Hysterectomy Causes Heart Disease

The American Heart Disassociation     

Heart disease was once thought to be less of a problem for women than for men. Research now indicates that heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death among women in the US (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Heart Disease Facts and Statistics, 2008), while confirming that women with an intact uterus have a lower incidence of heart disease because they benefit from the uterine advantage.

     In his article, "Prostacyclin From The Uterus And Woman's Cardiovascular Advantage," James D. Shelton writes, "Prostacyclin emanating from the uterus is proposed as a major contributor to the reduced risk of coronary disease among women." He refers to the uterus as a "systemically active organ whose removal significantly increases subsequent risk of myocardial infarction" (Prostaglandins Leukotrienes and medicine, 1982). 

     The American Heart Association reports that in 2006 there were 16.8 million cases of coronary heart disease in the US. About one in 18 Americans suffers from heart disease. This number would be much lower, if not for hysterectomy.

     Studies reveal that premenopausal removal of the uterus is associated with a three-times-greater incidence and prevalence of heart disease (Brandon S. Centerwall, "Premenopausal Hysterectomy and Cardiovascular Disease," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1981) and that women who undergo a bilateral oophorectomy (surgical removal of the ovaries, castration) have a 5.5 times greater cardiovascular risk (Jacqueline C.M. Witteman et al, "Increased Risk of Atherosclerosis in Women After The Menopause," British Medical Journal, 1989). Other studies demonstrate that women who are castrated before age 35 are hospitalized for myocardial infarction 7.2 times more often than women with intact uterus and ovaries (Lynn Rosenberg et al, "Early Menopause and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1981).

     Hysterectomy is the most commonly performed non-obstetric surgery in the US, and there is general consensus even among the medical community that a majority of hysterectomies are unnecessary. Hysterectomy rates are subject to variations that do not necessarily correlate with health factors. Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, tell us that women in the South are 50 percent more likely to be hysterectomized than in the Northeast. And the hysterectomy rate among black women is 20 percent higher than among white women.

     Some researchers and medical writers attempt to explain the higher incidence of hysterectomy and removal of the ovaries in black women by demonstrating that they have a higher incidence of fibroids. As the Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services (HERS) Foundation makes clear in the online educational video, "Female Anatomy: the Functions of the Female Organs," fibroids are benign growths that rarely cause symptoms or problems, until a doctor spots them incidentally during a routine exam.

     Although less than 1 percent of fibroids are cancer (William Parker et al, Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1994), fibroids are the leading reason doctors perform hysterectomy. But women who are told they need a hysterectomy for fibroids may merely have the wrong doctor. Not surprisingly, not only are black women more likely to be hysterectomized, heart disease is the No. 1 cause of death among black women.

     The CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention reports that 870,000 people died in 2008 - 2,400 each day - from heart disease. "The cost of heart disease and stroke in the United States," the CDC concluded, "is projected to be more than $448 billion in 2008, including health care expenditures and lost productivity from death and disability." The financial burden and tragedy of heart disease as a result of hysterectomy is largely avoidable.

     According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, one of every three women is hysterectomized before the age of 60, while the American Heart Association reports that nearly one out of every three women dies of heart disease.

     Visitors to the "Go Red For Women" web site are encouraged to tell the American Heart Association "about the choices you've made to improve your well being." Women can avoid much of the risk of heart disease by retaining their uterine advantage - cardiovascular well-being that depends in large part on the lifelong functions of the uterus.''     

     Drastically reducing cardiovascular risk, circumventing much of the staggering cost of heart disease charged to medicaid and Medicare, and avoiding the tragic toll of thousands of strokes and deaths may be achieved by helping women avoid hysterectomy.

Published February 16, 2009 in Truthout.

     

NAME THAT DOCTOR AND HOSPITAL

      

NAME THAT DOCTOR AND HOSPITAL

I am Nora W. Coffey,  president of the Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services (HERS) Foundation.  

When I was thirty-six years old, I was hysterectomized and castrated by Robert Giuntoli, at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, and his assistant Douglas Rabin. I was not informed by Giuntoli or Rabin of the consequences of the surgery, therefore my surgery was unconsented. The anesthesiologist and nurses who participated in the surgery were complicit. The hospital enabled them.

Giuntoli and I agreed that he would perform exploratory surgery to determine if the ovarian cyst that was symptomatic was malignant. If it was not, he would perform a cystectomy, removal of the cyst only. If it was malignant, he would remove my uterus and ovaries. The cyst was benign. In direct contravention to my expressed wishes and the agreement with Giuntoli, he proceeded to remove my female organs.

The removal of my female organs destroyed my health and well-being and ruined my family, professional, and social life. No longer healthy, strong, vibrant and sexual, I turned my attention to finding the answers to what was wrong with me that stumped the 25 or more doctors I saw in the first year after the surgery. I found answers in the medical library at the University of Pennsylvania, next door to the hospital where Giuntoli and Rabin collaborated. For the next two years I walked by the hospital every day to get to the library. After two years of research I understood full well what had been done to me. I have dedicated every day of my life  since then to providing that information to other women.

Watch the female anatomy video on HERS website. Then, unless you are actively involved in a medical malpractice lawsuit, give your name and the name of the doctor(s) who removed your female organs and the hospital that enabled them. You have nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to hide from, you have done nothing wrong. By telling the truth you shine a spot light on the doctors and hospitals ruining the lives of another woman every minute of every hour of every day of every year. 621,000 hysterectomies are performed each year in the USA alone. That's not just a number, it's much more than a statistic - it's women's bodies, women's lives.

Do not let the doctor who ruined your body, your health, your sex life, your family life, your career, your professional life and your social life hide behind the good doctor persona and the hospital walls that shield them.

It's time to speak out, it's time to expose the doctors who failed to inform you of the consequences of hysterectomy and castration. By giving your name and the name of the doctor and hospital we can smoke them out of their protected environment. Together we can stop this from being done to another generation of women and girls. 

It must be made unacceptable, it must be stopped legally. Sign the petition to show your legislators that you demand a law that protects women from the violent medical practice of hysterectomy and castration.