WASHINGTON (PRWEB)
September 21, 2021

The founder of the Free From Fibroids Foundation, Dr. John Lipman shares his thoughts on why Congress must pass the bipartisan Stephanie Tubbs Jones Uterine Fibroid Research and Education Act of 2021 (S. 2444/H.R. 2007) and why it’s critical to empower women with information about all of their treatment options as they battle uterine fibroids.

Dr. Lipman’s thoughts are below:

Sixty years ago, the civil rights icon Fannie Lou Hamer, who made famous the phrase “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” had a hysterectomy without her consent for the treatment of uterine fibroids. Mrs. Hamer shared her experience and coined the phrase “Mississippi Appendectomy,” the forced sterilization of poor Black women under the pretext of treating other gynecological health issues.

A systemic failing in our healthcare system is causing women, mostly Black and women of color, to unnecessarily have their uterus removed through hysterectomy for the treatment of fibroids. The majority of these hysterectomies are not occurring because the women want to lose their uterus, it is because they are told by their physician that hysterectomy is their only option to end the suffering they have been dealing with for so many years.

Annually nearly 600,000 hysterectomies are performed, making it the second most common surgery performed in the United States, and fibroids are the number one reason for hysterectomy.

Hysterectomy should be an option of last resort for women suffering from fibroids.

Uterine fibroids are the most common pelvic tumor seen in women. These benign, non-cancerous growths of various sizes are made up of muscle fibers and connective tissue. Nearly two-thirds of women by age 50 are impacted by fibroids and Black women are diagnosed with fibroids nearly three times as frequently as white women.

While fibroids are typically not fatal, they often make women’s lives miserable. Symptoms include horribly heavy and lengthy periods, monthly abdominal and pelvic pain, pressure from the enlarged, pregnant-appearing uterus, and increased urinary frequency.

One aggressive driver of the excessive number of unnecessary hysterectomies for uterine fibroids is the significant resources and influence that the pharmaceutical and surgical device manufacturers have on physicians and hospitals to perpetuate this “status quo” of hysterectomy.

I see patients every day who are suffering from fibroids and don’t want a hysterectomy. They simply want their life back. Hysterectomies take away a woman’s ability to bear children, but also do more to a woman’s body after the surgical wounds heal.

It’s time to challenge the outdated practice of performing life-changing, unnecessary hysterectomy without first considering much safer, less expensive, and less invasive non-surgical options like Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE).

With a 25-year track record of safety and efficacy, UFE is performed by medical specialists known as interventional radiologists, is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance, and is endorsed by the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists.

In marked contrast to hysterectomy, women choosing UFE undergo a brief outpatient procedure and are discharged home the same day with just a Band-Aid. Most importantly, women are able to keep their uterus.

Congress has an opportunity to help in this fight against fibroids and unnecessary hysterectomies and take an important step toward empowering and supporting women by passing the bipartisan Stephanie Tubbs Jones Uterine Fibroid Research and Education Act of 2021 (S. 2444/H.R. 2007). This overdue legislation will provide research to try to find out where fibroids come from and how to prevent them and best treat them.

                                                                                        ###

About the author:

Dr. John Lipman is a board-certified Interventional Radiologist and renowned authority in the non-surgical treatment of uterine fibroids. He is the founder and chairman of the Free From Fibroids Foundation and the Fibroid Coalition.

Dr. Lipman is the President & CEO of the Atlanta Fibroid Center and is also an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at Morehouse School of Medicine. Learn more about Dr. Lipman’s work with the Free From Fibroids Foundation at freefromfibroids.org.

Share article on social media or email: