Doctor, Doctor
Despite gains in society, gays and lesbians still face challenges receiving equal treatment in health care
via Metro Weekly, by Sean Bugg
Back in the very early 1990s, not long after college and in the depths of my great post-collegiate career crisis — fancy speak for ''educated and unemployed'' — I found myself without health insurance. This seemed no big deal for a young, healthy, adult male.
Then my wisdom tooth decided to make a move, becoming impacted, painful and in desperate need of removal. After many calls to dentists' offices to no avail, a friend told me to call a local dental school where in exchange for being a student's lesson I could have the tooth removed for $50.
No health insurance meaning no choice, that's what I did.
I got a Novocain injection — you need insurance to get the good stuff — and an explanation that my deeply rooted tooth would need to be cut apart in my jaw in order to be taken out.
It was about the time that I began flailing my arms wildly and choking out guttural screams from my wedged-open mouth — causing the student to remove his little power saw and the supervising dentist to ask, ''Are you feeling something?'' — that I formed some particularly strong ideas about our nation's health care system.
Now, it may not be entirely fair to base my opinions on health care reform solely on a painful, uninsured medical experience. But, even as brief as the time was, living without health insurance and suddenly needing it is rather enlightening.
The same goes for being openly gay and getting health care.
I've had a doctor go chilly on me when I mentioned my orientation. I've had friends who've experienced the same. I had a friend, since passed, who ended up in the farthest ends of the hospital ward with a big biohazard sign stuck to the door of his room.
I've watched as HIV-prevention science ignored sex between men, focusing studies on the efficacy of microbicides solely on vaginal use. I've seen condoms for receptive sexual partners instantly branded ''female condoms,'' and nearly 20 years pass before they became an openly used part of HIV prevention for gay men. I've listened as lesbian friends tell of their own unease dealing with physicians who essentially treat them as embryo-delivery systems rather than women in need of specific care and treatment based on their individual lives.
When Leslie Calman, executive director of the Mautner Project, says that lesbians and gay men are ''truly invisible in much of the research system,'' she's not exaggerating. (See interview, p. 24.) In many very real, very damaging ways, we simply do not count.
While we're fortunate to live in an area with a significant supply of LGBT-friendly physicians — and, even better, many LGBT physicians and medical professionals — not everyone has the means to access them. Those are the sorts of gaps that Mautner, along with a number of other LGBT-focused health organizations, has worked to fill.
As I write this, the health care reform drama on Capitol Hill continues. If it passes, as I hope it does, it will be an important step in reconfiguring how our nation approaches health care. But, particularly for our own LGBT community, many steps remain. It's up to us to advocate for our equal treatment in research and care.
And it's up to those of us who have access to health care to demand treatment with respect, to help set the standard for others who may not be as ready or able to speak out for themselves.
Source
Your field guide to gay men's health. The blog is no longer active, but is still available to use as an information resource.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
select key words
2007 National HIV Prevention Conference
2009 National LGBTI Health Summit
2011 LGBTI Health Summit
2012 Gay Men's Health Summit
2012 International AIDS Conference
abstinence only
ACT Up
activism
advocacy
Africa
african-american
aging issues
AIDS
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
anal cancer
anal carcinoma
anal health
anal sex
andrew's anus
athlete
ball scene
bareback porn
barebacking
bathhouses
bears
big bold and beautiful
Bisexual
Bisexual Health Summit
bisexuality
black gay men
black msm
blood ban
blood donor
body image
bottom
Brian Mustanski
BUTT
Center on Halsted
Charles Stephens
Chicago
Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus
Chicago Task Force on LGBT Substance Use and Abuse
Chris Bartlett
chubby chaser
circumcision
civil rights
civil union
Coaching with Jake
communication
community organizing
condoms
Congress
crystal meth
dating
dating and mating with alan irgang
David Halperin
David Munar
depression
disclosure
discrimination
domestic violence
don't ask don't tell
douche
downlow
Dr. James Holsinger
Dr. Jesus Ramirez-Valles
Dr. Rafael Diaz
Dr. Ron Stall
drag queen
Ed Negron
emotional health
ENDA
Eric Rofes
exercise
Feast of Fun
Feel the love...
