The Healthcare Rebellion (2027) is an investigative memoir exploring centuries of health inequality in the UK. The book connects historical inequity to modern day treatment gaps, examines how institutional power structures continue to cause disparity, and spotlights women activists who have been instrumental in changing health policy since the 1970s.
Author Kate Ford Michaels’ own invasive lobular breast cancer diagnosis in 2023 became the catalyst for this investigation. Twenty-two women are diagnosed with this distinct breast cancer subtype every day in the UK, yet the lack of research into its basic biology means there is still no specific treatment after more than 50 years. How is this possible? And how did we get here?
Uncovering the origins of inequality
Around 10,000 years ago, during the Neolithic Revolution, settled agricultural communities arose, creating opportunities for the formation of hierarchical structures and sowing the seeds for gender division that still exists today.
The book examines the emergence of these systems and steps into the UK’s early modern period beginning with the witch trials during the 16th and 17th centuries. It delves into the misogynistic themes that drove the persecution of thousands of women and girls in England and Scotland, many of whom were engaged in healing and childcare, and the forces that orchestrated their demise. The ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ (1487), a text by German inquisitor Heinrich Kramer, fuelled horrifying tyranny. It provided legal and religious justification to discriminate, mostly against women and girls, claiming females were more susceptible to witchcraft.
Doctor knows best
During the 18th and 19th centuries medicine and the role of doctor became a formal and professional vocation. The establishment responded to this transition by systematically excluding women discrediting their traditional healing roles. The nonsensical ‘hysteria’ diagnosis was a common catch-all term used to control ‘difficult’ women and the arrival of institutions and asylums delivered a new regime of terror.
Know your place
The power of the state to implement social control over women’s health continued in the UK into the 20th century. ‘Separate spheres’ ideology – a woman’s place is in the home – took hold and those who were seen as nonconformists were stigmatised, persecuted and alienated. Between 1949 and 1976, forced adoption in the UK saw an estimated 185,000 babies taken from unmarried mothers who were punished for straying from the ‘nuclear family’ social expectation. The psychological trauma of this remains and the full extent of the damage caused has only recently been acknowledged.
In March 2023, then Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said, “The horror of what happened to these women is almost impossible to comprehend”. An ITV investigation uncovered evidence that some young women, who were sent to mother and baby homes run by church and state, were given the drug Diethylstilbestrol, commonly known as DES, to dry up breastmilk. DES had known risks of women developing breast cancer. The Healthcare Rebellion (2027) delves into this travesty and explores the effect this has had on women’s health.
Women rise up
In the 1970s, feminist resistance rose with the British Women’s Liberation Movement. Activists challenged medical paternalism, publicly critiqued outdated medical systems, and were instrumental in driving health policy reform. The Healthcare Rebellion (2027) shines a light on these women whose achievements must continue to be celebrated.
The book examines resistance methods used and profiles prominent activists including Swedish anarcho-eco feminist artist Monica Sjöö. It examines her role in the British women’s movement and explores how her feminist art manifesto and paintings challenged reproductive control. It looks at her most infamous painting ‘God Giving Birth’ and the furore it caused with the establishment and affirms how art serves as resistance when women’s voices are repressed. Sjöö was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997 and sadly died from the disease in 2003.
Then and now
In the 21st century, healthcare inequality is still rife. England’s first ever Women’s Health Strategy was published in 2022 – let that date sink in. It addressed longstanding inequalities and the report published said, “Half of the population are women. But the health and social care services have been designed by men for men.”
Many female diseases remain underfunded and under-researched; lobular breast cancer is one example. The book tells the story of Kate Ford Michaels’ friend and fellow activist Dr Susan Michaelis, who founded the Lobular Moon Shot Project in 2023. It chronicles her tireless lobbying for research funding for the disease and her death on 9th July 2025, just days before a long awaited meeting with Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Wes Streeting. It explores her incredible achievements fighting for health justice across two major campaigns – lobular breast cancer and aero toxic syndrome.
Find your voice
The chronological progression from Neolithic societies through witch trials, hysteria diagnoses, state control, to women’s liberation movements shows that healthcare inequity isn’t accidental, it’s systemic and centuries-old. Linking this historical timeline with her own lobular breast cancer diagnosis and Lobular Moon Shot Project campaigning, Kate Ford Michaels’ book, The Healthcare Rebellion (2027) connects to a broad pattern of neglect of women’s health.
It transforms readers from passive patients into informed advocates by showing them why the system fails and how others have successfully challenged and changed policy.
The Healthcare Rebellion (2027) is for anyone who wants to understand lobular breast cancer, healthcare advocates and activists, medical professionals and those ready to challenge broken systems and drive policy change.
It is a call to action, to speak up and to refuse to accept inferior care.
Follow the link to:
When your cancer has no roadmap – Kate Ford Michaels’ lobular breast cancer story and Lobular Moon Shot Project campaigning.
Artwork: ‘Quiet Please’ by Kate Ford Michaels
Leave a Reply