Sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape have been referred to as surgery’s open secret.
There is an untold story of women being fondled inside their scrubs, of male surgeons wiping their brow on their breasts and men rubbing erections against female staff. Some have been offered career opportunities for sex.
The analysis - by the University of Exeter, the University of Surrey and the Working Party on Sexual Misconduct in Surgery - has been shared exclusively with BBC News.
Nearly two-thirds of women surgeons that responded to the researchers said they had been the target of sexual harassment and a third had been sexually assaulted by colleagues in the past five years.
Women say they fear reporting incidents will damage their careers and they lack confidence the NHS will take action.
“Dear neurosurgeon man, I know you have like 15 years of college and 20 years of experience and you are the only qualified neurosurgeon in 100 mile radius but remember that one time you rubbed your dick on that intern? Yeah, your going to need to let the next 15 patients die and we are going to need to let you go. I know it downgrades us from a level one trauma center, hundreds of people might die, and we will lose MILLIONS of dollars by letting you go, but it’s the right thing to do” - Said no chief of surgery ever.
They just pay the lawsuits and move on. It’s shitty, and it’s why surgeons are giant dicks. They don’t have to treat conscious patients and they get away with anything because they are nearly irreplaceable.
They’re getting in the way of their own replacements, creating a hostile environment preventing people from working and gaining experience.
Everything you said is true, and it fucking sucks.
To be fair, I’d rather have surgeons be above the law than rich people.
At least they’re doing something good for society.