailing in agony every day and bleeding out since he butchered me in June 2005. The morning after he slaughtered my organs, he smugly told me that I was as clean as a whistle. That all my removed organs had been healthy. The whole system took his side and did everything to discredit me and spread the word I was paranoid. They denied that I was in any pain, and kept sending me to psychiatrists who just kept pushing drugs on me and telling me they found nothing wrong in the tests when I kept telling them how much pain I’m in. I’ve never in my life been touched by such evil. I was a victim of fraud, and criminal medical malpractice, and my health and my life has been destroyed by those evil doctors. Why aren’t women warned about these corrupt doctors who trick healthy women into unnecessary hysterectomies? This surgical racket has been going on for decades, and will never stop because as Dr Phil Hammond said: “The system is still geared to protecting doctors’ reputations rather than protecting patients from unnecessary harm”…
DrSuarna Mehulic…. Dear June, I am in this difficult situation because I objected such charlatans and their treatment of patients. Your story is unfortunately not uncommon. I have seen it before and I have seen situation where when unethical and unprofessional doctors take all reproductive organs of the patient and cause chronic pain due to botched and unnecessary surgeries. After that is done their next step is to refer patient to psychiatrist. It is absurd reality that these unethical , unprofessional people always get away with everything wrong they do , because they make revenue for the institutions. Most likely you asked yourself lots of time ” why me” but I have to tell you that it is not only you. Only what I know for sure that until values such as honesty, accountability, humanity are surpassed by greediness, business oriented medicine , these issues will not get resolved. There were times when being physician was honored profession and being public servant was the most honored role in the society. I think values has been changed to most honored status of being rich instead. Possibly nationwide campaign to return these values to medicine is of uttermost importance in times to come !
Respectfully
Dr.Sue
MEN WHO CONTROL WOMEN’S HEALTH.. Diana Scully
“Negotiating to do Surgery”
After a potential patient was located, she had to be persuaded to have surgery. As one resident put it: “You have to look for your surgical procedures; you have to go after patients. Because no one is crazy enough to come and say, hey, here I am, I want you to operate on me. You have to sometimes convince the patient that she is really sick, and that she is better off with a surgical procedure.”……”The residents’ tactics, based on high volume, were similar to that of any effective sales person, regardless of the product; that is, the greater the number of contacts, the greater the probability of making a sale. This type of high-turnover sale was especially suited to the high-volume, quick turnover conditions in the clinics and emergency room. Like any sophisticated salesperson, a resident could judge within minutes whether a woman was going to buy a hysterectomy. When it appeared that she wasn’t, he used another tactic. Residents believed that women would eventually accept surgery if they were given some time to think it over. Thus, after a resident had completed his pitch and the woman was still reluctant, he would tell her that he would call her in a week and discuss the surgery further. The woman was dismissed and the next prospective case was brought into the examining room. The entire interaction, including physical examination, usually took three or four minutes”….. “Once the woman agreed to surgery, she lost whatever power she previously had had – the power of refusal. The situation changed from one of negotiation to complete control by the resident. The patient was expected to trust the knowledge and wisdom of her doctor. She was not consulted on the form her surgery would take nor was it expected that she was capable of understanding medical-surgical mysteries. The resident, influenced by his own need for practice, decided what operation he would do. Women were not aware that there was a choice.”…..”Surgical teaching programs are having increasing difficulty finding subjects to learn on because they greatly depend on the availability of ward or indigent patients and with increased third-party payments, the number of such patients is shrinking. As a consequence, residents in many city hospitals have done more “selling.”…….” To improve my surgical technique and to get a chance to do some of the surgeries that we don’t get a chance to do otherwise, I went for radical surgery where your dissect out everything; you look for everything”…. “I do enjoy it, and think any doctor is lucky to do radical surgery”…..”It is by mistakes that you grow and mature as a physician. You learn not to do it again; I think that is important. Because if I wasn’t ever going to make any mistakes, there wouldn’t be any reason for me to spend four years being a resident”…..”I don’t know if you can call it a mistake or something that you aren’t experienced with and do something wrong. You can’t call it a mistake. It’s inexperience. If you aren’t taught something, you can’t do it.”….
In 1945, at a gynaecological convention, a speaker said: “Hysterectomy is a racket, where the majority were done for dubious reasons at best, and non-existent reasons at worst”…
Fabricating cancer is one of the dirty tricks they use to frighten women into unnecessary radical hysterectomies…. You are welcome to post any information you may come across that will protect women from greedy gynaecologists who want to give them a hysterectomy. Remember 90% of all gynaecological surgery are unnecessary, especially hysterectomies and they make gyno’s very, very rich and turn the women into high maintenance patients for life. Beware if they say you have cancer. That is one of their tricks to frighten women into these barbaric mutilations.
I’m an advocate against unnecessary hysterectomies, and since up to 98% are done for dubious reasons at best and non-existent reasons at worst, I want to inform women about this fact….The cancer scare is one of the tricks gynaecologists use to frighten women into unnecessary hysterectomies…
Many women are tricked this way, and when they are told they had no cancer, the women are so relieved that they never realize that they never did have cancer in the first place. They were victims of fraud and criminal malpractice by unscrupulous gynaecologists…..
“As for laparoscopy, three out of every 1,000 of these procedures cause complications, and even death. Between 1995 and 1997, more than 500 patients suffered nearly 600 injuries and 65 died. A goodly number have to do with doctors being unable to use the equipment properly. In a survey of gynaecologists, one in every 25 had injured a major vessel during laparoscopy at some point in their career.
One of the main culprits is the common use of the trocar (as sharp implement which withdraws fluids by puncturing the abdominal wall), which frequently injures major blood vessels and major organs, sometimes causing death due to vascular injuries”…….
Deliberately misdiagnosing women is rampant in the gynaecological industry. Fabricating cancer is one of the dirty tricks these shysters use to frighten healthy women into unnecessary radical hysterectomies. Some greedy gynaecologists will remove lymph nodes and/or your appendix while you are unconscious on the operating table, as the bigger the mutilation, the more the mutilator gets paid. Here in Australia many greedy gynaecologists are tricking women this way or telling menopausal women they need a hysterectomy.. One greedy gynaecologist in Bendigo tricked 4 sisters into unnecessary hysterectomies this way, and God knows how many more…