Women Doctors Are Called to Speak Up: Study Finds Female Surgeons at Increased Risk of Infertility
A recent study published in JAMA Surgery points toward increased risk for infertility, and pregnancy- linked complications among female surgeons. Looking at the data highlighting the greater incidents of pregnancy loss, the use of assisted reproductive technology and the need for neonatal care made me think of the case histories of some of the female doctors I’ve had the privilege to work with.
Doctor Purani Palaniswami was a rheumatologist, Susan Gunduz was a pediatrician, Suzanne Powell was a family doctor, Ranjini S. was a pediatric cardiologist.
My work with each of these brilliant women taught me something I find missing from the many commentaries on the results of the research.
The data presented in Jama can certainly be helpful in raising awareness about the common, well-known culprits of child-bearing challenges such as: age, lifestyle, the physical burden of long work hours.
It’s equally useful to acknowledge that not only for women surgeons but in a number of other professions “there appears to be no perceived or formalized structural support for sustaining a healthy pregnancy.” (As noted by one of the authors of the study.)
Female surgeons like the rest of us have human bodies that are susceptible to the same stressors as all other female bodies. Research that validates the importance of self-care in preparation and in sustaining a full-term pregnancy is a welcome reminder of the need for advocacy in that regard.
But for Purani, Susan, Ranjini, Suzanne and the many other physicians I’d worked with, their baby making trials became a singular opportunity not only for re-thinking their work load and stressors, but a brand new—far more expansive, more humane—way to practice medicine. As Suzanne put it, “I have grown so much and have also become a better physician for all of my patients.”
Yes, women doctors are called to speak up. Not only for themselves but for all of us.
Julia Indichova is the author of The Fertile Female: How the Power of Longing for a Child Can Save Your Life and Change the World & Inconceivable: A Woman’t Triumph over Despair & Statistics. The Fertile Heart™ OVUM Practice is an original fertility enhancing program that emerged through a decade and a half of counseling. Julia Indichova’s work has been endorsed by leading reproductive endocrinologists and her story and program was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, Oxygen, Discovery Health, Huffington Post, and other outlets. Julia’s profile is featured in the 9 People to Watch This Year (2016) Cover Story of the Hudson Valley Magazine. After 9/11 Julia initiated The 9/11 Bowing Project focused on applying the tools of her fertility program to the peace efforts.
