For many, a visit to the doctor’s office can be scary. For transgender people, especially in rural regions like our own, this is especially true.
A new study out of ETSU, titled “TransACCESS: Transgender Access to Comprehensive Care Experiences Study in South Central Appalachia,” will aim to look at the quality of care transgender people in our area receive in order to combat discrimination and educate healthcare providers on how to better serve transgender patients.
There are many barriers to receiving transition-related care, such as hormone replacement therapy. Often, trans people have to travel far and wide to receive this medical care.
“We have patients from our area who have been going to Asheville or Knoxville for care for years because they have been unable to find affirming care here,” Dr. Abbey Mann, head of the TransACCESS project said.
A report from the National LGBTQ Task Force found that nearly 1 in 5 transgender patients were outright denied care because of their gender identity.
Transitioning can introduce a number of additional problems that require medical guidance, without which many are exposed to higher risks of blood clots, high blood pressure, liver disease and more, according to Planned Parenthood. Healthcare providers are often not informed on how transgender patients’ bodies function, with half of respondents to the Task Force study reporting they have had to teach their medical providers about transgender care.
If providers have to rely on trans people to explain their bodies to them, they are likely unable to provide the proper care trans people need. It should not be the responsibility of patients to explain their anatomy and very existence to the experts whose help they seek.
In the medical field, caring for people with bodies that do not ascribe to the gender binary is simply a reality. Rather than condemning transgender people for falling outside of the categories we have constructed, doctors need to educate themselves to be attuned to the needs of their patients.
Living as a transgender person in our world is difficult enough. We should work to end the structural oppression in our healthcare system to make their lives easier. We need to respect the bodily autonomy of marginalized people. Their livelihood depends on it.
