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Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'
The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women by Anushay Hossain
14 reviews
atramental's review
challenging
dark
informative
sad
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Chronic illness, Miscarriage, Sexism, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion
mondovertigo's review
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Abortion, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Sexual violence
courtneyfalling's review against another edition
informative
fast-paced
3.5
I wrote my thesis on bias, harm, and epistemic injustice in the US medical-industrial complex, exactly along the lines of this book, so I was excited to see its recent publication in October 2021! I had found a few books then that I liked enough, but most scholarship on this issue was glaringly from white writers, so this book's perspective combining facts and journalistic stories with personal stories on medical trauma during childbirth as a Bangladeshi immigrant in the US was welcome. And I was especially excited to receive an ARC of this book (thanks to the publisher and NetGalley), so I could move it up my reading list! After reading, I still think it's a good addition to the genre, especially as an introduction to medical sexism and racism, but the analysis and organization was a little lackluster.
Positive aspects: I liked how this book rooted itself in the author's perspectives as an immigrant and woman of color. The pandemic statistics and stories are hugely relevant and necessary updates to pre-pandemic scholarship. I liked how chapters focused not just on physical and maternal health barriers but also on mental health barriers, especially when depression and anxiety are the logical culminations of increased career and caretaking burdens. And I liked that this book ends with some tangible tips for women, especially WOC, to track their medical care and advocate for themselves in an overwhelming system. A lot of these books end relatively hopelessly, and although this acknowledges the need for significant institutional change beyond any individual's capacity, these tips are vital for folks' survival right now.
Negative aspects: This takes on a highly neoliberal and reformist tone about medicine. Prior to reading, I thought a solid, introductory account on medical bias from a WOC was the main book I was missing in this genre. I'm realizing it may instead be a book on this topic through a more radical lens, explicitly critiquing the medical-industrial complex. I say this because even this book takes on an overarching argument that, whatever bias exists against women at large, the issue is worse for WOC. The better and needed alternative might be centering WOC first then extrapolating outward to what exists and may come to exist for larger swathes of the population (or just focusing on WOC). As one example of the analytical shift I mean, there's a section here about how women's under-treatment in procedures that really shouldn’t be outpatient is a sexist vestige and we need more time, in-patient attention, and pain medication and resources for these procedures. But the medical-industrial complex as a whole is trending toward churning patients in and out quickly with no real care for them. The overall trend isn't stagnant or improving, it's actively worsening, and this happens to be how it's manifesting for women as a particularly vulnerable population with a long historical legacy of medical mistreatment. Similarly, the "I have faith in Biden" argument is laughably bad to me, the reverence for the US as a (potential) gold standard of healthcare that can trickle down into other countries ignores ongoing imperialism and much more insightful and useful understandings of political economy, and the 'vaccine hesitancy in Black communities' discourse strikes me as inappropriately framed (because yes, Tuskegee is a real and awful legacy, but we need to look at material barriers to vaccination in Black communities driving low vaccination and high death rates, rather than buying into a narrative that ultimately blames the 'sensitive feelings' of Black folks). And even the sections on mental health stray away from 'hard' examples of psychiatric disabilities beyond depression, including altered states, autism and ADHD, comorbid physical and mental health conditions, and so on.
Positive aspects: I liked how this book rooted itself in the author's perspectives as an immigrant and woman of color. The pandemic statistics and stories are hugely relevant and necessary updates to pre-pandemic scholarship. I liked how chapters focused not just on physical and maternal health barriers but also on mental health barriers, especially when depression and anxiety are the logical culminations of increased career and caretaking burdens. And I liked that this book ends with some tangible tips for women, especially WOC, to track their medical care and advocate for themselves in an overwhelming system. A lot of these books end relatively hopelessly, and although this acknowledges the need for significant institutional change beyond any individual's capacity, these tips are vital for folks' survival right now.
