a stat investigation
One patient's story of sterilization, pressure, and regret
Chantal Heijnen for STAT
At 61, Pat Wells is a private person. But more than 30 years ago, she went to the doctor for a contraceptive arm implant. Then her doctor told her she'd get a tubal ligation instead. Wells didn't know much about the procedure, and thought it was just what she had to do. Now, she's spoken to STAT's Eric Boodman about the complicated experience, with the hope that it will prevent what happened to her from happening to anyone else. "I felt as though I was almost forced to do it," she said. "Like I had no other option."
Wells had no idea her experience was part of a pattern of doctors pushing women with sickle cell disease toward sterilization procedures they weren't sure they wanted, didn't fully understand, or both. In interviews with Eric for his Coercive Care series, seven patients from four different states have shared such experiences firsthand, and sickle cell specialists report having heard of dozens of other people who've lived through the same thing.
Read Wells' story in the last part of Eric's incredible, heartbreaking series. And catch up on the first five parts here.
hospitals
Racial bias in how hospitals report suspected child abuse
Black children admitted to hospitals for traumatic injuries are more likely to be suspected of having experienced child abuse than white children, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open. Nationally, many studies show instances of child abuse are similar across races, the authors wrote, raising the possibility that bias may lead some physicians to overevaluate Black families for possible abuse, often causing unnecessary trauma and family separation. A standardizing screening tool, the authors suggest, could help eliminate the unconscious bias that may result in unequal diagnoses.
Some 11% of the nation's annual 2.2 million reports of suspected child abuse come from medical personnel, wrote Alison Jackson of Children's National Hospital, the author of an accompanying editorial that called for equitable and evidence-based screening approaches that are free of racial bias. That bias, she noted, can also lead to underreporting of child abuse of white children, particularly those who come from high-income families. — Usha Lee McFarling
cognition
A connection between sexism and memory
A new study analyzed state-level structural sexism between 1900 and 1960 (think gender ratios for workforce participation, weekly earnings, state legislature seats, maternal mortality rates) and found that the more exposure to sexism a woman experienced, the faster her memory declined later in life. The research, published yesterday in Alzheimer's & Dementia, is based on data from two longitudinal aging and retirement studies of a combined 20,000 people.
Because women tend to outlive men, they also tend to suffer more from memory problems later in life. Women represent nearly two-thirds of people in the U.S. with Alzheimer's. It's hard to untangle how state-level discrimination affects people as compared to other policies and practices. But a deeper understanding of the relationship between sexism and cognitive decline could help to create better policy interventions, the authors write.
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