Indiana hospital responds to trans incident
Windy City Times
11 August, 2010
http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=27720 (http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/gay/lesbian/news/ARTICLE.php?AID=27720)
Administrators at Muncie, Ind.'s, Ball Memorial Hospital have responded to a transgender woman's complaint by saying that the facility plans to correct problems she experienced, according to a press release from Indiana Equality ( IE ) .
On July 18, transgender woman Erin Vaught went to Ball's emergency room, accompanied by her wife and their son, seeking treatment for what she suspected was a lung infection. According to the Muncie Star Press, staff members repeatedly degraded Vaught. At one point, Vaught's wife was allegedly asked by a nurse, "So is it a he or a she? Or a he-she?" In the end, after a two-hour wait without any medical treatment, Vaught was told "we don't know how to go about treating someone with your condition," referring to her gender history.
This is a good example of how maximum, yet sensible publicity, sticking to facts and avoiding explosive rheotric, can produce great results.