Is Health Care Failing Transgender Patients?

categories: LGBT Health Care, Transgender Issues

Published June 04, 2009 @ 09:22AM PT

Hospital Care

Eek, these are some scary statistics if accurate. The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association released a study, based on the survey responses of more than 90 hospitals and 70 health clinics in the United States, on the care provided to LGBT patients, and the findings show an epidemic of insufficient care for transgender patients.

Of the more than 90 hospitals and 70 outpatient clinics that responded, only 7% had non-discrimination policies that included gender identity and expression. And the meaning behind this? Well, as Gay and Lesbian Medical Association President-Elect Rebecca A. Allison said, "This means that in the other 93%, a transgender patient may be addressed by an incorrect name or incorrect pronouns, perhaps even placed in a room with other patients of their birth gender."

And that's only the tip of the iceberg. Statistics like this also fuel the fact that LGBT patients are often times less likely to be open with their health care providers for fear of discrimination or mistreatment, which can lead to all sorts of problems, from missed opportunities to deal directly with illness, misdiagnosis, and an overall inability to deliver quality care.

The solution? Well, as Dr. Allison said, "A clearly stated policy that forbids discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity or expression is an important first step in encouraging openness, and in creating a climate for delivery of quality care. Transgender patients face health care discrimination every day -- a fact that makes the disparities identified...a call to action."

The Gay and Lesbian Medical Association offers a "Health Care Provider Guide for Creating a Welcoming Environment" for LGBT patients, that can be part of the first step for a Clinic to address head-on the issues facing LGBT health care.

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Comments (6)

This really doesn't surprise me.
I still have to fill out forms asking me if I am single, married, divorced, separated, etc

What about in a long-term relationship?

People in health care are not free from prejudice which is why same-sex couples today have to go through the trouble of drawing up legal papers just to visit a loved one in the hospital and why a classmate of mine had to jump through hopps just to visit her child in the hospital because she wasn't the birth mother and the hospital didn't consider her a "parent."

We as LGBT people should start demaning better of the health care community. I know it can be scary to come out to someone who has their life in your hands but if they start treating you badly, you can always file a complaint and make their prejudice known.
Our sexual orientation nor our gender identity should be a factor in whether we are receiving quality health care.

Posted by Courtney C............ on 06/04/2009 @ 03:43PM PT
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It's a shame that just 7% of 90 hospitals and 70 outpatient clinics have a policy against discrimination against Transgender patients. In addition, every hospital must have a policy which specifically prohibits Transgender patients because ethics and high quality hospital care dictate equality for all patients. However, it's great that the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association have created a guide for creating an open environment for good hospital care for the Transgender.

Posted by Edwin Bonilla on 06/04/2009 @ 07:09PM PT
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It seems surreal that the profession that probably has the most caring, educated people in the world, US Health Care, can still act in such a cruel, crude way and exclude people based solely on thier transgendered identity and unique gender expression. Where is the love?

Posted by Li Anne Wai`oli Taft on 06/04/2009 @ 09:44PM PT
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Thank you so much for link to GLMA brochure. Its a keeper. My daughter goes to Med School in fall and is an active AMSA (Med Student Assoc. Member) will be sure she has this for meetings.

Posted by Lee Dorsey on 06/05/2009 @ 07:31PM PT
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PS. It was care of my first transgender patients (after years of caring for Aids patients)..or I should say shock at the non-care he received from others that turned me into a loud GLBT activist.... and this was in the Bay Area of CA. He couldn't find anyone to give him his hormone shot prescription. I was shocked, truly that many physicians were not upholding their Hippocratic Oaths!

Posted by Lee Dorsey on 06/05/2009 @ 07:34PM PT
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It's taken them this long to figure that out? A transwoman in DC *died* because the EMTs at the scene decided it was perfectly acceptable to mock her rather than perform their jobs. A lack of proper pronoun usage is the least of the health care problems facing transpeople.

Posted by Tobias Fangor on 06/08/2009 @ 09:19PM PT
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Michael is the Communications Director for the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School, and previously was Communications Director for Pax Christi USA, a progressive Catholic human rights organization.