Shocked, shocked I am

[cjsmith]

"Doctors provide lesser quality pain care for women despite having the same pain complaint..."

And this surprises whom, exactly? Sometimes I can't get my head around how naive people still are.

I know some people who think I shouldn't be pissed off about this. That says a lot about them, I think, and about their attitudes toward (me / women).

Well, let's see if this next link lightens my mood:

The brain tissue of those with chronic pain showed shrinkage equivalent to the amount of gray matter lost in 10 to 20 years of normal aging. Hey, maybe I can come up with some snarky replies to the next spry and healthy sixty-year-old who tells me I'm "too young to hurt this much". Sadly, in another year or two I'll be too stupid to think of them.

Comments

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

I suspect this will be an unpopular opinion here, but I have to admit that I am deeply troubled by any report that includes the words "studies show (etc)" without really referencing the studies. I'd have to read them to see what they really say. And I must admit my first thought when I read it was "Duh." If men "manage" their pain until it becomes unavoidable to see a doctor, and they are wheeled in doubled over and unable to breathe, I think it's fairly obvious that they will receive more immediate and direct care for their pain, for the simple reason that they are in more dire need of it.

Having said all of that, and so you don't think I am a complete jerk, my gut feeling is that many doctors probably do respond to women complaining of unexplainable pain differently. And that is a problem that we need to work on fixing. I just don't think ABC News is doing much to help. :(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

I agree that the studies should have been referenced. "Studies show" is a wimpy way of saying "This is my opinion, but don't contradict me, it's backed up by Science."

I read "despite having the same pain complaint" [emphasis mine] as meaning given two people with similar pain levels, not men who were in more dire need. The latter wouldn't be "the same".

And yeah: ABC News is unlikely to be doing much to help. Not sure how they can, except to make people less unaware that this sort of thing happens, which (I suppose, sadly) is still needed.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

I agree, there should have been (and may well have been) attempts to make sure the men and women were reporting the same symptoms in the same manner and asking for the same treatment. If that were done, I would think the results would be fairly conclusive. My problem, being a cynic and distrusting news organizations as a whole, is that I don't trust the person who wrote the article to have put as much into the word "same" as you or I do. :)

Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure how they could help either. I suspect any real change will come from people choosing their own doctors and that's not an easy thing to do these days. Insurance companies give you a small enough number of doctors to work with to start with, and then switching doesn't accomplish much. In theory, I'm a big believer in changing things though personal choice and capitalism. But I think that even if I had a doctor I was extremely uncomfortable with or disappointed in, about the only thing I could think to do would be to convince enough people at my company he was unqualified (through personal experience or through mine) that I would be comfortable going to the insurance company and asking them to remove him from the list of doctors and add someone else.

And I have significant doubts that even that would work. :(

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

In theory, I'm a big believer in changing things though personal choice and capitalism.

As am I. When we have a Consumer Reports for doctors, we'll see some improvements. There's one web site (can't find it now) setting up to do something along those lines, but it doesn't have a lot of information built up yet.

[jupiter29.livejournal.com]

I think that would be a wonderful thing, but it will be a long time coming. So vote with your wallet you need a real choice, and right now insurance companies offer few people a really open choice. Still, every step in the right direction is a good one. If you happen across the website again, let me know and I'd be happy to take a look.