[This is my first post, so thanks for reading. I apologize for the length, but I think the details are important.]
So I've been seeing a very good therapist for the past three months, and last Thursday she agreed to write me an HRT letter and forward it to the endocrinologist she's been working with for the past decade. Fantastic, right? Not quite.
I give the endocrinologist's office a call on Friday and get an answering machine. I left my name and number and asked for a new patient appointment (no mention of being trans). After a lot of telephone tag, I finally get to talk to a real person late this morning. She first asks me for my insurance, of course (luckily, no problem with that), then asks whether I want an appointment for diabetes or endocrinology.
Me: Well, actually, my therapist recommended your office. I am interested in being treated for gender dysphoria.
Receptionist: Oh. Well we have those patients speak to the manager. Hold on.
So I wait a couple of minutes, and finally the manager decides to talk to me.
Manager: Let me ask you a couple of questions. We follow the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care, so we need patients to present two letters, one from a social worker and one from either a psychologist or psychiatrist. I know you've been seeing Tina (my therapist) and she's very good, but have you seen a psychologist or a psychiatrist for three months?
[Of course, at this point I realize that something fishy is going on.]
Me: No, but the standards of cares don't require two letters. Why do you need me to see a psychologist or psychiatrist?
Manager: Well hormones don't just affect you physically, they affect you emotionally. Do you need me to slow down and explain the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care?
[Note to readers: she said the last part very condescendingly. I was not amused.]
Me: Actually they're not called the Harry Benjamin Standards of Care anymore, and I'm pretty sure that there was never a requirement for two letters for hormones. Why are you requiring more than the Standards of Care?
[At this point, I think she's figured out that her song-and-dance about the standards isn't working, so she changes her tune.]
Manager: Well, we just find that we have better outcomes this way.
Me: So you want me to find an MD or a Ph.D. level practitioner, meet with that person for three months, and come back to you?
Manager: We know you've been waiting a long time, but it's just another three months.
Me: I'm sorry. No. Have a nice day. [Click.]
Coincidentally, I had an appointment with my therapist right after this conversation. So I tell her what I just went through, and she gives the endocrinologist's office a call right in front of me, asking to speak to the manager. The manager gives her the same song-and-dance about needing two letter, and my therapist flat out tells the manager "that's not part of the standards." Then she says, "if you insist on this, I can't send you any more referrals." Apparently the manager was not concerned about this, so now my therapist is no longer working with the only endocrinologist to which she has sent referrals for the past decade.
Even better, she doesn't have another endocrinologist for me to call, so I'm left with an HRT letter but no practice to send it to.
Our best guess is that the endocrinologist doesn't want to have trans patients any longer, but she doesn't want to admit to ending this part of her practice, so instead she's putting up ridiculous obstacles to new trans patients. The crazy thing about this is that my therapist referred someone to her just last month, so this is a very recent change in policy.
So does anyone have a recommendation for a trans-friendly endocrinologist on Long Island, NY? I could go into NYC and find one there, but I live far enough away that the travel time alone would wipe out half of my day.
By the way, the name of the endocrinologist whose office gave me a hard time is Michelle Jardine, MD at Long Island Diabetes and Endocrinology, PC. Her practice's website lists HRT for gender dysphoria as one of their services, but my guess is that won't be on her site for very much longer.
