Topic: Transgender Patients Deserve Better Medical Care

[Laura1951]

Transgender Patients Deserve Better Medical Care


https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/transgender-patients-deserve-better-medical-care/


Scientific American  by David Rosenthal on July 1, 2021

“This isn’t something I do.”

Patients do not want to hear this from doctors. Yet, sadly, many of my transgender patients have heard this from at least one medical provider.

Confused and exasperated, my patients come to me saying their requests for medical care, primary care or HIV-prevention medication are met with shrugs. It leaves them with a sense that it is the patient’s job to educate their physician, and that their health and well-being aren’t a priority.

[Funnycouple]

Maybe the trans community needs to make a co-op hospital that's focused on serving them

[Lady Sarah]

This comes to me as no surprise. I have met my own share of doctors that refused me as a patient. One even tried to deny me services at a county medical clinic. Only with deliberation could I find services I needed. Unfortunately, I did have to educate some of the doctors and lead them to find more information so they could provide the correct treatment.

[Rakel]

Maybe the trans community needs to make a co-op hospital that's focused on serving them

Some of the best doctors specializing in transgender services have experienced their own gender issues. They definitely understand the serious nature of our condition.

However, a hospital is a complex facility that requires many medical specialties and other services. This is going to be a full time operation and a co-operative based enterprise is not a realistic option.

Just go to work for an employer who offers a good health insurance benefit. There are many health care providers who do understand our condition.

[Rachel Montgomery]

I asked my endocrinologist if he treated any transgender patients.  He responded that he did not and never would.  They would have to go somewhere else.  He is the only Endocrinologist in the county.  It is a minimum one hour drive to see an endocrinologist who does treatment for transgender patients. 

I do think that the local hospital would offer emergency services to a transgender person, if you were in a car accident, or had a heart attack or something.  I THINK they would. But, I have read of cases where a transwoman bleed to death because the ambulance driver wouldn't take her to the hospital (due to her being trans).  That didn't happen where I live, but I suppose it could.

It is scary.  And, I don't think you would have legal recourse if you survive it.

[Lady Sarah]

Some of the best doctors specializing in transgender services have experienced their own gender issues. They definitely understand the serious nature of our condition.

However, a hospital is a complex facility that requires many medical specialties and other services. This is going to be a full time operation and a co-operative based enterprise is not a realistic option.

Just go to work for an employer who offers a good health insurance benefit. There are many health care providers who do understand our condition.

Easier said than done. Not everybody wants to live in a city where all those services are available. Not everybody can afford to. Not everybody has what it takes to just get a job with great benefits so easily.

Not everybody owns airplanes and yachts or lives in mansions. Do not forget that even the trans community is very diverse. Some of us are very wealthy, and some are quite impoverished, with most somewhere in between. Education levels are comparable.

If that means I have to drive an hour to see a doctor, and drive another hour to get back home, that's what I'll do. The doctors in the county in which I reside are more like veterinarians. They have limited skills. Most cases get sent an hour away to another hospital in case of emergency. That is how rural of an area I live in, and I love it.

[Allie Jayne]

Getting adequate treatment from a doctor experienced in trans care is a rarity. Most doctors simply don't know how to treat trans patients and tans people suffer as a result. This is mostly because there is not adequate support on transgender care given to doctors, and this, in turn, is driven by falsely low statistics held by governments. I have read that the trans population in the US is 0.3% of the population, so why would such a small group receive funding.

Until the statistics accurately reflect the trans population, and sufficient funding is available to teach doctors, the only answer is to have a central hub of trans specialised medical carers who can advise the broader medical community. An organisation like the Mayo centre could provide this.

Hugs,

Allie

[Funnycouple]

Very well said Lady Sarah
I agree about prices good thing I live close to the border because getting procedures done over there is a lot cheaper. Just as a example I paid 1500 for my wife's BBL over there just imagine how much that would cost at a plastic surgery place in the US.
Now for me that I'm only looking into removing 1 thing what would that cost going to a specialist overhear.

The only reason I mentioned a co-op hospital previously is due to them being a non profit which would be more affordable. Plus if the board members are all for the trans community then there would be no turning away people.