The Bad & The Good

First the bad. We have all gone to the doctors at least one time in I life and we trust the doctor to tell us the truth and leave nothing out. Well a doctor in New York didn’t tell his patient that he had breast cancer because he was a trans-man.

Trans Man Denied Cancer Treatment; Now Feds Say It's Illegal
ABC News
By Susan Donaldson James
Aug. 8, 2012

ay Kallio, a former EMT who is disabled with kidney failure, rheumatoid arthritis and now cancer, has struggled to get good medical care, but being transgender stood in the way.

At the age of 50, Kallio transitioned from female to male, but never had gender reassignment surgery, only hormone treatment. "I accept my body as I was born," he said.

But when a suspicious lump was found in his breast and tested positive for cancer, the surgeon was so shocked that Kallio's body didn't match his gender identification -- not knowing whether to address him as "he" or "she" -- that he couldn't bring himself to tell his patient the grim biopsy results.
[…]
Kallio, who is now 56 and lives in New York City, learned "accidentally" that he had breast cancer when the lab technician called to ask how he was doing with his diagnosis. "Which diagnosis?" Kallio asked, horrified.

And it happened a second time, when the medical oncologist was "hostile" and refused to advise him on treatments.

Later, Kallio, said the doctor apologized: "I don't think it interfered with the quality of your care."

In fact, it did. Having to find new doctors delayed the start of chemotherapy beyond the so-called "therapeutic window" for his particularly aggressive form of breast cancer.
[…]
"Overall, they don't know what to do or how to handle your case," he said. "The endocrine stuff really intimidates them. They find your case terrifying and fear liability."

As a result of both incidents, he had to find new doctors. The experience was not only "demoralizing" but has likely affected Kallio's long-term health. So far, he has no idea if the cancer has come back.

This is what I fear. In the last eight months I have had more doctors and tests than I think in all of my life and thankfully I have been treated with respect. Besides my GP and dentist, I have seen four specialists and I had a MRI, an x-ray, an ultrasound and a colonoscopy, and I have had no problem with any of the hospital staff. However, every time I walk into a new doctor’s office there is that little worry about how I will be treated.

So I guess the good news is when I am on a panel next month for second year med students I will not have any bad news to report. Am I just lucky with doctors or are "the times they are a-changin?"