Sterilization, mysterious pain, and dismissive doctors: Why women turn to reversal surgery

Ever since Maranda Bordelon had a segment of each fallopian tube removed, she'd been living with terrible pain.

September 13, 2025 Check out STAT+

Sponsored By

We celebrated a big milestone this week: STAT's 10th anniversary! Read the 10 STAT stories that have helped shaped the landscape of health and medicine over the past decade, and just for fun, check out our new mini crossword and merch store. There's more: We have a special anniversary deal for STAT+, $10/month for 10 months. Thanks for reading! — Sarah Mupo, director of editorial operations

Emily Kask for STAT Sterilization, mysterious pain, and dismissive doctors: Why women turn to reversal surgery — and sometimes to RFK Jr. Post-tubal ligation syndrome is a set of symptoms disabling enough to unravel lives but inexplicable enough for many doctors to doubt it exists By Eric Boodman Maria Fabrizio for STAT Is it 'inevitable' that men die more than five years earlier than women? Men die five years sooner than women, but 'there's nothing inevitable' about it. The ignored life expectancy gap reveals flaws in public health priorities. By Olivia Goldhill Photo illustration:STAT; Source photo: Getty Images STAT+ | Tracking RFK Jr.'s promises to remake health in America STAT introduces a goal and promises tracker for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement — successes, incompletes, fails. By Isabella Cueto and J. Emory Parker How the myth that nicotine causes cancer is hurting public health Misconceptions about nicotine and cancer keep smokers away from less-risky products, and nicotine-infused products are popping up in unexpected areas. By Sarah Todd STAT+ | FDA greenlights trial of gene-edited pig kidneys as treatment for end-stage kidney disease Gene-edited pig organ transplants from eGenesis and Revivicor are making their way into more human patients. By Eric Boodman and Megan Molteni STAT+ | After lagging far behind, NIH now seems on pace to spend its entire $47 billion budget by Sept. 30 But the agency will still fund far fewer new projects this year, a STAT analysis shows By Megan Molteni, Anil Oza, and J. Emory Parker Dropping hepatitis B shots for newborns would ignore history and endanger children, scientists warn Critics of newborn hepatitis B shots overlook why the CDC adopted the policy, and how cases dropped 99% after universal vaccination began By Eric Boodman Opinion: I created my own AI medical team. It changed the way doctors treat my cancer After being diagnosed with an aggressive form of blood cancer, I created my own virtual medical team. It showed what my doctors had missed. By Steve Brown

More around STAT

Check out more exclusive coverage with a STAT+ subscription Read premium in-depth biotech, pharma, policy, and life science coverage and analysis with all of our STAT+ articles.

---

Enjoying Weekend Reads? Tell us about your experience Continue reading the latest health & science news with the STAT app Download on the App Store or get it on Google Play

STAT, 1 Exchange Place, Boston, MA ©2025, All Rights Reserved. I no longer wish to receive STAT emails

Update Newsletter Preferences     •    Contact Us     •    Advertise with Us     •    View in Browser