Quote from: lxndr on April 08, 2014, 08:42:22 AM
The situation's complicated, it's a mix of my GP and GICs fault I think. I don't know. When I can think clearer I'll be complaining to someone. A lot.
Whoah, whoah, whoah. You're in England, right? In which case, this sounds wrong on several counts. IANAL, but I can think of several areas where they've messed up:
Firstly, no medical professional can disclose your private medical information to any third party without your consent, except in cases where it's in the public interest to do so (such as if you have a highly infectious disease) or somebody's life is in danger (such as notifying the police if they think you're likely to harm someone). Other than those strict exceptions, they must keep your information completely confidential, and if you didn't give them your consent to disclose to your employers they are in breach of NHS policy... and may even have committed an offence under the Data Protection Act.
Secondly, under the Gender Recognition Act it's against the law for anyone to disclose your trans* status without your consent. OK, so you probably don't have a GRC yet... but your GIC should be working within the boundaries of the Act as they ought to have a reasonable expectation that their patients may want to apply for a GRC at the appropriate stage.
Thirdly, in disclosing your status to your employer without your consent, the GIC (or whoever did this) may have committed an offence under the Equality Act 2010, on the grounds that their unwanted behaviour violates your dignity.
I'm so sorry this has happened to you. I'd be spitting bullets if they'd done it to me.
Once your head is clear, I recommend establishing exactly who has contacted your employer and exactly what has been said; get copies of any correspondence if appropriate. Ring up the organisation that outed you and get the name and job title of the person in charge, then send them a written complaint along with photocopies of any evidence (keep the originals for yourself if possible). State in your letter that you're giving them 14 days to respond so they'll take it seriously. You could also lodge a complaint with NHS England:
here's how.
If the person who did this is a doctor or other medical health professional, you could also lodge a complaint with their regulatory body.
Good luck.