I was in hospital over the weekend and I've noticed that Drs aren't very smart. Like, when I was admitted to the Casualty Department the nurses were great and understood that I am trans and didn't say dumb things. My favourite nurse said nice stuff like  "it doesn't matter who you were before, all that matters is who you are now, and no one should think otherwise" and she never ever got my pronouns wrong. When I was admitted to a different ward I was surrounded by doctors and specialists who misgendered me and just got themselves really confused. One of them called me a hermaphrodite. But the majority of the nurses were fine with me and never misgendered me, I think there was one nurse who misgendered me but she was one of the high up nurses idk matron or something. But it seems the higher up you are and the smarter you are meant to be the stupider you are.

Also when I was seen by some doctors they always complain if I forget to mention that I am trans. But I'm sorry if Mum just rushed me to bloomin A&E I am not likely to remember to tell you that I'm trans and it isn't the first thing she remembers either because to her I'm "her son", not "her kid with gender dysphoria"

Just yeah hospitals suck and doctors suck. But some nurses are ok.

Is it always going to happen, though? Am I always gonna get told off by doctors because they thing I'm deliberately not revealing a medical condition when the reality is I just forgot? Am I always going to get misgendered by people in hospitals? Am I always going to have doctors call me weird things i am not? Does that happen to everyone?
At least I had my mum there to tell then when to stop asking about my genitals. And at least time there was no poking and prodding done by imbecile doctors who wanted a chance to see the freaky boy with no penis.

To be honest since none of the times I've ended up in hospital have been about my genitalia I really don't see why that matters.

I think this might be a case of the best form of defense is offense. Find out your rights and make sure they know that you are prepared to use them, and get them into trouble if they don't behave professionally.

Its what I'd do, but I'm a lot older and quite prepared to make them sorry they ever met me.

I'm not sure this is good advice in your situation.

If you were treated disrespectfully, I'd complain to the hospital administration. If you have a local LGBT advocacy group like PFLAG, you may want to bring them in on it, so it isn't just you against the institution. There is no excuse for the way those doctors treated you.

one thing to consider younger newer nurses tend to be well younger, and younger people tend to be better about dealing with trans people, they are less set in there ways.

in addition to that it was not till very recently that even medical programs started having classes on LGBT patients and how to deal with transgender people. Its very possible most of the younger nurses had courses when in school on the proper way to treat trans people whail the senior nurse and doctors who have been out for longer and who have less of there schooling dedicated to patient interaction may not have had those classes or rather may have had a one day 2 hour cram class they where required to go to rather than something more substantial.

Not really excusing there behavior just trying to explain why people react the way they do.

Serena

I am in no way attempting to excuse any actual bad behavior.  I am also not dismissing your perception of how you were treated.  However, is it possible that there were actual medical procedure reasons for the Dr. to know your status?  Perhaps, after experiencing lawsuits, male Drs. are required to have a female nurse in the room while treating women.  You perceive yourself as male, but by the Dr. as genetic female.  The Dr. is following hospital procedure correctly, while you see it as an affront.  All I am trying to say is that just maybe no malicious intent was intended, just good care that tried to make everyone as comfortable as possible. 

I had eye surgery last week.  While I do not present (currently) as female in public, I have been on HRT for a decade and have B breasts that remain hidden under loose shirts and a very butch attitude.  I listed my HRT on my Dr. intake sheets because it is actually a major cause of cataracts, the reason for the surgery. Things went fine until the anesthesiologist remove the heart monitor leads.  I think the "girls" surprised him and he reacted just a bit.  Not is disgust, just surprise.  I wonder if he was concerned that he had somehow "violated" me and would have had a female assistant do it had he known?  For everyone's comfort level, not as a social or religious statement.  I know what true discrimination looks and feels like, and this wasn't it.  We will always, in the foreseeable future have moments of social awkwardness.  I like to operate under a "no harm-no foul system and save my outrage for those who are truly trying to make a social or religious comment comment or point.
   

Last time I had to go to hospital because of my Woolworths liver I had this pratt of a doctor get stuck into me because he thought I was lying when I said I didn't do drugs.  Then when he was reaching under my hospital gown to examine me he accidentally put his hand on my right breast.  Well he leapt back like he'd just received an electric shock and despite feeling pretty darn sick and miserable it was all I could do not to laugh aloud at him.

I'd just be aware of the potential problem of them not being aware at all times when dealing with anything medical, and if you don't want to speak directly about it just ask them "you are aware of my medical records/medical history, yes?" It is important they know so they do not misdiagnose you for something if it happens to have implications for our 'hybrid' biology.

As a trans lady who works in a teaching hospital every day and walks all over picking up discharge paper work I can tell you that we have the full gamut of people working here. Some people that have watched me transition will only ever see that "guy" who used to have a beard half way down "his" chest and not the b cup breasts that are clearly there.  Others have noticed and care about not only not offending me but that I be comfortable in my skin and interacting with them and are super great and wonderful. Some... well some are polite and I think it's cause I work here.  The medical field at least in the US is scrambling to re-write their policies and re-train their people. My own facility has made efforts to include preferred name and pronouns in the EMR for people like myself that have not gotten official changes (and may not be able to... stupid surgery) but now all of my Drs see in there that they should call my Gwyn or Ms. ____ and she/her. They try. They aren't always successful because they do have to keep my anatomy in mind and that will cause them to trip up.
Anyway summary is that the medical industry is mostly trying to learn to be more accommodating of the LGBT community and more friendly towards us and our needs but it will take time. Just be the best advocate that you can. Don't put up with guff and speak up when something is wrong. Maybe not right at the time but write a letter to administration. They will care and they will do something about it if there is something to be done.

