@TiredSam you're a hero indeed.
You explanation highlights another problem I have though.
Take this quote "They were more likely than men to see 10 or more months pass between their first visit to a doctor and diagnosis –and to have made more than five visits to a doctor prior to diagnosis."
Genders (on average) do not seek out doctors for diagnosis and treatment the same way. From my understanding, women see doctors much earlier and more frequently than men. I might be totally wrong, but there is a stereotype of men not going to the doctor until the problem is much further along in the process of the illness/sickness/disability. I assume that this
could explain the discrepancy in the quote above. (Assuming that the longer and more advanced an illness is, the easier it is to diagnose.)
This is
emphatically not to say that women are treated well, but that if we are to try to stop discrimination, we need to find the institutional sources of it.
I hesitate to write this, as it seems like teaching women how Patriarchy works, but feminist theory tells us that Patriarchy
also hurts men. The quote sounds like it is a good example of how it does.
The women are sensible and do what they are expected to do. They go and see a doctor when experiencing something abnormal that is probably in the doctor's domain to help. They receive poor treatment.
The men are not sensible, yet do what they are expected to do. They experience something abnormal that is probably in the doctor's domain to help. Because seeking help, being vulnerable, not being in control are not seen as masculine behaviours, they do not seek help until much later.
We need to know how much of the problem is sexism, how much racism, classism, etc, how much is lack of knowledge and skill, and how they all interact.