Ep 44 Listen to Women: Lessons Learned from The Retrievals

It's easier to be shocked by the story The Retrievals podcast reports and moves on but extremely important to reflect on why it happened in order to prevent history repeating itself (again).

For months, a nurse at a Fertility Center in the United States replaced the pain reliever fentanyl with normal saline, taking the fentenyl for her own use, but left women undergoing egg retrievals without pain relief.

Patients in pain for a procedure is horrible enough, but it's extremely disturbing that the women who tried to report and question what happened felt like their concerns were ignored.

In this episode of Baby or Bust, Dr. Lora Shahine takes us through what an egg retrieval process should be like and is like, the majority of the time. Dr. Shahine also explores the history of women and the medical community and why women so often have to advocate for themselves to get even a minimum of care. She leaves with tips on how to advocate for yourself so you receive the attention and care you deserve.

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What you'll hear in this episode:

[00:00] Intro to Episode: The Gender Bias in Medicine

[00:37] Intro to Baby or Bust and thank to our sponsor Seattle Sperm Bank

[01:12] Intro to the Retrievals Podcast by the New York Times and Serial Network: The Story

[04:38] What is pain control supposed to be like for a retrieval?

[04:43] Fentanyl: What is it and What does it do?

[05:12] Midazolam (Versed): What is it and What does it do?

[10:22] What pain control is like at my clinic PNWF in Seattle

[10:40] Propofol: What is it and Why is it different?

[12:15] Dr. Shahine describes her own experience with her egg retrieval

[12:52] Why did this happen? Why is it common for women to feel dismissed in medicine?

[14:43] The gender bias in medicine – pain, endometriosis, and more

[16:15] The book Doing Harm by Maya Dusenbery

[17:02] The knowledge gap – women excluded from medical trials, lack of teaching women's health in medical training, lack of investment in research into diseases that mainly impact women

[18:30] The trust gap: doctors not trusting women's description of symptoms

[19:25] What can be done to change this?

[20:10] Learning how to advocate for YOUR care: Tips for you from Dr. Shahine

[22:31] Recap

[23:46] Fertility Story of the Week: The patient that told Dr. Shahine about the Retrievals Podcast

[25:53] Resources and thank you

Resources mentioned:

Retrievals article in New York Times

The Retrievals podcast on Apple

Stay Up to Date in Fertility News and Events: Weekly Newsletter

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