A flood of dismissive and invalidating remarks by health care providers about gynecological disorders can be devastating for women, sometimes leading them to abandon their search for help with their pain, researchers reported Thursday in JAMA Network Open. OB-GYN Dr. Chailee Moss, lead author and an adjunct professor at George Washington University, and her colleagues devised a survey that included dismissive comments and behaviors patients regularly encounter, such as doctors telling women to lose weight, go to therapy or drink more alcohol to cope with pain. There are notable limitations to the study. It was conducted at one clinic and may not be representative of a diverse population. The researchers did not explore whether there were more problems with male or female caregivers, although Moss said a number of participants felt they were treated differently based on the clinician’s gender. And the survey was based on patient recall. The participants reported that an average of 43...