Who Do You Trust With Your Life?

When you walk into a healthcare provider’s office you are putting your life in their hands… and you hope they are not biased against trans people.

Doctors don’t treat trans patients poorly because they’re uneducated. They’re prejudiced.
LGBTQ Nation
By Gwendolyn Smith
February 18, 2019

A new study out of Michigan shows that transphobia – an aversion to accepting transgender people – may play a bigger role than the amount of education a medical professional has when it comes to transgender people receiving competent health care.

Using an online survey, researchers asked the primary care providers in an integrated health care system in the Midwestern United States about their exposure to materials about caring for transgender and gender non-conforming patients, as well as their knowledge of health care for same. In total, researchers heard from 389 attending physicians, advanced practitioners, and residents.

48.8% of those who responded claimed to have had no formal education on health care for transgender or gender non-conforming patients. However, 49.7% said that they had cared for at least one transgender or gender non-conforming patient.
[…]
Researchers feel that it is not more education that will solve the issues for transgender and gender non-conforming healthcare, but that, “broader efforts to address transphobia in society in general, and in medical education in particular, may be required.”

I had a doctor who never looked at me during the office visit; he stared at the computer monitor during the visit. Was it bad manners or prejudice? It is very hard to prove prejudice unless they come right out and say that they don’t want you as a patient because you’re trans.

When I was moderating a panel with lawyers from CT Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities a person in the audience said her boss was always picking on her and she thought that he was discriminating against her. One of the lawyers asked her if he did it to everyone else and she replied yes; the CHRO lawyer replied being an asshole is not against the law, that if he was singling out then it would be discrimination.

The same is true for healthcare providers, if the healthcare provider is a bad healthcare provider, if the healthcare provider has bad deportment doesn’t mean they are biased.

However, as the article points out there are bad healthcare providers out there who are biased against us and know of many trans people who had bad experiences with healthcare providers because they either refused to treat them or they were very rude with them because they're trans.

I say healthcare providers because it is not just doctors, it is PAs, APRNs, RNs, lab techs, office staff, and anyone you come in contact while seeking healthcare.

I once had an office staff call me with my lab results and she refused to give the results to me because she could only give the results to “Diana.” After arguing with her I hung up and called the doctor’s office and another staff member gave me my lab results.

Nearly a quarter of those surveyed said that they had to teach their provider about appropriate treatment in order to get the care they needed. Additionally, 23% of those who responded avoided medical care entirely over fears of being mistreated. 

Yup.

I had to teach one of my healthcare providers but he became one of staunchest supporters.

I end this with… good luck when you call 911.