By ANNE BUI

Patients and advocates have been campaigning for women's healthcare reforms to improve treatment healthcare professionals. 

Marie Evans was 13 years old when she first sought medical attention for a gastrointestinal issue. After running a few tests, her male doctor informed her the issue was stress related.

It was not until years later when Marie had another examination, this time with a female doctor, that she realised her issues were worse than what she had previously believed.

During Marie’s diagnosis, a calprotectin stool test was conducted to check for inflammation in her gut. Normal levels of calprotectin found in stool should be less than 50 micrograms per gram of stool.

Marie’s test results returned “three times higher than normal” at approximately 170 micrograms per gram.

Further testing concluded that Marie had been suffering from a hiatal hernia, which occurs when the stomach pushes through the diaphragm, causing difficulty in swallowing, heartburn, burping and vomiting.

“Although my symptoms are not completely resolved, I have learnt to manage them and avoid certain foods, medications and activities that trigger a flare-up,” she said. 

This was not the only time Marie’s health condition was not fully understood by doctors. 

Earlier this year, the 18-year-old girl received an official diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). 

She and her team had to go through more than eight weeks of ‘rigorous testing and multidisciplinary assessments’ with multiple professionals. This included a speech therapist, a psychologist, a neuropsychologist, and an occupational therapist under the Early in Life Mental Health Service.

However, the new psychiatrist she met after being transferred to an adult mental health service dismissed her previous diagnosis of ADHD after just a brief five-minute consultation.

“He did not agree with my diagnosis as I didn’t exhibit any signs of [ADHD],” she said. 

The entire appointment lasted only 15 minutes and Marie left feeling upset as she felt the doctor showed little compassion for her situation.

“He essentially shut me down. If I tried to say anything, he wouldn’t let me speak,” she said.

“I felt almost abandoned," Marie said.

"I felt neglected by the team that was supposed to be keeping me safe and listening to me.” 

A national report from the End Gender Bias survey, published earlier this year, revealed two-thirds of Australian females reported experiencing gender bias and discrimination in healthcare services. Their suffering was underestimated and labelled as ‘hysterical’ or even ‘faked’ by many GPs and medical specialists.

More than 80 per cent of women with a disability and people of the LGBTIQA+ community reported more experiences of bias and discrimination during healthcare visits compared to other women.

Professor Helena Teede, Director of the Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation, said that the issues of gender inequity were not all about women’s access to healthcare, but whether the provided healthcare adequately addressed their needs and health issues.

For a long time, the treatment of women’s health “tend to be framed around men’s experiences”.

“They think ‘It’s just me, I just need to put up with this pain or no one’s listening to me, so I’m not getting a diagnosis’,” Professor Teede said.  

“So you have this situation where women suffer physically and psychologically because the system is not meeting their needs [and] we’ve not considered women enough right from the start of the research, the guidelines, the policies and our education,” she said. 

So who is to blame?

Professor Teede said women should not be left alone to fight the medical system. 

She reinforced the key roles of policymakers in building safe communities, where many people from diverse backgrounds can be represented and have their needs reflected by the system.

Professor Teede suggested that national policies should have more female involvement to significantly narrow this gender disparity. 

“Promotion of equity as we’ve seen increasingly, that leads to change,” she said.