Yesterday

Yesterday I did a talk at a school of medicine for their LGBT organization and it wasn’t just attended by LGBT people but straight students that wanted to learn about caring for trans patients.

For many LGBTQ people, even a routine doctor visit can be a ‘degrading experience’
Washington Post
By Steven Petrow
October 3, 2016

For any parent, teacher, or health-care provider — actually for anyone with a beating heart— the suicide of 14-year-old Kyler Prescott is a wrenching story. In April 2015 the San Diego teenager was depressed from being repeatedly harassed and bullied about his gender identity. His mom, Katherine Prescott, took him to Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego for help with his self-inflicted wounds and suicidal thoughts. Although she introduced Kyler as a transgender boy (both his legal name and official gender had been changed) the hospital staff continued to address him as a girl, adding to Kyler’s distress.

Katherine Prescott describes her son as being “in despair” in a lawsuit filed last week, and that she had expected the hospital to keep him for the full 72-hour observation period typical for those at risk of self-harm. Instead Kyler was released after 24 hours. A month later, he took his own life. Although it was only May, Kyler was the third transgender teen to commit suicide in 2015 in the San Diego area alone.

The problems starts right at the front door, the forms are not LGBT friendly instead they are for heteronormative.

“Intake forms are a powerful and early indicator of the welcome LGBT [people] can expect in a health care setting,” says Margolies. At most facilities, the form allows for only “male” and “female” when it comes to gender, which completely erases anyone who identifies as transgender or intersex.

As the doctor at yesterday’s talk said, trans is part of the normal diversity. However, many doctors don’t want to touch us with a ten foot pole to some doctors it is like we are lepers.

Part of the problem, no doubt, is that medical schools devote so little time to LGBT-related health issues. According to a JAMA study of 132 medical schools, the median time dedicated to LGBT health in an entire doctor’s education totaled a mere five hours. With so little training, how can providers do right by LGBT patients?
[…]
“Training makes all the difference in the world,” says James Parker Sheffield, a trans man and a director at Atlanta’s Health Initiative, an LGBT wellness organization. When I asked him about the Kyler Prescott suicide, Sheffield told me how crucial it is “that medical professionals use current and considerate language. If they don’t, it could destroy the relationship.” And what about the hospital’s staff referring to Kyler as a girl? Sheffield says: “When you’re misgendering someone, you’re essentially telling them that they don’t exist. It’s a degrading experience. . . . To use the right pronouns and language is common courtesy.” It’s also about respect and recognition.

At another university they get the five hours, they have a panel of LGBT patients and they get a lecture on how to make their offices LGBT friendly.

It seems like the hospitals don’t really care about LGBT patients until they get sued and then they go in damage control mode, circling the wagons instead of being proactive.