Medical misogyny and endometriosis: Beyond the Simon Gordon scandal

Dr Simon Gordon's alleged victims may have been preyed upon by an unscrupulous practitioner, but he was enabled by a misogynistic health system that requires an urgent and major overhaul. Managing editor Michelle Pini reports.

A RECENT Four Corners exposé featured a prominent Melbourne surgeon whose alleged sickening surgical procedures left a trail of women with their insides butchered and lives shattered.

Long hailed as a leading endometriosis specialist, gynaecologist Dr Simon Gordon’s horrific deeds are so harrowing they prompted Health Minister Mark Butler to state about the allegations:

“They're some of the most distressing testimonies I've ever seen in my many years in the health portfolio.”

The shocking violations to which this man allegedly subjected his victims include the removal of countless healthy organs, often via oophorectomies and hysterectomies and intricate neurological procedures on patients, many under the age of 30 — seemingly unsupported by histopathology results.

Of course, Gordon’s alleged serial abuse must be investigated and some level of justice served to his victims, but there is a broader story here.

How did this man proceed over so many years, maiming hundreds of victims, despite years of complaints from patients, nurses, pathologists and colleagues, launched with both Epworth Hospital and medical regulator AHPRA?

How is it that the concerns of so many remained unchecked by the unofficial boys’ club protection racket within the upper echelons of this medical fraternity?

And it is not that his superiors at the Epworth and even the medical regulator were unaware. The number of official complaints over some years suggests that the medical establishment chose to look the other way. Certainly, it is alleged 'that appropriate action was not taken by the hospital’.

“It has been reported that Gordon billed every single patient with the Medicare item number for severe, Stage IV or V endometriosis). How is that possible? Why did they not do their due diligence?”

Epworth Hospital, where Gordon worked for over 25 years, recently announced an "independent inquiry". However, given Epworth’s inaction prior to the Four Corners investigation and since it is conducting the inquiry, including choosing the people to lead it, and refusing to allow Gordon’s patients the opportunity to provide testimony, how “independent” this inquiry will be remains to be seen.

SYSTEMIC MISOGYNY

Then there is the matter of the nature of endometriosis itself, which is a medical condition predominantly affecting women. Though it is a chronic inflammatory condition where endometriosis tissue may be found on all organs, including non-reproductive organs, it is primarily linked with the female reproductive system, and has thus been minimised, if not outright ignored, by many (usually male) medical practitioners.

Over 70 per cent of women reportedly experience bias in the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions. With regard to endometriosis, symptoms are often relegated to "a bad period" or young girls being over-anxious and overly dramatic.

Indeed, ‘illnesses common to women are systematically ignored or misattributed as evidence of mental illness, deviant behaviour or a lack of self-care’.

If you think this an exaggeration, consider that endometriosis is rarely diagnosed before an average of six to eight years. That means six to eight years of often debilitating pain for sufferers. There is no known cure, so little research, so little in the way of answers and so few medical professionals with any expertise in this condition.

“When I told him [Gordon] I was now often unable to get out of bed in the morning, he said that that wasn’t his area, and I should go to the GP and get a mental health plan.”

Senior research scientist at Hudson Institute of Medical Research, Dr Fiona Cousins, told IA "women's health conditions have been underfunded for decades", with only one of their four endometriosis projects currently government-funded:

There is a desperate need to improve diagnosis to reduce the current average eight-year diagnosis delay. However, once a person gets their endometriosis diagnosis their treatment options are limited (hormonal therapy, painkillers, surgery).

There is a need for non-hormonal, non-surgical treatments that can have a real impact on a person's pain and other symptoms.

In order to develop these treatments, we really need to understand how the disease works, so that we can look to tailoring treatment plans that work for each individual, given the large heterogeneity in disease presentation.

Dr Cousins added:

Whilst the Australian Government has made some investment into endometriosis care and management with the recent launch of the endometriosis Medicare number (July 2025) and the National Action Plan (announced in 2018), it is sadly not enough.

Let’s contrast that with, say, erectile dysfunction, and even a rudimentary Google search will chalk up endless studies and effective treatments.

The issue of male sexual gratification has even managed to infiltrate the minimal research afforded to endometriosis.

It certainly shocked this writer to learn that several existing studies focus not on diagnosis, treatment or cure of endometriosis but on how the condition impacts male partners, such as the following:

'Attractiveness of women with rectovaginal endometriosis: a case-control study', 2013
'A qualitative study of the impact of endometriosis on male partners', 2017
'Does Endometriosis Affect Sexual Activity and Satisfaction of the Man Partner? A Comparison of Partners From Women Diagnosed With Endometriosis and Controls', 2018
'The Sexual Wellbeing of Men whose Partners Experience Painful Intercourse Due to Endometriosis', 2019

Yes, one in seven girls and women and those assigned female at birth suffer excruciating pain and ongoing debilitating symptoms, with many requiring invasive surgeries and indefinite opiate-level pain management, but let’s fund studies on the men who may not be sexually satisfied as a result!

