Christ heals the haemorrhaging woman; women wash their linen in a pond. Etching by G. Bodenehr after C.J. Vernet and J.C. Tardieu.

The woman's "flow of blood" is often identified with menstrual disorder, or sometimes menorrhagia, unpredictable bleeding before the menopause. Mark and Luke describe the failure of physicians to heal her over twelve years. They also describe how Christ, who is being jostled by a large crowd, suddenly feels "a force go forth from him" and identifies the woman who has sapped it