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Endometriosis

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Brisbane mother-of-three Amy Wilson was diagnosed with endometriosis last year, aged 41.

The five-minute test that could fast-track diagnosis for thousands of women

Endometriosis affects roughly one in seven Australian women, yet it takes on average six to eight years to be diagnosed.

  • Courtney Kruk

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Hannah Kennelly before her laparoscopic surgery in 2024.

I was 10 when I started feeling the pain, but well into adulthood before anyone believed me

My experience is vastly different to the traumatic experiences Dr Simon Gordon’s patients endured. But the common denominator between us is a deep and desperate desire for our pain to be believed.

  • Hannah Kennelly
Isabelle Metaxotos with Dr Simon Gordon in hospital after he  removed her left ovary and fallopian tube in 2025.

‘It makes no sense’: Minister blasts secrecy over investigation of gynaecologist

Amid a blame game over the handling of allegations that a gynaecologist was performing unnecessary surgery, the state government is pressing for changes.

  • Liam Mannix and Henrietta Cook
Isabelle Metaxotos (right) with Dr Simon Gordon in hospital after he surgically removed her left ovary and fallopian tube in 2025.

Class action looms over allegations against endometriosis doctor

Melbourne gynaecologist Dr Simon Gordon is under investigation by the medical regulator over allegations he performed unnecessary endometriosis surgeries on women.

  • Liam Mannix and Henrietta Cook
Isabelle Metaxotos says she now believes her ovary did not need to be removed.

‘I’m grieving my old body’: How a young woman lost her ovary to a surgeon now under investigation

The federal health minister has requested scrutiny of clinical governance at the Epworth hospital after allegations that one of its surgeons performed unnecessary surgeries to treat endometriosis.

  • Henrietta Cook
Women are increasingly getting surgery for endometriosis.

Why some doctors think endometriosis is being treated with unnecessary surgery

After decades of women’s pain being dismissed, endometriosis operations in Australia have nearly doubled. But some experts warn the system may have swung too far towards dangerous overtreatment.

  • Henrietta Cook and Liam Mannix
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Marnie-Claire Hilton.

This simple urine test could change the lives of thousands of women like Marnie

The diagnosis time for endometriosis, one of the most common diseases among women, could be cut from years to weeks with a revolutionary new test.

  • Wendy Tuohy
Lindsay Tuggle, Olivia Phillips and Rebecca Ballesteros.

Olivia’s extreme pain was fobbed off by 10 doctors. They all missed the golf ball-sized lump

Haemorrhaging in the bathroom, fainting from pain, being gaslit and dismissed by doctors for so long that they can’t have children: thousands of women shared their medical misogyny stories with us. This chronic condition was the single most common.

  • Kate Aubusson, Emily Kaine and Aisha Dow
Often women aren’t taken seriously by medical professionals.

Women have the need, men seem to have the power

The single most common disease shared by Australian women in response to our ongoing investigation.

  • The Herald's View
Premier Jacinta Allan had heavy and drawn-out periods as a young person, later diagnosed as endometriosis.

‘Wild with rage’: It took Jacinta Allan more than a decade to learn the source of her pain

Women who have sought help over years for a condition more common than diabetes say they have felt gaslit and disbelieved, and live in excruciating pain. Jacinta Allan is among the 1 million Australians hoping for better.

  • Wendy Tuohy