Sexual harassment is a major issue in Australian hospitals and victims are not speaking up because of inadequate complaint processes and fear it will ruin their careers, doctors say.
More than a dozen female doctors have contacted Fairfax Media to back Sydney surgeon Gabrielle McMullin's assertion that sexual harassment was occurring within a culture of silence and that those who wanted to protect their careers should not speak out.
Doctors say they have experienced everything from inappropriate jokes to sexual advances from senior staff who could make or break their careers, and some say they would not trust the complaint mechanisms in place at hospitals and colleges where there is an established culture of "untouchables".
One female surgeon, who did not want to be named, said the problem was particularly bad in surgery because it remained a male-dominated profession.
For example, just four of the 46 neurosurgeons in Victoria are women, according to the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons' database.
"Advice to keep quiet about sexual harassment, assault and rape arises because there is a long history of such reports being dealt with poorly," she said.
Victims had been disbelieved, blamed and publicly shamed while the accused surgeons maintained their public appointments and supervisory positions, she said. This occurs while the surgical futures of their victims are "obliterated."
But the surgeon said while it may feel necessary to accept some inappropriate treatment in order to pass through surgical training, times were changing and victims of sexual harassment should complain.
"I urge you to speak up and seek help… As Army Chief David Morrison said: 'The standard you walk past is the standard you accept'."
Another female doctor said she was subjected to misogynistic insults and explicit sexual harassment when she was an unaccredited surgical registrar at a Melbourne hospital in 2013 and 2014.
The doctor, who asked not to be named for fears it would damage her career, said surgeons routinely told her she was a "dumb bitch", and that women were "f---ing useless" and men should be hired instead.
On one occasion, a consultant surgeon told her to "get some knee pads and learn to suck c--k", which was laughed off by colleagues who were present.
She said that a senior colleague inappropriately touched her on several occasions and that she was ostracised after she rebuked him.
"They think they own you, a lot of these guys. As soon as you stand up, you cop a lot," she said.
The doctor said she reported her abuse to the hospital's HR department three times, which offered to organise mediation with her colleagues.
But she decided to drop the action after surgeons told her it would end her career.
She said just speaking out against the behaviour ended any prospect of her advancing to a training program to become a qualified surgeon and she has since moved to a different area of medicine.
Another female surgeon said although many male surgeons were good people, there was a culture of women being second class citizens in the training program.
The surgeon, who did not want to be named, said she was regularly subjected to commentary about her appearance including how tight her skirt was and whether she had slept her way through the training program.
One day when she asked a senior male surgeon for advice about a patient who had blood in her urine, he replied: "Bitches bleed, that's the problem."
The surgeon said Dr McMullin's assertion that trainees should not complain about abuse to protect their careers was understandable because hospital administrators had been known to turn a blind eye to complaints and tended to protect eminent surgeons who bring prestige and money into their institutions.
Furthermore, she said she would not trust the College of Surgeons with complaints because it was a "bunch of old boys" who band together. She said she had responded to survey conducted by the College of Surgeons Trainee Committee Association about bullying and said she was happy to discuss it further, but never heard back.
"If I raised a complaint, you wouldn't get a fair trial because Mr Smith would talk to Mr Jones and they went to uni together and they would look out for each other ," she said. "That would extend to fully qualified and independent surgeons too," she said.
The surgeon said she hoped the controversy around Dr McMullin's comments would urge victims to speak up and make those doing the wrong thing self conscious.
"I hope that this conversation makes the perpetrators of discrimination and harassment very nervous because it should," she said. "Things will change over time."
A College of Surgeons spokesman said the body did not condone harassment and encouraged all members to report allegations with the college.
Another practicing female surgeon, who spoke to Fairfax Media on the condition of anonymity, said the tight-knit profession was a patriarchal environment in which women faced constant obstacles.
"They tolerate female general surgeons in small numbers, as long as they are single, childless and pretend to be men," she said.
The surgeon said it was not uncommon for senior surgeons to publicly quiz trainees and other surgeons about if or when they were going to become pregnant.
She said the idea of pregnancy was used as a weapon to undermine and discredit female colleagues by suggesting they would not be in the profession for the long-term.
"I was told when I was an intern that there are only two types of women surgeons: women who shouldn't be surgeons and surgeons who shouldn't be women," she said. "Now, when young women ask me for advice, how can I not kill their dreams whilst still preparing them for the reality?"
But other female surgeons said sexual harassment was no more prevalent in their field than others.
Royal Melbourne Hospital neurosurgeon Kate Drummond, who is the deputy chair of the Women in Surgery Group at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said Dr McMullin's comments were "preposterous" and risked discouraging women from becoming surgeons.
"If you want to put every remark that may or may not be off-colour, or a bit gendered, then it probably is a widespread problem, as it is in society in general," Associate Professor Drummond said.
"I'm not saying it doesn't happen - of course it happens, it happens everywhere - [but] I don't think it is rife and rampant throughout the profession. And the one thing that will make the pockets of trouble better is to have as many female surgeons as possible, and comments like [Dr McMullin's] don't help that."
Associate Professor Drummond said about 25 per cent of surgery trainees in Australia were women, compared to about 2 per cent when she was a trainee.
Dr Alison Wray, a prominent Melbourne neurosurgeon, also disagreed with Dr McMullin's view that it might be better to stay silent, saying she believes hospitals already have robust processes in place to deal with any complaint.
"And I think it's counter-productive to suggest that we should not be navigating through these things if they're occurring," she said.
Associate Professor Brian Owler, president of the Australian Medical Association, said he was disturbed by reports of sexual harassment in Australian hospitals but denied it was wide spread.
"There may be a small number of cases – as is the case in most professions – but there are processes in place to identify and punish any offenders," he said.
He also used the occasion of International Women's Day to praised increased female participation in the medical workforce, pointing out that in 2013 more women than men were studying medicine in Australia and New Zealand.