female condom
fitness
Friday is for Faeries
FTM
gay culture
gay identity
gay latino
gay male sex
gay marriage
gay men
gay men of color
gay men's health
Gay Men's Health Summit 2010
gay pride
gay rights
gay rugby
gay sex
gay youth
gender
harm reduction
hate crime
HCV
health care
health care reform
health insurance
hepatitis C
HIV
HIV care
HIV drugs
HIV negative
HIV positive
HIV prevention
HIV stigma
HIV strategic plan
HIV testing
hiv vaccine
HIV/AIDS
homophobia
homosexuality
hottie
hotties
how are you healthy?
Howard Brown Health Center
HPV
human rights
humor
hunk
Illinois
IML
immigration
International AIDS Conference
international mr. leather
internet
intimacy
IRMA
Jim Pickett
leather community
leathersex
Leon Liberman
LGBT
LGBT adoption
LGBT culture
LGBT health
LGBT rights
LGBT seniors
LGBT youth
LGBTI community
LGBTI culture
LGBTI health
LGBTI rights
LGBTI spirituality
LGV
LifeLube
LifeLube forum
LifeLube poll
LifeLube subscription
lifelube survey
Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano
love
lube
lubricant
Lymphogranuloma Venereum
masturbation
mental health
microbicides
middle
Monday Morning Perk-Up
MRSA
MSM
music
National AIDS Strategy
National Gay Men's Health Summit
negotiated safety
nutrition
One Fey's Tale
oral sex
Peter Pointers
physical health
Pistol Pete
pleasure
PnP
podcast
policy
politics
poppers
porn
post-exposure prophylaxis
PrEP
President Barack Obama
Presidential Campaign
prevention
Project CRYSP
prostate
prostate cancer
public health
public sex venues
queer identity
racism
Radical Faerie
recovery
rectal microbicides
relationships
religion
research
safe sex
semen
Senator Barack Obama
sero-adaptation
sero-sorting
seroguessing
sex
sexual abuse
sexual addiction
sexual health
sexual orientation
Sister Glo
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
smoking
social marketing
spirituality
STD
stigma
stonewall riots
substance abuse treatment
substance use
suicide
super-bug
superinfection
Susan Kingston
Swiss declaration
syphilis
Ted Kerr
Test Positive Aware Network
testicle self-examination
testicular cancer
testing
The "Work-In"
The 2009 Gay Men's Health Agenda
Tony Valenzuela
top
Trans and Intersex Association
trans group blog
Trans Gynecology Access Program
transgender
transgender day of remembrance
transgendered
transmen
transphobia
transsexual
Trevor Hoppe
universal health care
unsafe sex
vaccines
video
violence
viral load
Who's That Queer
Woof Wednesday
writers
yoga
You Tube
youtube
Hear, hear!! Well said!
ReplyDeleteTwo comments however: One, just because a health care provider is openly (or not) LGBT, does not necessarily mean they may be well informed about LGBT health issues. Hopefully they are, but we can't presume. Alot of straight docs are good about our health care issues. However probably more of them aren't! One thing is certain, is that you probably won't have to spend half of your visit explaining what you do in bed, or what you may be at risk for with a LGBT provider, or educating them about what they should already know!
2) It still amazes me that so many LGBT people do not feel comfortable disclosing their sexual orientation or gender identity status with their health care providers. It's not just about HIV/AIDS/STDs for the brothas, or breast, pelvic exams, and freedom from contraceptive lectures for the sistas. (Even though gay men may be at higher risk for HIV/STDs than their straight counterparts, and lesbians occasionally do end up as baby factories by choice or accident and with breast, ovarian, and cervical cancers.) Health care providers need to know about us so as to know how to approach certain constellations of complaints to provide the best possible service, and treat us effectively.
What do you think?
--Mark Behar, PA-C
mpbehar@wisc.edu