At Last! Ob-Gyns: Prepare to Treat Transgender Patients

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has told their members to treat trans-patients. In a press release they said…

"Transgender patients have many of the same health care needs as the rest of our patients," said Eliza Buyers, MD, former member of The College's Committee on Health Care for Underserved Women who helped develop the new recommendations. Health outcomes for the transgender community are very poor due to their lack of access to health care, noted Dr. Buyers. "It would be wonderful if all transgender patients had the resources to be seen in a specialized clinic, but the reality is that many forgo care because they don't. By increasing the number of ob-gyns providing care to transgender patients we can help improve the overall health of the transgender community."

Transgender individuals who were assigned female sex at birth but are now living as a male will continue needing breast and reproductive organ screening, unless they've had mastectomy or had their ovaries, uterus, and/or cervix removed. Male-to-female individuals who have had genital reconstruction may need cancer screening of the neovagina and breast cancer screening if taking estrogen hormones.

I know of many trans-women and trans-men that have been refused health care by ob-gyns providers. The excuses range from “I don’t want to scare away my regular patients” to “I don’t know how to treat transgender patients. And that is what they are excuses. I work with a group of doctors and other non-profits to talk to other doctors about transgender patients. The only thing that is different about transgender patients is that we take cross-gender hormones which is being treated by our endocrinologist. As for chasing away you regular patients, you just tell that you are obeying the law and not discriminating.

They go on to say,

"We need to make our offices settings that treat all patients with respect," said Dr. Buyers. The College offers ob-gyns suggestions on how to create an office environment that is welcoming to transgender patients. For instance, asking patients their preferred name and pronoun, posting non-discrimination policies, ensuring confidentiality, and offering sensitivity training for staff are all steps that signal acceptance and let patients know that they will be treated with dignity. "We want the transgender community to know that we, as ob-gyns, care about their health."

That is just common sense that they learn in 2nd year med school. Every year I take part on a panel for 2nd year med students at the UConn School of Medicine and the doctor who teaches the class emphasizes that same thing, make your office and staff LGBT friendly. Don’t ask a girl do you have a boyfriend, instead ask do you have somebody that you like romantically and ask open ended questions when it is time to sexual history.