Hospital refuses to operate after woman requests all-female care

[Imnobody4]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11316141/Hospital-bans-sex-assault-victim-op-female-care-request.html

I feel quite sick at this.

She was stunned then to receive an email from the hospital's chief executive Maxine Estop Green telling her the operation was off.

She told her the hospital 'did not share her beliefs' and she should make alternative arrangements for her surgery.

The message added the hospital was committed to protecting staff from what it described as 'unacceptable distress'.

Emma urged them to reconsider, adding in a further message she thought they had misunderstood her requests, which she said were entirely within the law.

The hospital said it would offer a private room but would NOT facilitate her requests for single-sex care after her operation.

It also mentioned her comment about pronouns and said it had a responsibility to protect staff from 'discrimination and harassment'.

I just came to see if there was a thread about this. How horrifying. I literally can't think of any other words right now. The world has gone mad.

Sickeningly bullying behaviour by the hospital. I wouldn’t feel safe somewhere with that attitude to patients no matter what sex the nursing staff are.

She would have been in a vulnerable position after the operation, she absolutely should have the right to single sex care.The hospital should have been able to facilitate this.

I'm quite close to tears about this. It's the utter callousness and from another woman.

They would rather women die than hurt a mans feelings. The man who barged in on her intimate procedure should be hauled over the coals not pandered to. Women's rights and basic safeguarding is being ripped up so men can have more rights and privileges.

It sounds like they messed with the wrong woman. Thank you to Emma the feminist retired lawyer for standing up for herself and other women, and bringing this to the press.

I’m glad this kind of egregious treatment of women is being spotlighted. I hope heads will eventually roll, in particular the CEO and the inappropriate bewigged one, and this hospital will have to improve their care of female patients. Women deserve better.

So much for 'you can always reject any health care professional's services'.

Doesn't seem to work in reality, does it?

If there’s going to be a garden, I’m in

This is horrifying. She had a week of ICU booked - presumably she was expected to be totally dependent on 24/7 1:1 care for most of that time.

I can think of no circumstance more vulnerable than ICU, you can’t get up from the bed and get away from someone, you can’t fight them off, if you are ventilated you can make a noise - yet much of the time you aren’t completely asleep and are aware of people in the room and the intimate care they give. It’s like being a newborn, as it’s standard for patients to be naked, covered only with a sheet & blanket. Toileting is via nappy and catheter, your nurse brushes your teeth.

PTSD type symptoms from ICU isn’t uncommon (often called ‘post intensive care syndrome) and for a patient who already suffers anxiety related to past trauma, being able to trust her care givers is crucial.

I’m so angry on her behalf. It’s not as if there are masses of male nurses to avoid anyway, in such a female dominated profession it should be relatively simple to assign a female nurse and ensure her breaks are covered by another female nurse (bearing in mind that an ICU nurse will only have one patient to look after per shift anyway. When my DD was in intensive care the nurses coming on shift would routinely switch their allocations around to try and give every family as much continuity of care as humanly possible, and that was NHS)

It's a truly horrifying thing to happen and I can't see how anyone can defend the hospital's actions. Makes my blood run cold to think about it.

I wonder if this is one of Billy Bragg's examples of free speech having consequences. The consequence being that a hospital can let you die because you have the wrong opinions.

Vote Labour and you'll get a lot more of this, enshrined in law.

All this.

the part that keeps nagging me is… was she actually up in stirrups when the man in a wig* opened the door and made eye contact with her? It reads that way. If she was sitting on a chair fully clothed, that’s still really disturbing and weird, but if it’s the other thing he should be sacked straight away and an apology issued from the hospital, along with a commitment to never treat another woman like they’ve treated her. That is absolute horror show material. At least she wasn’t put in the nightmare scenario of receiving intimate care from someone who’d do that, but presumably many other women are.

*note to MN: there is no evidence of the man’s gender identity or preferred pronouns

There is a long thread on Twitter with screenshots of all the correspondence: threadreaderapp.com/thread/1582761032686051329.html

It's actually really frightened me that women can be denied urgent medical care if we ask for all female post op care.

On my surgical ward NHS we have female & male nurses & HCAs but we always allow patients to have all female care if that's what they prefer.

And yet, if this thread were to be put in Chat or AIBU, lots of women would say she should be grateful for whatever care she was offered and it's her own fault her treatment was cancelled.
I sometimes think women can be their own worst enemies and they don't even realise it.

I hope it does go to Chat/AIBU, despite the inevitable twattery.

Yes, I would love to see this in AIBU. I daresay it would open many eyes.

It also mentioned her comment about pronouns and said it had a responsibility to protect staff from 'discrimination and harassment'.

Don't they also have a responsibility to protect patients from discrimination and harassment?

To hospitals exist to treat patients or to validate staff with gender identities?

Jesus, I hope she sues them for indirect discrimination.

Of course they can provide a bloody woman.

i'd be willing to bet that they are too scared to put it in writing, though. They are being held to ransom.

This has to stop.

I can remember Tony Blair exclaiming is it really beyond wit of this government and health administrators to provide single six wards?

The point being that he, and everybody else in the bloody country, found it not just acceptable, but desirable, to have them.

Not shit scared of even discussing the prospect.

it's ridiculous. It's a completely normal request, that almost all women would want to make.

Why do they think chaperones were introduced???

Nasty, cowardly misogynists. I hope she wipes the floor with them.

It's even worse than I thought!

Well that's them banged to rights then. Not using preferred pronouns is part of the gender critical belief. They cannot discriminate against her on that basis.

We know the Princess Grace is a very expensive private hospital and not part of the NHS, don't we?

I rarely venture into these parts but I couldn't help but read this thread.

Im sure there's truth in it but honestly, why use the Daily Mail as your source of knowledge, they'll always blow something like this out of proportion.

Today I attended a hospital to have a scan due to finding a lump in my groin. When I was shown into the room where the (male) registrar was going to do the ultrasound scan, there was a group of (male) interns who were clearly going to join and watch the procedure. I stated to the (female) medic that I wasn't comfortable at all, given the nature of where the scan was, and without further ado, all interns were ushered out and I was left with the female medic and the male registrar performing the scan. They couldn't have been more responsive apologetic and understanding about my discomfort and totally got my point.

This is the real world. Hospitals up and down the country are doing fantastic work, conducting medical procedures and preserving the dignity of patients, yet it takes the Daily Mail to blow up 1 case and make it headlines. I feel strongly there needs to be balance and fairness.