Are Women Being Failed in Healthcare?
Introducing: Kate
If you’ve ever felt dismissed in healthcare, it can be hard to know whether it was just your experience.
In this conversation, Kate Aubusson, Health Editor at the Sydney Morning Herald, shares what their investigation into medical misogyny uncovered about the patterns shaping women’s care across Australia.
The series revealed clear, systemic patterns of dismissal, delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis, including what Kate describes as “nightmare fuel” — cases where women were diagnosed with psychiatric conditions and involuntarily admitted to psychiatric wards while experiencing serious physical illness.
The investigation has already led to changes in policy and practice, showing what can happen when these experiences are recognised at scale.
Listener note: This episode discusses experiences of dismissal and misdiagnosis in healthcare.
“we described it as nightmare fuel”
In this episode:
why the Sydney Morning Herald investigation into medical misogyny began
what women’s stories revealed about dismissal, delayed diagnosis and misdiagnosis
how some women were wrongly treated as psychiatric patients while physically unwell
what these patterns reveal about gender bias in healthcare
where the investigation is already driving change
why these experiences are not isolated and not imagined
Resources for this episode:
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Read the Medical Misogyny Investigation series from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age
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