medical abuse of women

Medical Rape: Coerced Hysterectomy, Oophorectomy, and Lymphadenectomy

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I was one of those lucky women who never suffered any gynecological problems in the 58 years I had my precious female organs fully intact. I trusted the female GP who did my yearly Pap smear (which she insisted I have every year, despite never, ever having abnormal cells). I did not know she was in cahoots with corrupt gynecologists looking for easy prey to perform hysterectomies. She forced me into seeing a gynecologist, writing that I had post-menopausal bleeding. This was a blatant lie, as I NEVER had a single drop of blood since my menopause finished 5 1/2 years before. She would not take “NO” for an answer. She did everything to gain my trust, so I didn’t understand what was going on. She wore me down until I gave in. I went to the gynecologist she referred me to so he could examine me, say I’m fine and send me home. I’d never seen him before in my life.

As soon as I sat down, he opened the referral, and the first words out of his mouth was: “You have bleeding. I’m giving you a curettage.” I was shocked. He didn’t ask me one single question, and he didn’t examine me. I said I had no bleeding and I’m not having a curettage, but he would not take “NO” for an answer. He already had me booked in for the pre-admission and the curettage at a hospital I’d never been to before. I was not told that it is my choice. He manipulated and coerced me until I gave in.

At the post-op appointment two weeks later, he said that I had cancer and had to have a hysterectomy. He’d already sent the referral to a public hospital I had never been to before, and was not told was a teaching hospital. I only went there to be examined, told I’m fine, and sent home. The Clinical Fellow in Gynecology/Oncology called me in after the waiting room was empty. He then mentioned the bleeding. I was so angry, I said:

“Why do you people keep saying I had bleeding, when I hadn’t had a single drop since my menopause finished over five years ago, until I was given the curettage and bled for 3 days.”

He ignored me and told me he was going to take out my cervix, my uterus, my Fallopian tubes, and my ovaries. And he was going to do it by laparoscopy, but still may have to cut me open. Again, I was shocked. I said:

“I have no bleeding, no pain, no symptoms whatsoever, and begged for another option.”

His face was full of anger and contempt as he yelled at me:

“YOU HAVE NO OTHER OPTION. YOU SHOULD CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE CHEMOTHERAPY. NOT LIKE ALL THOSE WOMEN IN THE WAITING ROOM”, and he flicked his hand toward the empty waiting room and said: “THEY WEREN’T SO LUCKY”.

I was shocked.

He then answered every question I asked with:

“You’ll be fine,” and insisted I go in, in two days.

Next, he shoved a piece of paper in front of me and pointed where to sign. He did not go through one thing written on that consent form. I asked him if he’d done laparoscopy surgery before, and he looked me in the eye and told me he’d done hundreds, that he could do them with his eyes closed. A blatant lie. I did not know that after I left, he added on the form he bullied me into signing that he may take out some pelvic lymph nodes as well. He sprung that on me just before the surgery.

To make a long story short. He mutilated six organs from my body, and God knows how many lymph nodes, as that was covered-up. He botched it beyond repair leaving me wailing in agony every day and bleeding out since he butchered me in June 2005.

The morning after he slaughtered my organs, he smugly told me that I was as clean as a whistle; that all my removed organs had been healthy.

He removed healthy organs.

I was coerced into having an unneeded hysterectomy; a hysterectomy that has left me in agonizing pain ever since. For what? Profit? Medical training? I don’t know, but I am devastated.

When I tried to bring a complaint against him and the hospital, the whole system took his side and did everything to discredit me and spread the word I was paranoid. They denied that I was in any pain, and kept sending me to psychiatrists who just kept pushing drugs on me and telling me they found nothing wrong in the tests when I kept telling them how much pain I’m in.

I’ve never in my life been touched by such evil. I was a victim of fraud and criminal medical malpractice, and my health and my life has been destroyed by those evil doctors. Why aren’t women warned about these corrupt doctors who trick healthy women into unnecessary hysterectomies. This surgical racket has been going on for decades and will never stop because the system is geared to protect doctors, and not patients, from unnecessary harm. As Dr. Phil Hammond said: “The system is still geared to protecting doctors’ reputations rather than protecting patients from unnecessary harm.”

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Is Medical Abuse of Women the New Standard of Care?

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Over half a million hysterectomies are performed every year in the U.S. Up to 90% are considered to be medically unnecessary. Therefore, healthy hormone-producing sex organs are “routinely” removed. For this reason, removal of healthy sex organs is considered to be the ‘standard of care’ for women. If this doesn’t alarm you, it should. The U.S. leads the world in hysterectomies – not something to take pride in for sure.

I should note here that approximately 60% to 70% of hysterectomies include removal of the ovaries or “castration” which is linked to loss of sexuality, heart disease, Parkinson’s, Osteoporosis and other numerous mental and physical health problems. I wrote about my own story regarding unconsented hysterectomy and castration here. I also wrote about how our hormones animate us here and about how the loss of hormones resulting from castration can lead to severe depression and even suicide here.

Unnecessary Cesarean Births

Now, let’s talk about another alarming and often unnecessary surgery being performed on women daily in the U.S., the cesarean. Cesarean is the now number one surgery. The U.S. leads the world in C-sections rates. In fact, 15% of current in-patient surgeries nationwide are Cesarean deliveries. The following data may help shine a light on why so many C-sections are being preformed. The centers for Medicare and Medicaid have found that the average physician’s charges for uncomplicated vaginal delivery in the U.S. is just under $4,500. But for an uncomplicated cesarean delivery, it is $7,000. Hospitalization costs are doubled, going from an average of a little over $5,000 to over $10,000.

