Yesterday's Times report – One in three female surgeons have been assaulted by a colleague – has prompted a number of responses in today's letter page.
Dr Kate Stannard, co-founder of Women In Medicine International Network, notes that "these incidents are not limited to surgery and occur through out all medical specialties".
From Jane McCue:
When I entered postgraduate surgical training 40 years ago there was more overt sex discrimination, and from some surgeons a reluctance to take female surgical trainees seriously. It is deeply disappointing that as those barriers have been tackled, with entry to the profession now encouraged for women, sexual misconduct by male colleagues has come to the fore and is shockingly prevalent. Turning a blind eye to this has been tolerated for too long on the spurious grounds that “he’s such a talented surgeon”. The recommendations of the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery must be implemented promptly otherwise the surgical profession and the NHS will both be diminished.
And this, from Dr Peter Hilton:
Sir, This “snowflake generation” of young doctors, largely female and selected on mainly academic excellence, clearly did not do their homework. Medical training and practice is brutal and demanding, with long hours, and bullying happens. Sexually inappropriate comments and actions do occur. It is stressful. All I can say is that if they want to make a success of this rewarding career then they should toughen up. Perhaps four A*s at A-level are not the answer to all the problems they will face.
Rampant misogyny in the medical profession? Surely not.
Mick Hartley 
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