CBS News19%

Melinda French Gates on perimenopause: "It took me 3 doctors to really diagnose what I was going through" 88%

By CBS News47%

7/21/2026, 12:00:19 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Anecdotal, Confirmation Bias, and Hasty Generalization, with Framing Effect as the most egregious example at 42.1% saturation with 125 hits. Analysis detected 870 faulty-reasoning hits from 297 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 80.8% and a BS Rank of 88% (2,666 of 21,887 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 87.80% of the article peer group.

Despite access to the best healthcare, Melinda French Gates said it took three doctors to diagnose and treat her when she started perimenopause in her early 40s. 
French Gates opened up about her menopausal experience on "Healthful," Norah O'Donnell's new podcast, which launches Wednesday. 
She said she "kind of couldn't believe it" when she started perimenopause in her early 40s, a few years after she had her youngest child. 
She knew the signs to look out for because of the stories her older friends would tell her on their weekly walks, she said. 
"But it was kind of unbelievable to me that, even in this, you know, unbelievably privileged situation I'm in, where I feel like I can get some of the best healthcare, it took me three doctors to really diagnose what I was going through and to get the right treatments for where I was." 
French Gates continued: "It wasn't because anybody was doing the wrong thing. 
It's because of what I now know, which is, only a third  one-third  of OB-GYNs in this country are trained in menopause." 
A 2022 survey found that 31.3% of OB-GYN residents reported having a menopause curriculum in their residency program. 
Meanwhile, a study commissioned by women's health app Mira outlined the challenges that menopausal women face: Two in five respondents said their symptoms affect their work, and one in 10 said they have left or are contemplating leaving their jobs because of menopause symptoms. 
French Gates talked more about menopause and her philanthropic focus on women's health in the debut episode of "Healthful," airing Wednesday. 
Watch on the Healthful YouTube channel, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 22.9%CBS News: 1.7%CBS Miami: 2.2%Confirmation Bias22.9%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.8%CBS Miami: 0.6%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 8.1%CBS News: 3.0%CBS Miami: 2.5%Availability Heuristic8.1%This article: 6.1%CBS News: 1.1%CBS Miami: 0.7%Representativeness Heuristic6.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 8.1%CBS News: 2.2%CBS Miami: 1.7%Overconfidence Bias8.1%This article: 42.1%CBS News: 5.2%CBS Miami: 6.1%Framing Effect42.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.1%CBS Miami: 0.3%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.7%CBS Miami: 0.6%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 3.0%CBS Miami: 1.9%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 8.4%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 1.1%Pessimism Bias8.4%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 3.1%CBS Miami: 6.7%Negativity Bias0.0%This article: 18.2%CBS News: 2.4%CBS Miami: 2.0%Self-Serving Bias18.2%This article: 4.0%CBS News: 1.6%CBS Miami: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error4.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 0.1%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 1.6%CBS Miami: 0.9%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.3%CBS Miami: 0.2%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 7.1%CBS News: 1.1%CBS Miami: 1.6%Halo Effect7.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 12.8%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 1.1%Recency Bias12.8%This article: 6.1%CBS News: 0.2%CBS Miami: 0.3%Primacy Effect6.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.1%CBS Miami: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.6%CBS Miami: 0.8%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 8.1%CBS News: 2.6%CBS Miami: 4.3%Appeal to Authority8.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.4%CBS Miami: 1.1%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 1.2%CBS Miami: 0.4%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 22.9%CBS News: 3.5%CBS Miami: 2.5%Hasty Generalization22.9%This article: 7.1%CBS News: 0.4%CBS Miami: 0.1%Red Herring7.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.4%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 14.8%CBS News: 3.6%CBS Miami: 4.1%Appeal to Emotion14.8%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 0.7%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.6%CBS Miami: 2.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 0.4%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 6.1%CBS News: 0.2%CBS Miami: 0.2%Composition/Division6.1%This article: 34.7%CBS News: 1.6%CBS Miami: 1.2%Anecdotal34.7%This article: 4.0%CBS News: 0.2%CBS Miami: 0.0%No True Scotsman4.0%This article: 8.1%CBS News: 0.6%CBS Miami: 1.8%Ambiguity (Equivocation)8.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 18.2%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 0.0%Personal Incredulity18.2%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.0%CBS Miami: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.4%CBS Miami: 2.0%Unattributed Quote0.0%This article: 6.1%CBS News: 0.5%CBS Miami: 1.0%Quote-first Misdirection6.1%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.8%CBS Miami: 1.5%Biased Writer Voice0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 1.1%CBS Miami: 0.9%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 2.8%CBS Miami: 0.5%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%CBS News: 0.4%CBS Miami: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 19.2%CBS News: 1.4%CBS Miami: 0.8%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…19.2%

297 words analyzed.

Speakers

2speakers77%attributed speech69writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Melinda French Gates • 18 words • 100.0% coverageMelinda French Gates • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverageMelinda French Gates • 25 words • 0.0% coverageMelinda French Gates • 24 words • 0.0% coverageMelinda French Gates • 54 words • 0.0% coverageMelinda French Gates • 12 words • 0.0% coverageMelinda French Gates • 24 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 18 words • 0.0% coverageMira • 44 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 21 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Mira

100%flagged-word coverage
44 attributed words19% of attributed speech100% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Attempt to Sell a Product +81.2 ptsWriter: 18.8%Mira: 100.0%100.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.