That's right! Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Indiana, (the birthplace of Knights of the Dinner Table and HackMaster -- a geek mecca) refused to treat Erin Vaught (who is legally female) who came to the ER with her wife and child to find out why she was coughing up blood!
http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/indiana_hospital_says_no_transgender_patients_allowed
They entered her as male, made fun of her, called her "it" and "he-she" -- before the doc said she couldn't treat her because she's transgender.
It is illegal in the United States for an ER to refuse to treat anyone.
Comments
Outrageous
...almost makes you wonder if they have separate water fountains. Shocking that this can happen in this day and age. Thanks for posting this.
Con grande amore e di affetto, Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
I've heard of this before,
and worried about it when I started my transition. Thankfully, the people I've dealt with at the Kaiser hospitals I've visited since then have always been great about it. None of them have ever given the slightest impression of it being an issue at all. I wish all hospitals were like that.
Saless
"But it is also tradition that times *must* and always do change, my friend." - Eddie Murphy, Coming To America
I told mah baybee
And yet, 90% of the time here, I've gone out without ANY makeup and still been treated by anyone I've seen, adult and child, stranger and friend, as a woman. No questions. Even if I'm dressed in unisex clothes, even if they don't hear me speak or my name... It's wonderful.
As to the, it's a paraphrasing of a quote from the Jim Caviezel version of The Count of Monte Cristo and further explanation that the general opinion for the U.S. is not good.
Anyway, much better here and after I saw this story it frightened me. Though, it being a Geek Mecca in Muncie, my first thoughts were that Geeks... are an open-minded lot. They shall descend upon this place as three-year old children descend upon the last cookie in the jar!
Edeyn Hannah Blackeney
You are frightening me!
So, here I am moving to Ohio. Gasp, I hope the local VA hospital is OK with me?
Gwen
Such a contrast
Last november I dislocated my knee - badly and repeatedly and with added ligament-tearage. Anyway, from the moment the ambulance crew arrived I was treated with perfect respect by all I encountered in the NHS - admitted to a female-only ward, and no-one even thought the subject worth raising until later at night when, the awful realisation dawning that I was about to lose my bedpan virginity, and being pre-op, I thought I'd better just make sure the nurse didn't get a nasty surprise, and not a flicker out of her that this was any kind of problem. And I don't believe I'm so perfectly passable - especially in such extremis - that no-one in all that time would have noticed. It just Was Not Relevant until that aforementioned moment. And not since either (am still attending physio).
Mmm, socialised healthcare, dontcha love it? :-P
Not unique
Oh yeah, and not a flash in the pan either; as the first hospital discharged me after one overnight, and my Dad came and took me to stay at their house in a different part of the country, but while there the knee went again (while in the brace intended to prevent it) and I had to go to the local hospital there too. And the same again: Just no issue. And this time it was a provincial-town hospital rather than a big teaching hospital in a cosmo city...
It's one of the things
I love about working in a hospital here in Canada. In our ER there's this sign one of the now late doctors had made and put up that says it all. It's meant for both the staff and for the patients. It reads "Everyone is human." It's one of the things I love about the place.
Bailey Summers
This Is Awful!
What in the H... is the matter with these people? I wonder if this attitude is rampant throughout the organization. Someone needs to bring a major lawsuit against these mysogynists.
Portia
Portia
Here in Indiana
Which is where I live, and Muncie is not alll that far away. Some hospitals do not have a functioning emergency room. If you are a registered patient, they can take you in, but they have to call for doctors and techs and other staff. This has to be advertised as such. If they have a functioning emergency room, and it sounds like they did, they have to provide service to you, even if you have no insurance. But all they have to do is treat life threatening problems, and make you comfortable, even if they then have to transport you to a service that provides free treatments, or will accept patients that do not have insurance. It surprises me that the person was treated like this, as, outside of Ball Corp (canning jars etc), there is Ball State University there, and not a whole lot more. It has to be the small town mentality causing the problems (rednecks etc), but you woulkd think that with the college there, the people would be somewhat enlightened and even if they feel that way, they should keep their mouths shut and their opinions to themselves and not allow personal feelings to interfere, especially when it is the medical field. I am not excusing them, or standing up for them or anything else. They seem to be pretty much animals that need to be sued big time for discrimination, and many other charges. Where's the Civil Liberties Union when you finally actually need them?
