Why does medicine treat women like men?
Women's bodies are different from men's from cellular level upwards, yet the same treatments are usually prescribed for both sexes - to the detriment of women. Dr Alyson McGregor raises the alarm
Towards the end of her training in emergency medicine at Brown University, Rhode Island, Dr Alyson McGregor was asked what her specialism" would be.
You are expected to have a niche so my answer was, Well, I like women's health,'" says McGregor. From that, people thought, Oh, she's into obstetrics/gynaecology.'" So on busy shifts in the emergency department of Rhode Island Hospital, the state's major trauma centre, the newly qualified McGregor became everyone's go-to doctor for pelvic examinations because this was believed to be her special interest. I laugh about it now, but it's when I started to realise that there's this assumption that women's health is wrapped up in their reproduction. Women were men with boobs and tubes'."
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