Trans Broken Arm Syndrome

While I’m on the subject of healthcare, this piece by David Oliver for USA Today is very good.

Ever broken a bone? You know your first thought: “Ouch!”

But what if said health care worker was too busy asking about your gender identity instead of focusing on mending your broken bone? Sure, it’s important to record and review medical history, but why would questions about hormone therapy or gender reassignment surgery be relevant in that case?

The entire UK healthcare system for trans people is based on this.

If you’re a cisgender woman who thinks she needs hormone therapy, the steps are:

  • Go to your GP
  • Get a prescription
  • Get monitored by your GP

If you’re trans:

  • Go to your GP (if you’re in Scotland you can skip this step)
  • Get referred to the gender clinic
  • Wait two to five years depending on where you live
  • Undergo multiple assessments to prove you’re not insane
  • Get your prescription approved
  • Wait four months for it to get typed up
  • Get monitored by the gender clinic for two years

Same medicine, same monitoring. But the turnaround for a cisgender woman is a couple of days; for a trans woman, many years.


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