Hospitals and medical staff are beginning to understand the
importance of certain special concerns in treating the LGBT community. This
group has special needs and sensitivity issues that may need to be addressed.
In fact, I believe that it is a serious mistake to group together
the lesbian, gay and bisexual community with the transgender community –
specifically transsexual. No, I am not transgender and I don’t even have family
who are (not that I am aware of) but I study this topic, talk to people who
are, and have been at the bedside as a patient safety advocate for people who
are transgender.
The medical needs of the transgender community, in my non-medical
opinion, are very different from those of the LGB community. Who you love — as in being L, G or B — is
different from who you are. Just as
important, is how transgender people see themselves. A lesbian may be very
accepting of her body and may not cringe at the thought of exposing it.
A
transgender person, on the other hand, may have been ashamed their entire life
of their body parts. Taking testosterone or hormones may have changed a
transgender person’s body dramatically but without surgery; this can be
surprising and confusing to healthcare workers who have not been taught about
transsexuals and the stages in their transitions.
A woman who needs a prostate exam, or a pregnant man, should not
be cause for alarm or even curiosity. This is not part of the lesbian and gay
society. Many transgender people started off as gay or lesbian and some have
become gay or lesbian. But that’s not always the case: as one friend explained
to me, he is just a straight man now – almost.
Ilene Corina is the
President of PULSE of NY, a community based patient safety organization and a
patient safety consultant. She received a scholarship with the NPSF / AHA
Patient Safety Leadership training where she studies patient safety in diverse
populations on Long Island. One group she has worked with is the transgender
community.
