In 2009, still amazed that sexism is alive and well

[annmariern]

I had a pt the other day. 43 year old female, abdo pain, muktiple hx of utis, kidneys stones etc. CT negative. But, not a drug seeker in anyway, 1 darvocet for a headache when asked, never put her light on for anything, nauseated on clears. Her Dr and surgeon were respectively Pakistani (with a well known issue with women full stop) and a middle eastern doc surgeon. Both on talking to them after taking care of her for 12 hrs dismissed all her symptoms as " shes crazy, how old is she? ) pause to look up the age 43. "just another middle aged women with nothing better to do" As a 43yr old women asking him. i said oh I suppose that includes the nurse? Yes came the reply. So tell me why you cant offend a persons race, but sex, oh well thats fine? And how disturbing to me that on going to a hospital with abdo pain you better hope its an obvious cause, or else, good look lady, your neurotic. How many times have you seen cases the CAT scan missed? Why in 2009 is this still acceptable?

[dannyc12]

So tell me why you cant offend a persons race, but sex, oh well thats fine? Why in 2009 is this still acceptable?

Who told you this was fine or acceptable?

You have a choice to accept this or not. If you take no action, you are the person judging it both okey and dokey.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

noo she's no neurotic.. i love the way dr's judge without even knowing the whole person. she probably needs a EGD and colonscopy... i'm sure she has better things to do than hang out in the hospital.. maybe it's a GYN issue? sometimes people have stomach pain and they never really find out why.... gosh those docs need to give her a break,,,,

[TheMiss]

Because nobody does anything about it.

Or did you fill out an incident report naming both doctors and what they said so that anything will change?

Don't get me wrong, it is good that you vent your frustration here, but I don't believe that will alter anything.

If no one stands up and points the finger nothing will ever change.

Which is the worst and most frustrating for us all.

Especially doctors who might not be used to our western standards of emancipation need to learn how to respect our gender properly, and they only will if someone who they respect teaches them.

[sheilagh]

:angryfire I would report them somehow,although as an instructor once said in school about CYA " Doctors make money for the hospital,nurses cost them money" .

I had a ct done after an accident,was told all clear by radiologist that read it,and 18hrs later had my spleen and 1/3 pancreas removed cause I was hemorrhaging !!!

Be an advocate...though it can be frustrating. I try to be the nurse I would want taking care of me or my loved ones.

Sheilagh:yeah:

( sorry,but I LOVE the smiley faces)

[jrw03282009]

I have been trying for four years to find out what is wrong with me. Undiagnosed pain and all they would do would be to run a few tests and send me home with Lortabs (and would not refill them after they were gone). I finally found a doctor willing to listen to me. He found out I had Lupus. I wasnt a crazy middle aged lady after attention and drugs. Stand up for the people that cant/wont stand up for themselves.... There are still people that wont question what a doctor says and they start thinking maybe they are crazy...

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

Why are you surprised in a society that says it's OK for a woman to make 78c to every dollar a male makes? Despite legislation.

I went to church with my lazy husband once. They said "Women obey your husband" OK, so I'm meant to obey this lazy SOB that hangs about the house doing nothing and doesn't have a job (this was before the economy went bad) because of his sex? Made me pretty atheist pretty fast.

Did you see the amount of sexist remarks Hillary Clinton got? Americas bigots knew they could get away with those in a way they could not get away with the same thing with Obama.

Sexism is going on around you all the time and has been since you were born. But to question it makes you a feminazi or some other nasty name.

[MikeyBSN]

It's really a sad world, especially when people live under the impression that prejudice only exists in small pockets of the nation and is not as much of an issue as it was several years ago. However, we still see the persistent shadow of prejudice everywhere from this board to examples in our own life. I just read a story about an "honorable" judge who denied a marriage license because the couple was interracial. What year is this again?

I'm sure those doctors know what it's like to be plagued by chronic UTI's, ovarian cysts, menstrual cramps and other problems causing abdominal pain in women. I guess it's just easier for some people to dismiss a woman as "crazy" than to actually make a diagnosis.

[flightnurse2b, LPN]

the reason why physicians behave like this is because they get away with it.

i hope your hospital has what our hospital calls a "physicians bad behavior write up". they are not exempt. if we have to be respectful, so do they.

[mamamerlee, LPN]

Took me 17 years to convince docs that my gall bladder had to come out - no stones, but chronic inflammation. Docs made me feel like I was crazy.

Just recently was suffering from extreme fatigue and had to practically beg for a cardiac cath - 'we can treat this medically' - cath outcome? 3 blockages, 2 balloon angios, 2 stents. Later, I said to the docs, "I TOLD YOU I WAS SICK".

Women, even RNs, have to shout to be heard. Helllooo!!! We need to empower each other to seek out other opinions when necessary, and to tell some male docs to grow up, and treat all pts equally.

[morte, LPN, LVN]

i had to come back to this post, after reading it last noc.......i am wondering if, along with an incident report, if you contacted the hospital lawyers? if this woman were to die of her undx condition, it would not look favorably on the hospital....

[caliotter3]

I hope they didn't make their remarks within earshot of the patient, but then they would not care would they?