Female surgeons in the United Kingdom say they are being harassed and sexually assaulted, and in some cases raped, by their colleagues, an analysis of UK National Health Service (NHS) staff has revealed.
The BBC spoke to women who were sexually assaulted in the operating room during surgery.
The authors of the study point out that there is a pattern of behavior in which women who are doing internships are abused by more experienced surgeons, and this is currently happening in NHS hospitals.
The Royal College of Surgeons said the research findings are “truly shocking”.
Sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape are considered an open secret within the British surgical field.
There is an untold story of women being groped under their gowns, surgeons wiping sweat from their brows on women’s chests, and men with erections rubbing up against female staff.
Some female surgeons have been offered job opportunities in exchange for sex.
The analysis -of the University of Exeter, University of Surrey and the Sexual Misconduct Working Group within the framework of the Surgery – was shared exclusively with the BBC.
About two-thirds of female surgeons who provided information to researchers said they were targets of sexual harassment, and one-third revealed they were sexually assaulted by colleagues in the past five years.
Women say they fear reporting these incidents because of the negative impact it may have on their career and do not trust the NHS to take action.
“What is your face doing in my cleavage?”
There is nervousness about talking openly about this. Judith asked us not to include her last name. Now, she is a talented and experienced surgeon.
Judith was sexually assaulted early in her career when she was the least powerful person in the operating room and the most experienced surgeon was sweating.
“He just turned around and buried his head in my breasts, and I realized he was wiping his forehead on me,” she explains.
“You freeze, you know, ‘what’s his face doing in my cleavage?’”
When he did it again, Judith offered him a towel. “No, this is much more fun,” she responded with a “mocking expression,” says Judith, who remembers feeling “dirty and humiliated.”
Even worse for her was the total silence of her companions.
“Even he wasn’t the most senior person in the operating room, but he knew that behavior was okay and that’s just terrible.”
This happened to Judith in the middle of the operating room, but sexual harassment and abuse also happens beyond the hospital.
“I trusted him”
Anne – we cannot reveal her real name for legal reasons – wanted to speak to the BBC because she believes change will only come when people start talking.
She chooses not to call what happened to her rape, but it is clear that the sexual relations that took place were not consensual.
The incident occurred during a social event linked to a medical conference (a meeting of doctors of the same specialty).
In a now-familiar pattern, she was an intern and he was an experienced surgeon.
“I trusted him, I admired him,” he says.
He took advantage of that trust and told her that she didn’t know the other people there and that she could trust him.
“So he walked with me to the place where I was staying. I thought she wanted to talk and then suddenly she turned to me and had sex with me.”
Anne says that at that moment her body froze and “I couldn’t stop it.”
“That wasn’t what I wanted, it was never what I wanted, it was totally unexpected.”
When Anne saw him the next day, she says he “could barely keep it together.”
“I felt like I couldn’t make a fuss, I felt like there was a very strong culture of just putting up with whatever they did to you.”
The incident had a lasting impact on Anne.
First it left her emotionally paralyzed, and years later “the memory flooded my mind again like a horror, a nightmare,” even when she was preparing to operate on a patient.
Loss of confidence in the profession
It is widely accepted that there is a culture of silence around this type of behavior.
Surgical training is based on learning from more senior colleagues in the operating theatre, and women have told us that it is risky to speak out about those who have power and influence over the future of their careers.
The research, published by the British Journal of Surgery, is the first attempt to get an idea of the scale of the problem.
Registered surgeons – men and women – were invited to participate and respond anonymously, and 1,434 responded. Half were women:
- 63% of women were subjected to sexual harassment by colleagues
- 30% of women were sexually assaulted by a colleague
- 11% of women reported forcible physical contact linked to job opportunities
- At least 11 cases of rape were reported
- 90% of women and 81% of men witnessed some form of inappropriate sexual behavior
Although the report shows that men are also victims of some of these behaviors (24% were sexually harassed), it concludes that male and female surgeons “live different realities.”
“Our findings are likely to have an impact on public confidence in the profession,” said Dr Christopher Begeny, from the University of Exeter.
Meanwhile, a second report – called “Breaking the Silence: Addressing Sexual Misconduct in Health Care” – makes recommendations about what needs to change.
Both reports indicate that the relatively lower proportion of female surgeons (about 28%), combined with the fact that the field of surgery is deeply hierarchical, gives some men significant power, and this combines poorly with the high-pressure environment experienced in the operating room.
“This means that people can behave with impunity and there is not much control over what happens,” says Professor Carrie Newlands, a surgeon at the University of Surrey.
Newlands decided to address this behavior after hearing the experiences of her less experienced colleagues.
“The most common scenario is that a less experienced female trainee is abused by a more experienced male perpetrator, who is usually her supervisor,” she told the BBC.
“And this results in a culture of silence where people are afraid for their future and their careers if they decide to speak out.”
“Incredibly worrying”
Another theme that emerged from the analysis was the lack of trust in bodies such as the NHS Trust, the General Medical Council (which manages the register of doctors in the United Kingdom authorized to practice) and the Royal Colleges (which represent specialties in medicine) to treat the problem.
“We need a profound change in research processes to make them external, independent and trusted so that healthcare becomes a safe place to work,” says Newlands.
Tim Mitchell, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, told the BBC that the research findings are “deeply shocking and will be a source of much embarrassment for the surgical profession.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he acknowledged that “it is clear that this is a common problem” that has not been addressed.
“We need to implement a culture of zero tolerance to ensure that there are mechanisms that allow affected people to feel confident that they can come forward, report these incidents, and that they will be taken seriously,” he said.
Dr Binta Sultan, of NHS England, said the report is “incredibly difficult to read” and presents “clear evidence” of the need to take more action to make hospitals “safe for everyone”.
“We are already taking important steps to do this, including through commitments to provide more support and clear reporting mechanisms for those who have experienced harassment or been victims of inappropriate behaviour.”
The General Medical Council last month updated its professional standards for doctors.
Its chief executive, Charlie Massey, says that “acting sexually with patients or colleagues is unacceptable” and that “serious misconduct is incompatible” with continuing to practice medicine in the country.
But is the surgical field a safe workplace for women today?
“Not always. And it’s terrible to have to admit it,” says Judith.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cz9877vz98zo, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-09-13 03:50:09
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