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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Stories of female surgeons shared in new anthology

Mary Carole Mccauley Tribune News Service

BALTIMORE – Some speak of being nine months pregnant and resting their bulging bellies on top of operating tables so they can lean in close enough to slice into patients.

Others worry that the grueling surgical residency period – which can last as long as six years and which generally occurs during a woman’s peak child-bearing period – will prevent them from becoming mothers.

Still others have persevered even after being told that women aren’t competent to lead a surgical team.

Despite these obstacles, each of the 60 women who contributed to “Being a Woman Surgeon,” edited by Baltimore’s Dr. Preeti John, also talk in vivid and convincing detail about joy. Though there are other books about female surgeons, John said that hers is the first anthology in which these doctors discuss their personal experiences in essays, interviews and poems.

The book’s contributors marvel at the intricacy of the human body. They describe going into a meditative trance during the ritual of being gowned before a procedure. They express their pleasure at healing patients in a few hours instead of having to wait for months or years to see results.

“I’m constantly being asked by female medical students and interns and residents if being a surgeon is worth it in the end,” said John, who is acting director of the surgical intensive care unit at the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “I tell them that life does become a little more predictable once they make it through residency. I tell them how exciting surgery is, what it’s like to use your hands to make a palpable difference in someone’s life.”

The anthology is rooted in her experience of moving to the United States in 1999 from her native India to begin a surgical residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Not only was John one of just a small number of female surgical residents, she also had to adjust to a foreign culture. She was desperate to find role models who could share their own stories.

Unfortunately, female mentors were few and far between.

According to a 2010 report by the American College of Surgeons, there were 28,879 female surgeons in the U.S. in January 2009 – or a little over 21 percent of the country’s 135,854 surgeons. That’s a small but significant increase from the 23,546 female surgeons in the U.S. in January 2005, or almost 18 percent of the country’s 132,350 surgeons.

There’s a reason – actually, several – female doctors traditionally have stayed away from surgery, John said.

Surgery is physically rigorous and can require doctors to stand on their feet for as much as 24 hours at a time.

In addition, surgical residencies tend to last five or six years, while other residencies may require three years. And the residency schedule is notoriously brutal; in 2003, the workweek was limited to a “mere” 80 hours.

Though that’s an ordeal for anyone, it’s particularly difficult for women hoping to become mothers, she said.

In addition, the medical profession – and in particular surgery, where the surgeon functions as the leader of a team – was a place where not just sexism but bullying was rampant.

“I’ve heard stories of male surgeons throwing instruments,” John said, “though that was in the past. You could never get away with that kind of behavior in this day and age.”

John often finds herself thinking about the teenage Margaret Ann Bulkley, who in 1809 cut her hair short, put on a pair of pants and enrolled in medical school. For the rest of her life, the surgeon, who rose in the British army to the rank of inspector general in charge of military hospitals, went by the name of James Barry. The truth was discovered only after her death in 1864.

“We’ve come a long way,” John said, “since women who wanted to train as surgeons had to disguise themselves as men.”