I Learned Something New Today.

For many trans people they don’t like going to see a doctor, they are afraid of discrimination by the medical profession. What I learned today was the term the community coined for the discrimination… “Broken Arm Syndrome.” An online Ohio University web page has this to say about it,

Trans Broken Arm Syndrome

Transgender patients might also encounter “Trans Broken Arm Syndrome” when they go to see a doctor or other provider. This phenomenon occurs when a medical professional attributes any and all health problems that a transgender patient is experiencing to the fact that they are transgender. Even issues that are in no way related to gender identities, such as the stomach flu or a broken bone, are connected back to a patient’s transgender status.

Trans Broken Arm Syndrome often involves asking transgender patients uncomfortable, unnecessary questions about their gender identity. Fifteen percent of transgender individuals who had seen a doctor in the past year reported that they were asked invasive questions about their transgender status that were completely unrelated to the reason for their visit. This can result in transgender patients being misdiagnosed or not receiving any treatment for the health issue they need addressing.

Connecticut is making inroads to ending this but it still happens because med students do not get a lot of training in trans patients protocol. One of the things that I tell medical students is to explain why they are asking questions about our health if they need to know about our trans status such as when a trans masculine patient has a pain in their abdomen if they had a hysterectomy.

'Being transgender is not a medical condition': The meaning of trans broken arm syndrome
USA TODAY
By David Oliver
March 31, 2022


Ever broken a bone? You know your first thought: "Ouch!"

But what if said health care worker was too busy asking about your gender identity instead of focusing on mending your broken bone? Sure, it's important to record and review medical history, but why would questions about hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery be relevant in that case?

A term exists for this phenomenon: trans broken arm syndrome.

It’s when a health care provider – consciously or not – assumes all manner of medical issues are a result of a person being trans.

Transgender people require equitable health care just like anyone else – and experts advise using all the tools in the trans community's arsenal to fight discrimination.

Douglas Knutson, Oklahoma State University assistant professor in counseling and counseling psychology, co-authored a paper for the Journal of Research on Women and Gender in 2016 called "'Trans broken arm': Health care stories from transgender people in rural areas."

My dear sir, it is not just the rural areas, it can happened anywhere!

I have been lucky so far but I have heard stories from other trans people. I have only had one doctor that I have wondered about, he never made eye contact with me after he saw that I was trans. I don’t know if he did that to all his patients or just me.

Another time it was during my annual mammography, the technician took five tries to get a good x-ray and she was scolding me for moving but in each case she had her hand on my back holding me in the x-ray machine it was so painful that I had tears in my eyes. Then the lab had the audacity to bill me for 5 x-rays for several thousands of dollars! When I called the insurance company to get the bill fixed the woman answering the phone had a very deep southern accent and when I told her what happened she was incensed at the lab tech calling the tech among other things insensitive.

I imagine with all these Republican states banning trans healthcare coverage that the bias is only going to get worst. I have heard that medical schools in states that have banned abortion are losing students because they cannot get proper OB/GYN education in those states I imagine that the same thing will happen in states with trans healthcare ban but to a lesser extent.

So what about you have to faced the “Trans Broken Arm Syndrome?” 

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