Overselling the Hysterectomy

An interesting article in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer tracks the waxing protests against the overuse of the total hysterectomy:

"Research shows most doctors don't help patients explore alternatives to hysterectomy such as medication or surgical removal of individual fibroids. But research also shows many women who try alternatives continue to be plagued by symptoms and wind up resorting to hysterectomy anyway. Another piece of the risk-benefit puzzle is the symbolic importance of the womb. Few people still buy the ancient theory that the womb can drive women crazy - the Greek word hyster, or womb, is the root of hysteria - but modern feminists extol the organ's power. A gallbladder could never inspire a poem like "In Celebration of My Uterus," Anne Sexton's paean to womanhood. Doctors long have pooh-poohed women's fears of hysterectomy. Indeed, through the 1970s, the prevailing wisdom was that female reproductive organs were bothersome and unneeded after childbearing."

--Dominic Sisti