Hospital-ity
In my admittedly rare experiences, I have found that most people really do not know
what 'Trans-gendered' means. Even in this community, right here and now, I'm sure we
could have a hell of a 'discussion' regarding the merits of the various terms. And...
that's okay, because deep down, we know it's more or less different for every one of
us.
Realistically, you can't blame the people who have so little knowledge of the issues
involved, for not knowing what most of this means, when even the people who have these
issues struggle to hard to discover just exactly who and (if you'll all forgive me)
'what' they are.
Saddest of all, though, This is so much more a lack of simple humanity and courtesy
than it ever was a gay lesbian bisexual or trans gender issue. I've always realized
how quickly a group of one-legged gay communist juggling mimes will gladly risk their
very lives to cross four lanes of oncoming traffic just to make fun of what they believe
is a 'boy' in a dress.
What scares me the most, though, is how easily such a small thing can cause what are
supposed to be conscientious, well-educated and trained, humanely motivated professionals
to turn into completely worthless animals.
As for the actual circumstances: they risked that woman's life. If there are no
Criminal charges, then they should all have their licenses revoked, and be sued into
a pizza delivery opportunity.
My Thanks and love, Edeyn, for bringing this to our attention. Still wish I had missed
it.
Sarah Lynn
Doctors and Nurses Have No Excuse
Doctors and nurses have no excuse for this kind of behavior, because medical schools and Nursing Schools cover these issues in their training. I am a Certified Nursing Assistant and we had an entire chapter on Transgendered patients and what the definitions are. We were told that one of the most important parts of our job was treating every patient with dignity and respect. There was no place for being judgmental.
I work part time for the NHS
I went on a day course on difference and diversity - they take it very seriously, as they should. On the occasion when I was an inpatient for a back op, I did mention it to the junior doctor, when he asked my medical history, that I'd had SRS and he didn't bat an eyelid. For most medical/nursing/allied professions it isn't an issue unless the patient becomes abusive and those are usually drunks or druggies.
Angharad
PS Hope the knee gets better soon Rachel
Angharad
Good God,
ALISON
'whatever happened to the Hippocratic Oath ?????????????????????
People like that should not be in the medical profession.
ALISON
Hypocritic Oaf
The Hypocritic Oaf!
He is, of course, dreaming. However, the Hypocritic Oaf informs him that he as a doctor had sworn, "First, do no harm..." and by harming himself by not listening to his doctor, he had turned his Hippocratic Oath into the Hypocritic Oaf he sees before him now.
Too many doctors these days have rendered their own oaths to Hippocrates thus.
Edeyn Hannah Blackeney
Must admit
I find this almost unbelievable, but I do. Having had occasion over that last year or two to visit, observe and deal with 3 major hospitals and dozens of doctors, associates, nurses and other staff I never saw anything like that. Sure the odd questioning look or maybe mild disapproval, curiosity even, but never anything like that. The vast majority of the people in all of those hospitals were wonderful and I wasn't the patient. With a few exceptions I have nothing but respect for them and the exceptions had nothing to do with who I was.
Not sure how I'd deal with a situation like in the article, hurt, a pinch of fear and a simmering anger I suspect, that is not a place I would like to be in that's for sure. I really hope that Hospital gets a good shake at the very least. Maybe 'Baileys' sign in flashing Neon in the staff caff' for a start.
Kristina
These People Have A Lawsuit In Their Future
These people have a lawsuit in their future. I hope that she sues the hospital, the doctor who refused to treat and their nurses. They violated their oath as doctors and nurses as well as their own hospital policy. Her money is just the same as anyone else's. Most of the hospitals now are owned by big conglomerates and this small minded bunch of bigots are going to cost them dearly in money and bad press.
There is a tort lawyer
in Daingerfield, Tx (a small town of about 2500). Incredibly he is one of the most successful tort lawyers in the country, often exacting huge settlements from individuals and corporations for ridiculous claims. His name is Harold Nix, and his law firm is Harold Nix Associates.
He's got to be pushing 80 now, but the last time I drove through the town his law practice appeared to be alive and well. Someone should put this lady in touch with them. With a real case like this, Nix or one of his clones could reduce the whole town to ruin.
Just don't tell her where the advice came from.
Hugs
Carla Ann