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Health care revolution should put women and chlidren first

My mother, who recently turned 83, is a good example of what taking care of yourself and good health care can do for older women. Though she has had both hips replaced, she still plays golf and travels around the world. Her greatest hope, as she puts it, is that her software will hold up as well as her hardware has.

Unfortunately, not all women have had the kinds of information, choices and care that my mother has had. Too often, there is a mismatch between what women need and what the health care system offers or is willing to pay for.

For many years, doctors limited the amount of information they gave patients. The intent was not necessarily malicious; doctors often thought they were protecting their patients. But the resulting lack of dialogue made it harder for women to make good decisions about health.

Many medical researchers shared this paternalistic outlook. They often excluded women from research, either because they thought that women would suffer from harmfull side effects of the proposed treatments, or because they believed that women's hormones complicated the interpretation of results.

Consequently, we now have far less information than we should about all diseases — particularly those that disproportionately affect women, like osteoporosis and breast cancer — and about the best ways to treat disease in women.