Woman’s needlessly complicated breast cancer screening highlights the terrible state of women’s health
A woman’s viral video about her needlessly complicated and hostile breast cancer screening experience highlights the terrible state of women’s health.
Of all women’s issues, none feel quite as urgent as women’s health. For one, conservatives are set on preventing women from receiving lifesaving care, preferring states to allow women to die rather than receive emergency abortions. Conservative men even proposed a bill to revolutionize women’s health to ensure it prioritizes the “needs of men” and communities rather than women. Then, there’s the fact that women and girls are treated terribly in the healthcare system. They’re often not believed, blamed for their symptoms, and denied treatment or painkillers. Too many women have had severe health conditions go untreated until it’s too late because doctors dismissed them. Oftentimes, the healthcare system coddles men, sending them home for vasectomies with pain prescriptions and care packages. In contrast, these same healthcare providers hesitate to offer women pain relief medication for IUD insertion or labor.
One women’s TikTok highlights that women are also punished by their insurance companies and scolded by healthcare providers if they dare to take proactive measures regarding their health.
Woman shares her shocking breast cancer screening experience
A TikTok user who goes by Mik went viral after sharing her uncomfortable breast cancer screening experience. It’s well-known that people are at higher risk of developing breast cancer if there’s a history of breast cancer in the family. For example, having a 1st degree relative with breast cancer can double one’s risk of also developing the disease. The risk is especially high when one’s relative develops breast cancer before the age of 40. So, given that Mik has a relative who was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 36, her doctor recommended she get screened even though she was under 30 years old.
She had a doctor’s recommendation and a very good reason to want to begin breast cancer screenings. However, she and her doctor were told she couldn’t have a mammogram because she’s not 30. When the doctor asked if she could at least have an ultrasound, she was told she could, but her insurance wouldn’t cover it. Fortunately, the ultrasound cost only a few hundred dollars, so Mik went through without it. She showed up for the ultrasound and was in the room “half-dressed” in her hospital gown when she suddenly found herself “interrogated.” The woman performing the ultrasound asked numerous questions demanding to know why Mik was getting the ultrasound before forcing her to call her insurance company then and there to prove she didn’t “qualify” for the procedure.
Mik recalled, “She just seemed upset that I was there, and I literally at one point said, ‘I’m sorry.'” The woman was so dismissive and angry that Mik said she was unsure if she could trust the results. It made her wonder if the healthcare professional would even look for the signs when she was already convinced that Mik didn’t “qualify” for an ultrasound and shouldn’t be there.
“I don’t think cancer waits till I’m 30 to do something, you know,” Mik concluded. Apparently, though, doctors do think cancer waits for women. In the comments on Mik’s post, multiple women alleged to have had similar experiences in which they were flat-out denied screenings despite having identified a lump or having a family history of cancer. One woman claimed she now has cancer after a doctor laughed in her face because she wanted yearly paps due to having five family members with cervical cancer.
It’s bad enough that medical professionals and insurance companies can simply deny preventive treatment, even if it comes with a doctor’s recommendation. Given her family history, Mik already qualified for the mammogram. There was no reason to deny her this type of screening. Even when she agreed to go with an ultrasound instead, she still had someone trying to tell her she couldn’t have it. However, no woman in a vulnerable position and hospital gown should be forced to sit through a lecture and interrogation and treated like she’s a nuisance because she wants to exercise her right to a cancer screening and take precautions due to her family’s history of cancer. Women should be rewarded for being proactive about their health. The fact that they’re treated like nuisances when they try to be proactive is indicative of the urgent need for change in women’s health.
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