By Catherine Henry, Principal.

A new National Women’s Health Advisory Council will address stark differences in the health outcomes for women. The Council will look at the healthcare offered to women in relation to several issues. These include medical conditions such as menstruation, reproductive healthcare menopause, heart disease, autism, and cancer as well as medical consent and pain management issues. It will guide how the Australian Government implements the National Women’s Health Strategy 2020-2030.

Assistant health minister, Ged Kearney, is chair of the Council. It consists of eminent women’s health experts and representatives from peak stakeholder organisations, consumer groups, and medical and professional bodies – including women with lived experience. When launching the Council, Minister Kearney said “a combination of persistent social prejudice, medical ignorance and research exclusion is a health catastrophe for women… Women and girls deserve tailored and targeted healthcare that recognises and reflects their experiences and concerns.”

The Federal Budget had funding for the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) to establish the Council. In the United States there is an Advisory Committee on Research on Women’s Health. The Australian Council has broader remit than just research.

Our firm helps many female clients to make a complaint or to seek redress for injury and suffering due to medical negligence. There is no doubt women face unique challenges that lead to poorer health outcomes. Delayed diagnosis, under diagnosis, overprescribing, and dismissal of pain or other symptoms, are some of the issues the Minister highlighted when launching the Council.

A story in The Guardian newspaper on the Council’s formation highlights the case of a woman from regional NSW who is certain she would have received faster treatment if she was a man. She experienced a heart attack which her GP never suspected, putting her symptoms down to anxiety. She says doctors at a small and a regional NSW hospital were also dismissive, assuming stress was the issue.

The woman knew she had a family history of heart issues, so she demanded a referral to a cardiac specialist, however unfortunately, she experienced her heart attack before specialist treatment and surgery commenced. Tellingly, a nurse caring for her after the heart attack said if she had been male, she would have been seen by a specialist straight away.

The article discusses the covert and overt medical misogyny women experience in the healthcare system. Women’s heart disease prevention group, Her Heart, points out that women and men’s symptoms of heart attack present differently. Because most medical research is conducted in studies of men, clinical guidelines, symptom checklists and treatments are tailored to men. Women are less likely to be referred for heart tests or heart surgery and Her Heart says women are diagnosed with heart disease seven to 10 years later than men.

At the launch of our free e-book – Your Body Your Health: A legal guide to women’s health – I made the point that women live longer and have worse health outcomes than men. They use the health system more than men. They battle misogyny in the healthcare sector and the legal system with women’s health issues and their impact not taken as seriously as they should be. A lack of access to abortion services and support, particularly in regional areas, is an example of second-rate treatment for women. This is despite abortion being the most performed therapeutic procedure in Australia. The medical industry treats some women as guinea pigs with devastating consequences. Implants, hormone replacement therapy and vaginal mesh are just three examples.

The new Council and the Women’s Health Strategy are two useful tools for systemic change. We must also empower and encourage women to speak up – not settle for second best. We wrote our e-book because there was nothing like it on how the law can help deliver better health outcomes for females. You can download the e-book here.

If you, or a woman you know, has experienced poor or discriminatory treatment, including misogyny, contact us today. Our highly experienced and skilled health lawyers can discuss the options available to you for making a complaint, or explain how to seek redress or compensation.