Granted, this began as more a cultural problem than a medical one, but as in eras past, the medical community now ends up taking its cues from the culture—in this case, one that says respiratory health is a woman’s problem to solve, rather than a doctor’s to diagnose. The same medical establishment that told women in 1929 that smoking was a path to freedom, now responds skeptically when women say they can’t breathe, despite their disproportionate exposure to environmental factors that can cause pulmonary disease.
