Indiana Hospital Says No Transgender Patients Allowed

[Ian David]

Erin Vaught made a trip to the emergency room at Ball Memorial Hospital in Central Indiana on July 18th. She came in coughing up blood and was expecting treatment for a lung condition.

Instead of receiving appropriate medical treatment, Vaught was subject to ridiculing by hospital staff and was denied treatment, all because she’s transgender.

When Vaught signed in to the ER with her wife and son, she was entered into the hospital computer system as a male. When she pointed out that she has a female ID, people working at the hospital snickered at her instead of changing her gender in the computer system.

Next, she was taken to an exam room, where the transphobic behavior only got worse. A nurse asked her partner, “So is it a he or a she? Or a he-she?” Vaught was also referred to as “it” and a “transvestite.”

Unfortunately, the inappropriate remarks were not Vaught’s only complaint. After a two-hour wait, a doctor told Vaught that she couldn’t treat her due to her condition. When Vaught replied that she was at the hospital because she didn’t know the condition causing her to cough up blood, the doctor replied that she meant that she couldn’t treat her because of her transgender condition.

Want to ask the hospital why they treated this patient so badly, and what they plan on doing to make sure another LGBT patient doesn't get treated the same? Send Ball Memorial Hospital a message right now, letting them know that hospitals are there to provide for and treat all patients, regardless of their gender identity to sexual orientation.



More:
http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/indiana_hospital_says_no_transgender_patients_allowed

Demand Ball Memorial Hospital Stop Discriminating Against LGBT Patients http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/indiana_hospital_says_no_transgender_patients_allowed#

[Deep13]

1. That is appalling. nt

[roguevalley]

12. they need to lose all their federal funding.

[AspenRose]

2. THEY CAN'T DO THAT!!!!

Oh this pisses me off every which-way. What the hell is wrong with people?! :nuke:

PS-The Hospital's Facebook page is getting hit...HARD. In reading the comments this isn't the first time one of their employees has refused to treat someone.

[Ian David]

4. The ONLY possible reason I could think of is if it was a complication of transgender surgery...

... and they lacked the expertise on how to treat it.

But it was an emergency room.

They're supposed to stabilize you before they turn you out the door.

Which means, really, there was NO excuse not to treat her, even if it meant stabilizing her condition and sending her to another hospital that knows there way around transgender health issues.

It sounds like this was a case of, "We don't serve your kind here."

[LostinVA]

16. Where is there FB page? I can't find it

[sharp_stick]

3. Amazing, and infuriating

When going through med school we were taught that you need to treat everyone, not just the people you happen to like being around. I wonder how it would look if I refused to treat a fundie because they happened to be praying to their invisible sky wizard when I entered the room.

These assholes need to be drummed out of the profession.

[Ian David]

5. "Well, you've got your invisible sky god helping you. Guess you don't need ME. Out you go." n/t

[PanoramaIsland]

21. Damned right - the ER is no place for an ideological litmus test.

It don't matter if they're black, purple, green, Christian, Hare Krishna, Scientologist, a freaking neo-Nazi - you treat ALL comers. I'm transgender myself, and I throw up in my mouth a little every time I hear a story like this.

Unfortunately, these stories are all too common, and most trans people are too embarrassed and camera-shy to report these incidents to the appropriate authorities. It's not just insecurity, either - going public as a trans person dramatically raises one's risk of sudden "accidental" death. The trans icon and author of the classic Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg, was subjected to some pretty terrible stuff by heartless and transphobic medical professionals. Fortunately, ze lived to tell the tale.

[Jokerman]

6. Ball Memorial is adjacent to the Ball State campus in Muncie.

I was taken there once after an auto accident.

I wonder if the BSU gay/lesbian alliance has heard about this.

[One_Life_To_Give]

7. Beyond Sickening

She's a Human Being damnit.