Negative aspects: This takes on a highly neoliberal and reformist tone about medicine. Prior to reading, I thought a solid, introductory account on medical bias from a WOC was the main book I was missing in this genre. I'm realizing it may instead be a book on this topic through a more radical lens, explicitly critiquing the medical-industrial complex. I say this because even this book takes on an overarching argument that, whatever bias exists against women at large, the issue is worse for WOC. The better and needed alternative might be centering WOC first then extrapolating outward to what exists and may come to exist for larger swathes of the population (or just focusing on WOC). As one example of the analytical shift I mean, there's a section here about how women's under-treatment in procedures that really shouldn’t be outpatient is a sexist vestige and we need more time, in-patient attention, and pain medication and resources for these procedures. But the medical-industrial complex as a whole is trending toward churning patients in and out quickly with no real care for them. The overall trend isn't stagnant or improving, it's actively worsening, and this happens to be how it's manifesting for women as a particularly vulnerable population with a long historical legacy of medical mistreatment. Similarly, the "I have faith in Biden" argument is laughably bad to me, the reverence for the US as a (potential) gold standard of healthcare that can trickle down into other countries ignores ongoing imperialism and much more insightful and useful understandings of political economy, and the 'vaccine hesitancy in Black communities' discourse strikes me as inappropriately framed (because yes, Tuskegee is a real and awful legacy, but we need to look at material barriers to vaccination in Black communities driving low vaccination and high death rates, rather than buying into a narrative that ultimately blames the 'sensitive feelings' of Black folks). And even the sections on mental health stray away from 'hard' examples of psychiatric disabilities beyond depression, including altered states, autism and ADHD, comorbid physical and mental health conditions, and so on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma and Pregnancy
Moderate: Child death, Death, Misogyny, and Racism
mmrohbock's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.5
4.5⭐
Content warnings: Pregnancy, maternal mortality, racism, death
Remember when the J&J vaccine was paused in the US because 6 in 6,000,000 women vaccinated experienced blood clots? As a white American woman, I am more likely to die in childbirth than to experience vaccine-related complications and that's honestly wild given that our health care systems is one of the best in the world.
Anushay Hossain dives into the reasons why women are not believed for the medical pain they experience and how this directly correlates with the maternal mortality rate. She goes beyond the important statistics to share stories of the people who make up those numbers.
I learned:
+The root of the word "hysteria" is the Greek word for uterus so women are termed as hysteric because of our anatomy 🙄
+Due to hormonal cycles screwing with research trial data, women were largely excluded from medical research trials and it wasnt until 2016(!!!) that the NIH recognized this bias and mandated that studies receiving research grant money must include women
+Because many research trials do not include women, it makes doctors less likely to diagnose women with medical issues because women can (and often do) experience different symptoms than men for the same medical issue
+Doulas are extremely important for women especially women of color because their advocacy for women during birth results in better recognition of medical issues occuring during or after birth
+Women of color have much higher maternal mortality rates because they are even less listened to by their doctors and nurses so midwife and birth centers prioritize mothers of color to help ensure they receive the advocacy they need
+Covid made so many of these issues even worse as less people were allowed to attend doctors appointments or be in birthing rooms resulting in less advocacy for women, particularly women of color
I read the ARC of this book and I do hope this book continues to be edited. There were several long chapters where it felt like the focus of the book became lost. I loved the focus of race in this book but wish there had been more trans representation or other minority issues.
Even so, I think this book is incredibly important for all women and men to read, especially anyone who plans to have kids and especially for people of color and their allies. There are so many challenges that surround the care we give to expecting and new mothers in this country that many aren't exposed to until having children. This book taught me so much and I plan to continue learning and thinking about how I can use this book to make change.
Content warnings: Pregnancy, maternal mortality, racism, death
Remember when the J&J vaccine was paused in the US because 6 in 6,000,000 women vaccinated experienced blood clots? As a white American woman, I am more likely to die in childbirth than to experience vaccine-related complications and that's honestly wild given that our health care systems is one of the best in the world.
Anushay Hossain dives into the reasons why women are not believed for the medical pain they experience and how this directly correlates with the maternal mortality rate. She goes beyond the important statistics to share stories of the people who make up those numbers.
I learned:
+The root of the word "hysteria" is the Greek word for uterus so women are termed as hysteric because of our anatomy 🙄
+Due to hormonal cycles screwing with research trial data, women were largely excluded from medical research trials and it wasnt until 2016(!!!) that the NIH recognized this bias and mandated that studies receiving research grant money must include women
+Because many research trials do not include women, it makes doctors less likely to diagnose women with medical issues because women can (and often do) experience different symptoms than men for the same medical issue
+Doulas are extremely important for women especially women of color because their advocacy for women during birth results in better recognition of medical issues occuring during or after birth
+Women of color have much higher maternal mortality rates because they are even less listened to by their doctors and nurses so midwife and birth centers prioritize mothers of color to help ensure they receive the advocacy they need
+Covid made so many of these issues even worse as less people were allowed to attend doctors appointments or be in birthing rooms resulting in less advocacy for women, particularly women of color
I read the ARC of this book and I do hope this book continues to be edited. There were several long chapters where it felt like the focus of the book became lost. I loved the focus of race in this book but wish there had been more trans representation or other minority issues.
Even so, I think this book is incredibly important for all women and men to read, especially anyone who plans to have kids and especially for people of color and their allies. There are so many challenges that surround the care we give to expecting and new mothers in this country that many aren't exposed to until having children. This book taught me so much and I plan to continue learning and thinking about how I can use this book to make change.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Pregnancy