Tears for My Sisters : Johns Hopkins University Press : 9781421424170 : 15 Jan 2018 : Traces the horror of obstetric fistula-a condition that has been largely forgotten in the developed world-and lays out a plan for its eradication. Millions of women suffer from obstetric fistula, a catastrophic childbirth complication that exists today mainly in the world's poorest countries. Fistulas are created by the prolonged pressure of the fetal head in the birth canal during obstructed labor, which grievously injures a woman's bladder, leaving her incontinent. With a fistula, a woman's life revolves around futile attempts to control her condition and the stigma associated with it. Abandoned by their loved ones, ostracized from their communities, and cut off from modern surgical care, which can repair fistulas and return patients to full health, these women suffer wretchedly. Based on over 20 years of personal experience with fistula patients in multiple African countries, Dr. L. Lewis Wall's