When you go to the doctor, you expect to be diagnosed with an ailment, and then put on some form of a treatment plan to help cure that ailment. But what if you went to the doctor with a raging headache, and instead of trying to cure you, the doctor says that you’ll be fine, just go home and rest? Unfortunately, this is a reality for many women in America.

Since the medical field is male-dominated, a lot of misogyny takes place. This has caused the term, “Medical Misogyny” to be coined, however, this sex separation in medicine has a long and sad history.

This separation of the sexes can be seen as recently as the 1950s, before the banning of lobotomies. Unfortunately, many of the victims of lobotomization were women, and getting a lobotomy was society’s way of forcing the patriarchy into modern medicine.

Thankfully, as a society, we got rid of lobotomies, and with that we also got rid of one facet of control that men had over women. However, misogyny has been baked into the medical community, especially concerning the word hysteria.

The etymology of the word hysteria originates from the Greek word for uterus: hystera. This is because of the belief that the presence of a uterus is the cause for hysteria. Since then, hysteria is no longer a condition that is diagnosed anymore, due to the fact that “hysteria” is a made-up condition.

Even though hysteria is no longer diagnosed as a condition, the belief that women don’t know their own health issues still exists. I was given the opportunity to interview someone who has had personal experiences with this ingrained misogyny in the medical industry.

Tracy Malone, 50, is a woman who has been a victim of this medical misogyny. Malone has been in pain for the last two years, and has experienced excess bleeding. She went to her OB/GYN for this issue, and the doctor told her she was going through perimenopause.

Perimenopause is the transitional period that women go through before they start menopause. Malone was still having pain, so the OB/GYN suggested an ablation, which is the burning of vaginal tissue. During this time, Malone was also given various drugs, such as an antidepressant and hormones, to no avail.

Malone wanted to see an endocrinologist, but her OB/GYN did not feel as if it was necessary to do this. 

“I felt like I was being dismissed,” she said.

Later, Malone went back to the doctor, and she saw a different doctor, who referred her to an endocrinologist.

However, the endocrinologist was unable to find anything wrong, and despite the new doctor advocating for more tests, Malone was sent back to her former OB/GYN. Malone requested to see the other doctor, but her regular OB/GYN wouldn’t let her go back to the new doctor that she saw.

An indicator Malone was telling me that seemed to be overlooked was the fact that she had a very high estrogen level for her age. Her OB/GYN did not say why this was the case. This high estrogen level, along with the excessive bleeding were some signs toward cancer markers that were completely dismissed. 

In fact, Malone did end up having cancer. It wasn’t until after her hysterectomy that her doctors realized that she had cancer. Her OB/GYN simply put her in danger by not pushing for more tests. 

According to Malone, her doctor told her: “You’re going through menopause, I have other patients suffering [from] the same thing, I have cancer patients next door.”

Eventually, Malone was able to get a hysterectomy after jumping through many hoops, including losing insurance, her job, and the ability to take care of her kids. Her whole life was torn apart all because of a doctor who refused to do a thorough job and believe one of his patients.

All of this stress medically was a lot for Malone, but what made it worse was the financial burden that came with it. Since Malone was chronically ill, she was unable to work. Her former employers made it seem like she had quit and wasn’t fired, which made it impossible for her to get unemployment benefits, so she wasn’t receiving an income.

Malone’s story is unfortunately one that is shared by many women across America. It is very hypocritical for doctors, who take a Hippocratic oath of ethics, to not believe their own patients and to not go to their due diligence for their patients. They actively violate their oath when they tell women, such as Malone, that their ailment isn’t worth their time, and that she should just live with the pain.

Andrew Sarhan is an 18-year-old mass communication freshman from Baton Rouge, LA.