I haven't been to hospital for years, so I have no experiences there, but I've noticed that older doctor's assistants, nurses and pharmacists tend to have problems figuring out my situations due to discrepancy between legal gender and my name/appearance. I found the following conversations especially entertaining, though also a bit frustrating:

At the GP's office, going to turn in a urine sample my doctor requisitioned for me around a week before:

Me: *Hands over the requisition* "Hey, I'm here to take a urine test, here's the requisition."
Doctor's assistant: "Oh... hm... we close in just thirty minutes."
Me: "Yes, but peeing doesn't take thirty minutes."
DA: "Hm... let me see..."
DA: *Spends two minutes looking from me to the requisition to the computer monitor repeatedly*
DA: "Hm... but girls are supposed to take this test intravaginally, not as a urine sample!"
Me: "Oh, but you see, I have a penis, so sadly I have to take a urine sample nevertheless."
DA: "Oh." *Thinks very hard for a minute*
DA: "You see, I wondered a bit, the Person ID number on the requisition is male. Does this mean the doctor didn't fill in the wrong ID number?"
Me: "Yep, sadly I won't get that changed until next year probably."
DA: "Oh! Well, you can just take the urine sample then!"

In pharmacies where I live, which is a bigger city with many trans people, most pharmacists are good at figuring out discrepancies. But recently I went to a small-town pharmacy while visiting my sister, and had the following conversation:

Me: "Hey, here's my ID, I'd like to have my prescriptions for [medications] filled."
Pharmacist: "Okay, checking your prescriptions now." (They're issued electronically)
P: *Looking from me to my ID etc again, for minutes.*
P: "Hm... This must be wrong. The names on your ID and in our system are different!
Me: "Ah. You see, I changed my name earlier this year, and apparently in some pharmacies it doesn't auto-update from the census registry."
P: "Yes, but... this must be wrong..."
Me: "Well, if it begins with a [letter] and ends with a [letter], it was my old name. I also changed my last name, the old one was [old last name]."
P: "But... it says [old first name]!"
Me: *cringe* "Yes, that was it."
P: "Oh. I thought your driver's license had got the person ID number mixed up."

Then she spent fifteen minutes trying to change my name in the system, didn't figure it out, asked if it would be okay to have my old name on the medicine labels just this time, and I told her that I'd rather go to another pharmacy if that was the only alternative. In the end, a younger pharmacist chimed in and told her that the name would update when she printed the labels, which turned out to be correct. So at least now I know that if I ever go to another pharmacy in the same chain, I can tell them what to do if they don't already know.

At least these situations are kind of innocent and entertaining (although frustrating since I get tired of spoon-feeding my history to clueless people), and I can only remember being misgendered in a health facility once, by a pharmacist. Other than that, most of the time people figure out the situation themselves, don't give it much attention and are very appropriate and respectful. I think the other posters are right though, that there is a difference between age groups and how much they have been taught about LGBT people in their education. But many of the older health workers also seem to be knowledgeable and respectful, but then they may have had additional courses (I'd think some institutions/employers focus on LGBT awareness and make sure their employees have sufficient knowledge), or personal knowledge through friends, family or simply interest.

I've had no problems at my medical providers but they are my primary care and HRT. I hope I don't have to go to hossy pre op but if I do I guess I have to disclose.

I've experienced many problems in regards to healthcare. My original primary became extremely awkward after I came out, the next doctor (whom my mom specifically talked to about taking me on), constantly misgendered me, refused to give me a physical exam unless necessary (her extracts words were "I will consider it"), and then she misgendered me to the nurse afterwards appointment as well. There was more, but basically I left in tears, it sucked.

One thing I REALLY hate about being transgender is going to the doctor for a completely UNRELATED issue, and having them constantly question and suggest that my hormone replacement therapy is the underlying cause.

Quote from: in.Chains on December 18, 2015, 04:02:23 PM
One thing I REALLY hate about being transgender is going to the doctor for a completely UNRELATED issue, and having them constantly question and suggest that my hormone replacement therapy is the underlying cause.

Unfortunately this is very common with doctors that are un-educated with HRT. I've found the having a Primary Care Physician that is an Internal Medicine Doctor lessons the chance of this happening. They seem to be more knowledgable with HRT than most endocrinologists.

I sorta had the opposite, recently I asked my doctor if my recently developed tooth sensitvity to cold could be connected to the hormones. When she replied to my email she said she wants to be honest that at first she was sure it couldent be connected then she talked to the head of the trans department who told her that developing sensitivites is actually not that uncommon.

I really like that my doctor just outright told me she was wrong but that given she was not sure she checked with the most experianced person she knows, makes me feel like she really is on my side, which I know she is I love that woman.

but i havent dealt with regular hospital or doctors yet.

Serena