Women should not have to fight to convince medical professionals that their pain and symptoms are real.

I've watched this happen firsthand with my partner.

My partner has an autoimmune condition, and I've watched her navigate the medical system unsuccessfully as a woman. She deals with chronic pain and flare-ups, and getting her concerns taken seriously has meant having to constantly advocate for herself.

At one appointment with a rheumatologist, she explained that she was in chronic pain and experiencing flare-ups. The response she got was: "Have you tried therapy?"

It has gotten to the point where I go with her to doctors' appointments to vouch for her. She can tell a doctor she's in chronic pain, and they'll look at me for confirmation. I'll say, yes, she's in chronic pain.

But why should they need to hear it from me?

Why should my voice make my partner's description of her own body more believable?

One experience made the difference especially hard for me to ignore. About three years ago, my partner and I both got E. coli poisoning at a restaurant. We were both hospitalized with what I remember as the same symptoms. She was discharged within two hours. I was kept for two days. 

And it isn't only my partner. I've watched my sisters, my mom, and friends navigate healthcare and essentially have to become professional medical advocates for themselves just to be heard.

No woman should need a husband, partner, family member, or extraordinary persistence in the room before her symptoms are taken seriously.

This issue can show up in many different areas of women's healthcare. But the underlying problem is the same: when women say they are in pain or that something is wrong, their concerns deserve to be heard and appropriately evaluated—not brushed aside.

That is why I am calling on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to make the dismissal of women's medical concerns a national women's health priority and work with healthcare systems and medical organizations to advance evidence-based approaches that ensure women's pain and symptoms are heard, evaluated, and taken seriously.

This isn't about telling doctors what diagnosis to make. It's about making sure women receive the same fundamental respect every patient deserves: to describe what is happening in their own bodies and have those concerns taken seriously.

Sign this petition if you believe women deserve to be heard when they seek medical care. It's time to stop dismissing women's medical concerns.