exclusive
The majority of female doctors at university hospitals have experienced gender-related discrimination in their professional lives. Women who take action against discrimination are systematically pushed out of their jobs, research shows Mainz report.
“My sister has been destroyed. And I can't accept that. “I don’t want to leave it in the room that a doctor was treated like that,” says Bettina Oertel. She raises in the interview Mainz report serious allegations.
It's been almost exactly a year since her twin sister Elke took her own life. Elke Küßner was a successful senior physician at the Friedrichshafen Clinic on Lake Constance.
But Küßner was convinced that something was going wrong in her clinic – interns were poorly trained and were treating patients. A person died because of it. Küßner reports this to her chief physician and hopes for a constructive solution.
Threats from the head doctor, bullying from colleagues
“She told me about this conversation: She was terribly shaken because her supervisor's reaction was that she shouldn't make this issue a problem anymore, that she shouldn't discuss it anymore,” says Oertel.
Reporting grievances makes Küßner an uncomfortable employee – it is the beginning of the end of her career. She finds herself sidelined and is bullied by her colleagues. According to a report consulted by the clinic, it is said that she was “overwhelmed” as a doctor.
Katja Nebe, head of the chair for labor law at the University of Halle, says: “Here, the person who has complained about a legal violation – and is therefore actually a victim – is stylized as a perpetrator in the immediate reaction. And it is always the simplest reflex to take the side of the more powerful one. The clinic management also didn't believe Küßner and supported the chief physician.
Power imbalances are a big problem
Ferda Ataman is the federal anti-discrimination commissioner. Your agency offers, among other things, advice for people who are discriminated against. The health sector in particular stands out with its divided hierarchies.
“Hierarchies are needed to distribute responsibility. That's understandable. But what's not good and can sometimes lead to a toxic working atmosphere is when there is a power imbalance, even if one person is in charge almost like a god and others fear it “Have to lose their job,” said Ataman.
“Here at the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency, we have repeatedly had cases in the health sector where women reported to us and were afraid that we would report to the employer because they feared that they would either be fired or suffer disadvantages in the workplace.” , so Ataman continues.
The majority of female doctors experienced this Discrimination
In this hierarchical working environment, border crossings, harassment and discrimination are commonplace, as scientists Marie Ritter and Margarete Boos have discovered. In their survey, in which several hundred female doctors and medical students took part, 76 percent of the female doctors stated that they had experienced gender-related discrimination in their professional careers.
Although women have made up the majority of graduates in human medicine for years (in 2023 it was 62.6 percent women), they still have poor chances of making a career. At university hospitals, almost 13 percent of chief medical positions are given to women.
“Structural problem, many are discriminated against”
“If of the two-thirds of women who study medicine, only one in ten can ultimately have a career and become a chief physician, then there is a structural problem. That means: Many are discriminated against,” says anti-discrimination officer Ataman. Until now, it was always said: the best would come through. But according to Ataman, such statistics show that this is not the case.
“It cannot be the case that so many women – so many – are not good enough to become chief medical officers. And if you then look, what is happening in the hospitals? What kind of work environment is this? Then you realize that this is something that is very much based on traditional gender roles,” says Ataman.
No quota for women Top positions
There is no help from the legislature for women. On Reportage Mainz-Inquiry, a spokeswoman for the Federal Ministry of Health explains: “Due to the current political situation, no new regulatory projects, such as setting a quota for women in top positions in hospitals, can currently be addressed. Such efforts are the responsibility of the coalition negotiations of the future federal government.”
Elke Küßner gave up as a female senior physician who resisted a senior physician in November last year. The day she found out about her planned termination without notice, she took her own life.
Her suicide prompted the Friedrichshafen Clinic to conduct an internal investigation. They showed that Küßner's allegations were justified in relevant points. In July, the hospital's then chairman of the supervisory board, Andreas Brand, announced: “After careful consideration, the supervisory board has decided that we will not continue working with a chief physician.”
Sister will keep fighting
Although the chief physician's behavior ultimately had consequences: Bettina Oertel will still continue to fight the battle of her deceased twin sister. “If by telling my sister's story the fate of other hospital employees can be avoided, then that is the goal I want to achieve. For my sister.”
You can see more about this and other topics on Report Mainz at 9:45 p.m. on Erste.