Thus, when a supposed eminent leader in the field emerges, says he understands and promises to cure their pain, it is easy to see why so many women trusted Dr Simon Gordon.

*Mia, a former patient of Gordon, told IA:

Everyone going through this endometriosis battle, suffering chronic pain and constant nausea and fatigue, is looking for validation, and he offered that.

He was the first person who said, ‘Nausea is a common symptom of endometriosis. I can help you'. And I believed him.

After her surgery, Gordon informed Mia that he “had fixed her problem”:

He told me he had performed an oophoropexy, and extracted a 4.5 cm mass that was leaking fluid and affecting the bowel, and that ‘it was going in his blue book’ — a book where exceptional cases were recorded.

It makes you feel a bit special, to have your condition diagnosed and treated, and be worthy of special mention.

Unfortunately for Mia, as with many of Gordon’s patients, this procedure did not improve her quality of life, and her chronic pain and fatigue (another common symptom) deteriorated such that she was no longer able to work.

Mia says:

“When I told him [Gordon] I was now often unable to get out of bed in the morning, he said that that wasn’t his area, and I should go to the GP and get a mental health plan.”

Mia saw another specialist who confirmed that she had endometriosis and adenomyosis, but that “there was no evidence of there ever being anything on [her] bowel”.

HOW TO AVOID ANOTHER SIMON GORDON

Gordon’s alleged atrocities against so many women are so horrendous they have evoked outrage at the highest levels. Both national and state government leaders are attempting to effect much-needed change. However, it is also important to note that this chronic disease and what may be required to avoid another Simon Gordon is that one size does not fit all when it comes to the way forward in endometriosis diagnosis and treatment.

Mia says:

Gordon was able to continue for the simple reason that we had all been to countless doctors when we were sick and in pain and got nothing, because they didn’t know and couldn’t help.

And because we’ve been so let down by so many institutions — by those who should’ve protected us.

*Jess (another of Gordon's patients) agrees with this and adds:

“It has been reported that Gordon billed every single patient with the Medicare item number for severe, Stage IV or V endometriosis). How is that possible? Why did they not do their due diligence?”

It is the opinion of this publication that the following areas require acknowledgement, review and/or urgent action:

1. Endometriosis can cause adhesions between organs, significant organ damage, loss of organs and in some cases has been fatal. Currently, the only way to receive an endometriosis diagnosis, in the majority of cases, is through surgery and the subsequent histopathology of tissue.

It is also worth noting that the amount of endometriosis tissue present is not an indication of the level of pain/symptoms experienced. This is a point often left out of reporting on this issue and overlooked by politicians.

2. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced Safer Care Victoria would amend the clinical guidelines, making clear that a less invasive ultrasound should be the first step for diagnosing endometriosis across Victoria. However, according to a study on the effectiveness of diagnostic tools, imaging modalities are most often incapable of detecting endometriosis, so this is not always a suitable diagnostic alternative to laparoscopy.

3. Ovarian cancer risk markedly increases for people with endometriosis, and pelvic ultrasound is a key diagnostic tool for ovarian cancer, but in January 2025, the cost of pelvic ultrasound went from no charge to $95.95 per ultrasound.

4. Legislative reform must focus on the regulation of surgeons who are performing laparoscopic surgeries.

5. Current Federal Government endometriosis funding focuses on reactive measures, with $37 million dedicated to endometriosis clinics and $26.33 million spent on research. Funding must be increased and directed to research on prevention, cause and treatment of the condition, rather than its management.

6. Premier Jacinta Allen has referred Dr Simon Gordon to Victoria Police for criminal investigation. It should be noted here that despite this and the litany of complaints against him, Gordon voluntarily resigned his position in the lead-up to the media storm — Epworth Hospital did not dismiss him.

7. Legal compensation actions against Gordon and the Epworth Hospital are currently being investigated by several law firms, though there is no guarantee they will receive recompense.

8. A government inquiry into Epworth Hospital's conduct is urgently needed.

9. A government-led inquiry into the checks and balances surrounding medical practices, administrative procedures and complaint procedures, including those of Medicare and medical regulator AHPRA is also urgently needed.

Dr Simon Gordon's patients may have been preyed upon by an unscrupulous practitioner, but he was enabled by a misogynistic health system that requires an urgent and major overhaul. Even following the shocking allegations of this man's practises, his victims have been ignored, their concerns dismissed and insult added to injury by an Epworth-led inquiry which has shut them out.

With one in seven women affected, it is likely we all know someone who is impacted by endometriosis and the following statistics may also surprise readers:

endometriosis-related hospitalisations increased by 43% between 2011 and 2022;
endometriosis hospitalisations have doubled among females aged 20–24 in the past decade; and
the total cost of endometriosis is estimated at $30,900 per person.

Endometriosis is not simply a "women’s issue".

* Names changed for anonymity

This editorial was originally published as part of the Independent Australia weekly newsletter. Subscribe to IA to access all our work from as little as $1.15 per week and help power our journalism in 2026.

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