The Silent #MeToo in Medicine

The following is adapted from Doctoring While Female by Kolleen Dougherty.

Back in 2018, my hospital chose not to renew the contract of a prominent female surgeon. On its own, that decision might not have meant much. But it wasn’t the first time—and it wouldn’t be the last.

Over the course of about five years, ten female surgeons left our institution. They weren’t retiring or leaving to raise families. They were moving on—to other hospitals, other systems, other opportunities. Two thoracic surgeons. A pediatric surgeon. Three trauma surgeons. A bariatric surgeon. Even a senior colorectal surgeon who had trained and built her career at our institution. One by one, they walked away.

The optics weren’t good, and to the hospital’s credit, leadership took notice. The chief medical officer called a meeting that included surgeons, anesthesiologists, operating room directors, nursing staff, and a female psychiatrist who specialized in conflict management.

That psychiatrist later held a confidential session just for women physicians—faculty and trainees alike—to talk openly about what it was like to work in our operating rooms. Forty of us filled that space. What began with polite introductions soon turned into one of the most cathartic experiences of my life.

We were each given Post-it notes and asked to write down any time we had been harassed or demeaned at work. Comments, gestures, touches—anything that crossed a line. Then, silently, we were told to place our notes on the wall.

At first, no one moved. The silence was heavy, the fear palpable. Then one woman stood up, then another. Before long, the walls were covered.

Every single woman in that room had a story. Every one of us had been called “honey” or “sweetheart.” We’d had our bodies commented on. Some had been propositioned or even touched. The walls became a mosaic of microaggressions and outright harassment—things we’d buried just to keep functioning.

As I read those notes, I felt something shift inside me. For the first time, I understood it wasn’t just me. I wasn’t too sensitive or imagining things. We weren’t asking for this or deserving it. The shame and self-doubt gave way to solidarity and truth.

But when the psychiatrist asked whether any of us had formally reported these experiences, not one hand went up. Not a single woman had filed a complaint.

That didn’t surprise me—but it still broke my heart.

I wanted a #MeToo uprising in medicine, for women physicians to stand together, share their stories, and hold those in power accountable. But years later, that reckoning still hasn’t happened.

Maybe it’s time it does.

…

For more on gender, power, and the silent struggles of women in medicine, you can find Doctoring While Female on Amazon.

Kolleen Cannon Dougherty, MD, FASA is a Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons graduate and Harvard trained, double- board certified physician in anesthesiology and critical care medicine. She’s practiced for over two decades at a Level 1 trauma center in New England,  where she trained residents and medical students and cared for patients. Dr. Dougherty is a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists and the American Society of Anesthesia Subcommittee on Women. She is also a certified Professional Coach and Life Coach. Dr. Dougherty and her husband of twenty-five years have four amazing children, two loyal poodles, and a newly-acquired cat who wandered into their lives one night.