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WOW2: July's Trailblazing Women and Events in Our History [1]

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Date: 2022-07-02

July 7, 2020 – In the UK, a government-ordered inquiry found that an arrogant culture in which serious medical complications were dismissed as “women’s problems” contributed to a string of healthcare scandals over several decades. The Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review was ordered by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt in 2018, amid concerns about vaginal mesh operations. The implants were marketed as a less invasive treatment for urinary incontinence and prolapse – conditions that are commonly linked to childbirth – but an article in the Guardian newspaper revealed that many women were left with traumatic complications following the surgery. The review also focused on Primodos, a hormone pregnancy test taken by women between the 1950s and 1978, associated with damage to children born to mothers who took it, and sodium valproate, a treatment for epilepsy known to cause harm to babies if taken during pregnancy. A damning picture emerged of a medical establishment that failed to acknowledge problems even in the face of mounting safety concerns, leading to avoidable harm to patients. Instead, women routinely had symptoms attributed to psychological issues or it being “that time of life”, with “anything and everything women suffer perceived as a natural precursor to, part of, or a post-symptomatic phase of, the menopause”, the inquiry heard. “For the women concerned, this was tantamount to a complete denial of their concerns and being written off by a system that was supposed to care,” the review, chaired by Baroness Julia Cumberlege, concluded. “Much of this suffering was entirely avoidable, caused and compounded by failings in the health system itself,” she said. “We couldn’t believe that people had gone through so much agony and suffering and had been ignored. We did believe them.” She added, “As women, we know when things are not right with our bodies. We are the first to know. When that information is ignored, it is simply belittling and adds to the suffering.” A common theme was the systemic failure to collect data on patient outcomes. The inquiry could not establish rates of mesh complications or how many women had taken sodium valproate while pregnant. The report made wide-ranging recommendations, including the appointment of an independent patient safety commissioner, an overhaul of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and the expansion of the General Medical Council register to include a list of financial interests for all doctors. It also recommended the establishment of a central medical device database and a registry of all women of child-bearing age who are taking sodium valproate. A recent survey by the Epilepsy Society found that one in 10 women currently taking the drug remain unaware of the risk of birth defects. The report stops short of recommending a ban on the use of pelvic mesh, but says that such surgery should take place within specialist centres, and only in rare circumstances, after other conservative treatments have been tried. Kath Sansom, who founded the Sling the Mesh campaign in 2015, welcomed the recommendations, saying: “The report is hard-hitting, harrowing and recognises the total failure in patient safety, regulation and oversight in the UK. It also makes it very clear that our medical establishment is deeply entrenched in institutional denial and misogyny.”

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/2/2107912/-WOW2-July-s-Trailblazing-Women-and-Events-in-Our-History-July-1-through-July-8-2022

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