C-sections are necessarily exhausting hospital, surgical, and nursing services and as a result, they’re causing an increase in waiting time and nursing coverage for other needed procedures. Consider that for every 5% increase in U.S. C-section rates, there may be as many as 14 to 32 more maternal deaths and $750 million to $1.7 billion in health-care expenditures. Why then, do C-section rates keep rising? Could money be the incentive? You decide…

Unsafe Birth Control

Money is too often an incentive when it comes to unnecessary surgeries, medical devices, drugs, etc. and this seems to be especially true in reference to women. Birth control is something most every woman has to confront and manage in some way. Birth control pills are long associated with well-known risks such as blood clots, stroke, and heart attack, etc.

One would think that after so many years, there would be a safer method of birth control, but that isn’t the case at all. Many women are undergoing irreversible sterilization every day in our country via a permanent method of birth control known as “Essure”. Hundreds of thousands of unsuspecting women have been coerced by their doctors into agreeing to having the Essure coil implanted. Sadly, this form of birth control is not the risk-free procedure that the gynecological community would have us believe. Instead, many women with the Essure coil in their body are now suffering unspeakable pain and serious medical conditions – some leading to hysterectomy.

The Essure coil intentionally causes an inflammatory response that encourages the growth of scar tissue, which then blocks the openings to the fallopian tubes – thereby preventing pregnancy. The problem is that the inflammatory response is intentionally chronic and the metals all too often evoke severe allergic reactions causing the coil to migrate, become misplaced, or even perforate the uterus, fallopian tube, and other organs. Obviously,  a variety of problems are likely to develop when a woman’s body begins the fight to reject the Essure coil. It’s estimated that over 800 women have filed reports with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regarding the adverse effects Essure has had on their physical health.

Morcellation

Let’s move onto another alarming issue in women’s health that has only recently come to light – at least for those of us who aren’t gynecologists or the maker of medical devices. In April 2014, the FDA issued a safety communication discouraging the use of laparoscopic power morcellators for the removal of the uterus and uterine fibroids. Based on an analysis of currently available data, the FDA cited a risk of the spread of unsuspected cancerous tissue.

The strange thing is that most women who undergo hysterectomy or myomectomy (removal of fibroids only) have no earthly idea that something called a morcellator is ever used. Most have never even heard of such a device. In other words, women are not giving their doctors consent to use this device to splice up their uterus or fibroids. When you consider that over 600,000 hysterectomies are performed every year (never mind all the myomectomies performed), the number of women who may have been subjected to morcellators could be quite substantial.

Transvaginal Mesh

Unlike the morcellator, transvaginal mesh is something that has been in the news a lot over the past couple of years. Most people have seen the advertisements on television regarding mesh-related lawsuits. The truth is that transvaginal mesh has been labeled a risky medical device by the FDA due to the high numbers of health complications associated with its use. Thousands of women have filed vaginal mesh lawsuits after suffering from the many complications related to transvaginal mesh surgery.

One urogynecologist, Dr. Richard Reid, told ABC news: “Since a mesh scar is quite fibrous and the bladder is very soft, it’s considered to be a compliance mismatch – which means the same as rubbing a piece of cheese over a metal grater.” In July 2011, the FDA issued a formal warning saying that transvaginal mesh was a “greater risk” with “no evidence of greater clinical benefit”. Johnson & Johnson removed its product from sale earlier this year and class actions are already underway in the U.S., Canada, and now Australia.

The HPV Vaccine

As alarming as all the information I’ve shared so far may be, there is even more alarming information regarding the medical abuse of young girls via an HPV vaccine known as “Gardasil”. As if targeting women wasn’t enough, many doctors are recommending the Gardasil vaccine to girls as young as nine and there’s no shortage of information regarding the many serious side-effects associated with this vaccine.

But, perhaps the most troubling thing about Gardasil is the negative effect it may have on the ovaries.  At least one Gardasil ingredient, polysorbate 80 is a known cause of ovarian deformities. Another Gardasil ingredient, L-histidine, carries significant risks as well. Because it’s a naturally-occurring substance in the human body, injecting it could have the effect of causing an autoimmune response. It would seem very probable that Merck -the maker of Gardasil- would almost have to have known that the vaccine would be putting young girls at risk for ovarian problems and even ovarian failure – leading to full blown menopause and all the associated health risks.

As of September 2013, there have been more than 57 million doses distributed in the United States, though it is unknown how many have actually been administered. There have been 22,000 Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports following the vaccination.

Medical Abuse?

I’ll ask my original question I posed in my title: “Is medical abuse of women  the new standard of care?” While I’m not sure abuse has become the “new standard of care” exactly, I’m very sure that women cannot afford to simply trust that their doctor will do what’s best for them. That kind of blind trust is just not a good idea. The sad reality is that we must take charge of our own health. We cannot rely on doctors to do what is right for us. Doctors are under extreme financial pressure and it is just too easy for them to recommend expensive surgery or an unneeded medication for a condition that can be treated alternatively. Research in women’s health issues remains inconsistent, incomplete and often slipshod. Too often, women wind up being experimental “guinea pigs” for surgeons without ever being told of all the potentially life-shattering risks to which they are being exposed.