Spyke

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French woman was told by doctors hantavirus symptoms were just anxiety

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It's a common stereotype (I can confirm anecdotally) that whenever a woman goes to the doctor for any reason, the doctor will do one or more of the following:

  1. ask when their last period was, regardless of the presenting issues
  2. tell them to lose weight
  3. order a pap smear
  4. dismiss their distress as insignificant due to period/hysteria/any-BMI-higher-than-a-supermodel/just being a woman.

This happens a lot. I don't know the stats but it's happened enough times to women I know to actually cause them to avoid medical treatment.