CHLOÉ HAYDEN: We Are Not Nearly Angry Enough About Melbourne Surgeon Dr Simon Gordon

A haunting new Four Corners investigation has laid bare how a trusted Melbourne gynaecologist allegedly removed the organs of young women for “severe” endometriosis that experts say they may never have had.

 

Over months of reporting, the program heard from patients who woke up to find ovaries, and in some cases their uterus, gone, then later discovered their pathology showed little or no trace of the disease they were told was attacking their bodies. Many are now facing lifelong pain, infertility and the shock of learning that what happened to them may have been avoidable.

Sophie Wilkinson told Four Corners they had a laparoscopic surgery performed by Dr Simon Gordon that left them in terrible pain.(Image: Four Corners / ABC)

The allegations against Dr Simon Gordon, who practised at Melbourne’s Epworth Hospital and branded himself an endometriosis specialist, have triggered an outpouring of anger and grief from women across the country. Victoria’s Premier Jacinta Allan has confirmed the claims have been referred to police and the state’s health watchdog, saying that performing unnecessary surgery “is a crime” and that women “deserve answers”. Gordon has denied any wrongdoing and resigned from his role late last year, while Epworth says it has reported him to the national regulator AHPRA and commissioned an independent review of its clinical governance.

Over 100 women have come forward claiming they had reproductive tissue and sometimes organs removed by Dr Simon Gordon despite little evidence they had.(Image: Supplied / 9News)

Writer, actor and disability advocate Chloé Hayden wrote the following post on social media in response to this story. It has been republished here with full permission.

Writer, actor and disability advocate. (Image: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney)

Male surgeons are literally getting away with removing young women’s literal fucking organs so here’s some other reminders about just how little our medical system cares about endometriosis and women’s health.

There’s five times more research on erectile dysfunction than on premenstrual syndrome. We put more money into men who can’t get it up than we do into women with debilitating illnesses because men’s pleasure has always been seen as a bigger issue than female life.

As Four Corners released an investigation into Dr Simon Gordon gynaecologist accused of performing unnecessary endometriosis surgeries, many people are (rightfully) angry at the lack of support and funding put towards the chronic illness. (Image: Getty)

Female mice are routinely excluded from medical research because their hormonal cycles are considered “too unpredictable”, even in studies about female-specific diseases. We are literally applying a male-default to female bodies, and wondering why we do not have answers. Why most medical intervention does not help women.

This is deeper than just endometriosis, it goes for all diseases.

Of the sparse funding available, a staggering amount is diverted to the “male experience” of the disease. Real published studies have focused on:

• Whether women with deep vaginal endometriosis are “more physically attractive”.

• The “burden” of endometriosis on male partners’ sex lives.

• The “psychological impact” on men when their partners are too ill for intercourse.

• Assessing the ‘sexual satisfaction’ of men with partners with endometriosis

Women are still suggested to ‘just get pregnant’ as a “cure”. We are treated as incubators as opposed to patients. A human life is offered as a temporary cure to a whole body disease.

It takes on average 7-10 years to diagnose because girls are taught from childhood that painful periods are normal. They are not.

Laparoscopic surgery remains the only definitive way to diagnose the condition, forcing patients to choose between “living with the pain” or undergoing invasive surgery just to be believed.

Endometriosis is frequently mislabeled as a “reproductive disease”, yet it has been found on every major organ system, including the lungs, brain, and diaphragm. By framing it as a “period problem”, the medical community ignores its systemic, whole-body destruction and can put it on the back burner as a ‘girl problem’.

It takes on average 7-10 years to diagnose endometriosis. (Image: Getty)

If men’s organs were fusing together they would not be told to try hot yoga and an anti-depressant. This would not be a niche, gendered issue, it would be a global medical crisis.

There would be a screening in every pharmacy and a cure in every medical cabinet.

We are not “suffering in silence”, we are screaming in the ER, vomiting on bathroom floors, begging for answers in GP’s offices, and the medical sector is choosing to wear ear plugs.

Emotional, silly little women.

This is only complicated, only lacking urgency, only lacking research, only lacking funding, because women’s pain is still seen as a secondary inconvenience.

We are not fucking angry enough.

Chloé Hayden is the author of Different, Not Less, and stars in Heartbreak High. You can find more about her work here, and read the Four Corners investigation here.

Lead image: Instagram / 9News

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