[Warpy]

8. I dealt with transgender people occasionally in my career

and if other nurses were assholes about it, they weren't assholes around me. The worst I heard was of a pre op transgendered person referred to as a "shim," she-him, mild under the circumstances. Pre op transgender patients were assured of private rooms, but that's about it.

Perhaps because we're relatively close to Trinidad, one of the major centers for sexual reassignment surgery, there's a little more awareness.

Refusing to treat a patient who's coughing up blood for any reason at all is unconscionable. That hospital should have its accreditation reviewed very carefully and a few heads in ER should roll.

[LaurenG]

9. I hope she sues the socks off of them

Unbelievable that anyone in the ER would be concerned about her gender status when she presents with a complaint of coughing up blood. :cry:

[niyad]

10. is this bastion of hate and stupidity owned by the catholic church?

[Ian David]

11. Ball Memorial Hospital

Ball Memorial Hospital was founded in 1929 as both a teaching hospital and regional tertiary referral center for Muncie and Delaware County. Today, Ball Memorial Hospital serves as a destination health facility for the people of East Central Indiana, and is home to nearly 400 physicians and more than 45 medical specialties including a Cancer Center, Cardiology program, Total Joint and Spine Center, and specialized services for women and children.

The newly completed Ball Memorial Hospital South Tower and John W. Fisher Heart Center provides a warm, healing environment designed to enhance patient-centered nursing care with the latest technology close at hand. Robotic-assisted surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery, and an electrophysiology lab are just a few examples of the advanced medical technology available for the care of our patients.

Our Medical Education Center is the largest physician teaching program in the state outside of Indianapolis, and fosters an atmosphere of continual learning and advancement for our caregivers. Our nurses, staff and physicians are committed to providing the best patient experience possible through exceptional service and quality care. Ball Memorial Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations and has been awarded with more than 35 top national and international quality awards.



Content Modified on: 4/13/2010 10:12:27 AM

Clarian Health - Administration Offices

340 W. 10th St.
P.O. Box 1367
Indianapolis IN 46206
Ball Memorial Hospital

2401 University Ave.
Muncie, IN 47303

More:
http://www.clarian.org/portal/Clarian/contact

[LostinVA]

17. I just read it's the only hospital in Municie n/t

[Ian David]

18. Then that REALLY sucks because her options on where to go are very limited. n/t

[LostinVA]

20. And I think makes the denial of care even worse for MEDICAL reasons

[sui generis]

23. call the emergency services information number and ask

if what insurance they need, and will they see and treat transgender patients. Record it.

[LostinVA]

15. I bet good money a Catholic hospital would have treated her

Especially one run by Sisters.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

13. It's probably worth noting that the headline isn't actually true.

If you follow the link, you'll see that the story is actually that various hospital staff were appallingly rude to a transgender woman, one of the doctors allegedly refused to treat her because she was transgender*, and in response to pressure "Eventually, hospital president Michael E. Haley responded that the hospital is “committed to providing care with respect, dignity and courtesy” and specified that the policy would apply to transgender people."


*Having googled this, it looks to me as though the version of the story at the link is somewhat garbled, and what the doctor actually said was "we don't know how to treat what you have" - the complaint may be that they refered to being transgender as a condition requiring treatment, rather than that that was the reason they didn't treat her lung condition. It seems to be a bit of a game of Chinese whispers, though, and I've found several other sources suggesting that the reason the doctor demanded that she get test orders from her own doctor before treating her was that she was transgender. Either way, though, the headline is simply not true.

[PanoramaIsland]

22. Regardless, the reported mistreatment is terrible, and something must be done about it. n/t

[ShadowLiberal]

14. That's big time illegal, hospitals must treat ALL patients who come, even those who can't pay for it

The only way a hospital can say no to treating you is if you come in needing treatment for say cancer, when they don't have any doctors trained to treat it. If that happens then they're to refer to another hospital that can treat you, or transfer you there themselves.

[Ian David]

19. And they still have to stabilize your condition first. n/t