Unnecessary Hysterectomies
Fibroids
Fibroids are growths in or around the
womb that may not cause any problems at all. The growths consist
of muscle and tissue and can vary in size. Fibroids are
sometimes known as uterine myomas or fibromyomas.
Many women are unaware that they have
these growths as they often do not cause any symptoms. This
often means that fibroids are diagnosed by chance during a
routine gynaecological examination. Your GP will recommend more
tests, such as an ultrasound scan, to confirm fibroids.
Unnecessary Hysterectomies
Recent reports that a Consultant
Gynaecologist removed the womb of a woman without consent, is
not a very unusual occurrence in the field of clinical
negligence. Caroline Richmond, the woman at the centre of the
GMC complaint, is only one of a significant number of women who,
over many years, have undergone hysterectomies, without
receiving adequate information.
It is a fact, accepted by numerous
medical practitioners, that there are many women of child
bearing age (and who have not completed their families)
suffering from fibroids, who have undergone hysterectomies in
the absence of knowing or being told, that there were
alternative possible treatments that may have been appropriate.
One such recent treatment is fibroid embolization. Advice that
a patient should have a prophylactic hysterectomy to prevent
fibroids becoming malignant may be incorrect. It is known that
a number of patients were put in this position by their
Gynaecologists.
The following are treatment options for
fibroids:-
-
Drug therapy
-
Myomectomy (removal of fibroids
alone and not the entire uterus). Most commonly used in
younger women who wish to maintain their ability to have a
child - whether performed by hysteroscopic, laparoscopic or
abdominally.
-
Hysterectomy (whether vaginal,
laparoscopic or open surgical procedure).
-
Uterine fibroid embolization; which
is a new approach and undertaken by Interventionist
Radiologists in specific NHS centre.
Over many years, perhaps decades,
hysterectomies have remained for far too long, the treatment of
choice for many gynaecological conditions, including fibroids
and there are still many Consultant Gynaecologists that have not
changed their practice and still automatically proceed to
hysterectomy without giving patients a choice or enabling them
to give informed consent.
The criticism - of unnecessary
hysterectomies (not necessarily for fibroids alone) must be
recognised, since in recent months, Britain’s largest private
health insurer (BUPA) announced that Surgeons who are to perform
hysterectomies on a private basis and who require funding under
a patient’s policy will need prior authority. After extensive
consultation with the profession, BUPA has drawn up
“evidence-based” guidelines on when a hysterectomy is necessary
and therefore eligible for cover.
In many cases, hysterectomies should be
seen as a last resort. Its impact on a woman’s psychological
and sexual well-being and can be quite dramatic. Many women
never come to terms with the need for Hormone Replacement
Therapy.
Thanks to Gary McFarlane at Veale
Wasborough for allowing us to reproduce this article.
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