PHILADELPHIA, PA – Unnecessary hysterectomy costs the U.S. medical system $17 billion per year. That’s Billion, with a B. This does not even begin to tally up the costs of caring for women damaged by hysterectomy, oophorectomy (removal of the ovaries) and related procedures. These findings are explained in The H Word, by Nora W. Coffey and Rick Schweikert. Coffey is the president of the HERS Foundation, located in Bala Cynwyd, PA. Schweikert, a playwright, wrote and directed un becoming, a play depicting the needless hysterectomy of a woman.
Hysterectomy and oophorectomy are offered as the best or only option to women with problems ranging from fibroids to heavy menstrual bleeding and pelvic pain. These operations almost always occur without the information required for informed consent. Frequently, they are performed when a woman is under the knife for exploratory surgery. In 98% of these cases, the pathology report comes back normal or with a condition that could have been treated conservatively, meaning that the woman’s reproductive, sexual, and
endocrine organs were removed for no medical reason. The toll in the
Delaware Valley is the same as if the Wachovia Center was filled twice a year, every year, with women whose female organs had been removed!
Anna (not her real name) met the Protest and Play tour in Denver, Colorado. Her experience is more the norm than the exception: “The first of Anna’s three suicide attempts came in the first year after her hysterectomy, but she said that was due to depression related to her complicated childhood. After the surgery she was diagnosed with depression, had back surgery, and began sleeping in a separate bedroom from her husband.” If 49 out of every 50 hysterectomies could be avoided at a savings of $17 billion, and the operation leaves women with an increased incidence of heart disease, osteoporosis, sexual loss, and urinary and bowel problems, why does the
medical establishment still promote it? Coffey and Schweikert take on the AMA, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, hospitals, medical schools, and even Congress. The H Word is a must for any intact or hysterectomized woman of any age. It is also a major contribution to the national health care debate.
See contact information to obtain a review copy of The H Word and to book Nora W. Coffey and Rick Schweikert for speaking engagements and book readings/signings.
