EMOTIONAL FEMALE by Yumiko Kudota

EMOTIONAL FEMALE by Yumiko Kadota

“A young doctor’s account of what it was like to train in the Australian public hospital system, and how it made her walk away from her dream of becoming a surgeon.”

“A Brilliant young surgeon’s journey through ambition and dedication to exploitation and burnout.”

Yumiko Kadota was a brilliant and hard-working student throughout her school years, always achieving  top exam marks. She continued her scholarly dedication when she was accepted into Medical School with a passionate goal to become a plastic surgeon (Plastics).

Yumiko’s family moved from their home in Japan to Singapore, then on to London, and finally to Australia, as her father’s employment advancements required.  Yumiko came to love Australia, so that even when her parents and sisters eventually returned to live in Japan following  her father’s retirement, Yumiko continued working hard and learning new  surgical skills whenever  she was given the opportunity. Nevertheless,   her dream of getting on to the relevant  Programme eluded her, even though she was proving herself to be an outstanding young surgeon.  Was it racism, sexism, or the constant bullying tactics standing in her way? Was it more to do with who you knew rather than what you knew?

She was expected to work punishingly long hours as well as to study. Not all senior surgeons would give her the opportunity to take part in operations or to perform those within her scope as junior surgeon.  She needed more practice to enable her to get on to the Programme. Why was she constantly thwarted in her ambitions?                                                  

However, after some very tough assignments, both emotional and exhausting, Yumiko did achieve  two of her dream goals and moved onto Plastic Surgery for her surgical resident year and then as plastic surgery registrar in Melbourne.

“I realised too as I left her room, that she was friends with everyone at the hospital…It seemed unlikely that she would stick up for me to the plastic surgeons, her fellow consultants at the hospital. Maybe she was used to this kind of behaviour from them. So what was going on here? Was it me at fault, or these major players at the hospital? I knew I couldn’t complete my Plastics term successfully without their support, their teaching, at the very least without them giving me some of their time. Did that mean that I just had to put up with all the degrading treatment I’d seen…” and that which Yumiko had had to endure herself?                                                                                                                                                       

 

In spite of all these hurdles, and the sacrifices, Yumiko makes it through to her new term as plastic surgery registrar. She was well on her way to becoming a Plastic Surgeon and she continued to strive to fulfil her dream of getting on to the Programme to become a fully qualified and registered plastic surgeon. However, despite all of these successes, twice she missed out getting onto the Programme and it appeared to have nothing to do with her exam results or her surgical experience.   

Tragically, Yumiko has a complete physical and mental breakdown largely due to burnout; her total exhaustion and lack of sleep from working at times, end to end 24 hour shifts with no down time, or even time to eat properly. At times Yumiko became tearful during these extremely difficult and stressful  times, and once was told by an Emergency Registrar to “…Calm down, you’re being an emotional female.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

The author discusses at length the sexual harassment, racism, sexism, and malicious manipulation from senior doctors and surgeons, which will shock readers. She also gives examples of situations involving bullying, and the rorting of public hospital  taxpayer funding carried out by surgeons and senior registrars.                      

 I must say that as a reader of Dr Yumiko’s journey I felt the power imbalances and the misogyny she writes about, to be similar to those experienced by women in the  Australian political scene. As the author comments at the end of her book, why doesn’t the Royal College of Surgeons address the lack of institutional leadership shown by her bosses, fellows of RACS, that had led to her poor treatment, and more importantly, which had in turn lost the services of a brilliant young plastic surgeon to the public hospital system.

-Anne Frandi-Coory, 11 January, 2022