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'.

Seriously? You skipped 22 pages to write that?

And the hospital is not permitted to discriminate against a patient on the grounds of (among other things) religion or belief. Therefore while they aren't obliged to go out of their way to fulfil their patient's needs (so if they've got a practical reason that it can't be done, then that's fine), they can't just refuse treatment because of those beliefs.

Just like I couldn't say to a TRA "we don't serve your kind here" because that would be discriminating against them on the grounds of their beliefs. However I could refuse to serve a male person on the grounds that they were male - in certain circumstances, that is allowed.

It seems that this hospital , like most hospitals, can provide female only care in practice for short stays and has done.

They would have been very foolish to guarantee it, in writing within one day notice without a full risk assessment and contingency plan and new legal contacts drawn up in response to a solicitors letter.

I can see that her care requests were understandable but just impossible to guarantee . Lots of experienced HCPs here have explained why . Shame they got shouted down , as provided very good information in general. Stuff that a lot of readers would benefit from knowing, the practicalities of care, what requests can be met, what can’t, what Annexe B means etc.

However in the specifics of this case the reply from the CEO was despicable. The brazen confidence to comment on her values and reject them was shocking. Beyond shocking. Believe they would have postponed the operation for anyone else wanting the same care stipulations ,pending meeting to risk asses, get legal advice and offer compromise etc but I bet a million they wouldn’t have had the absolute cheek to put in writing a criticism of their values. I bet all the millions they wouldn’t. TRAs have so much power to influence policy and procedures is mind blowing. The CEO thought her email was not just acceptable but would prevent HCA being sued!! No one should listen to TRA people , they will bring your organization down.

RIDICULOUS

RIDICULOUS

What a well thought out and coherent rebuttal, well done you.

Yes they can but why will almost nowhere do it? Theres a huge market for guaranteed female only care, if I had the money I’d definitely pay for it.

So many women of all ages and faiths request it all the time, every day and night, inpatient and in community that the NHS are certainly aware it is wanted. Why are they scared of making it an occupational requirement in certain departments?

Why are they scared of making it an occupational requirement in certain departments?

Because they have been told by lobby groups that it's discriminatory.

'stonewall law'.

And immediately we're into the grounds of

if a male employee is willing to fight for the right to intimately touch and care for female patients - even with full awareness that many females will not want this and that it is not in their best interests or compatible with access or patient centred care?

Their motives are not good. We're just into the scale of how not good - a scale that runs from 'I want what I want and don't care about females' to the kind of delightful medic publicised today for using his access to vulnerable females to orally rape them during their operations. There isn't a 'nice' end to the scale of 'I want to use vulnerable females for my own agenda', there is nothing nice or good about it.

Who was the TW a very long time ago now, who fought through the courts at the start of all this for the right to counsel female rape victims regardless of whether or not the female rape victims wanted this? Why might a male person really, really want to sit in a room listening to a very vulnerable female explaining her rape in detail?

Time to be a lot, lot less innocent about this. The failure to face up to the realities is no longer 'nice', or 'non judgemental', it is reaching the point of actively enabling those realities to happen.

Who was the TW a very long time ago now, who fought through the courts at the start of all this for the right to counsel female rape victims regardless of whether or not the female rape victims wanted this? Why might a male person really, really want to sit in a room listening to a very vulnerable female explaining her rape in detail?

Kimberly Nixon v Vancouver Rape Relief.

Yes, to insist on imposing himself into a situation where it could only cause harm, despite supposedly being there to help abused women is absolutely mind-blowing!

Time and time again, men with gender dysphoria seem determined to inveigle themselves into women's spaces. They want to force women to pander to them, despite (or maybe because of) the distress and harm it causes those women.
This is the very dark reality of male narcissism and in many cases, autogynaephilia.
They are not content to dress as women, they have to confront women and defeat them.

Strong words, I'm afraid.
While I have great compassion for anyone suffering from the emotional pain of gender dysphoria, we can't allow another aspect of male privilege to cause real harm to women like this.

Would a service dealing with victims of racist violence allow support workers in blackface?!

A development has been announced on twitter.

twitter.com/CF_Farrow/status/1584152399706730496

Caroline Farrow says HCA have agreed to operate on the patient in a different hospital with a Da Vinci robot. Good.

I hope she still sues.

It's great news for that poor woman who needs urgent non politicised medical care and whose health must have been massively impacted by the stress...

But we can't have a petition and fight for every single woman needing health care on a case by case basis. What is going to change for the half the UK population who are female?

This is a massive problem. There are many, many, many more of us needing access to single sex care than there are male people needing to exercise their right to invade women's boundaries as part of their job. Perhaps the female MPs who are doing nothing about this and so presumably are ok with this would donate their time and bodies to meet this need during their paid hours if they think it so important to support?

Oh thats a relief

and i agree…i hope she sues

I'm really glad she is getting the treatment she needs.

Let's hope she gets well, gets strong and sues them for all they are worth.

The patient can sue all she wants. There’s absolutely no obligation on hospitals to guarantee all female care.

However, there is an obligation for hospitals not to discriminate against patients on the basis of beliefs. Keep up!

Okay:

"Hi, I'm very religious so I want to be treated only by female staff."
"We can try our best but due to staffing we can't guarantee it. If you need a guarantee of female-only treatment then I'm afraid we can't go ahead because that's not possible to promise."

Not okay:

"Hi, I'm very religious so I want to be treated only by female staff."
"We don't share your values so we're cancelling your treatment "

The reason given for the cancellation was not the request per se, but the belief behind the request, a belief which has been demonstrated to be legally protected in the same way being religious is protected. That is, organisations aren't allowed to point at that belief and use it as the reason for unfavourable treatment.

Yes, you definitely are.

I agree that a petition/campaign is a less than ideal solution and it is outrageous that this was needed.

However this should make HCA or any organisation think twice before treating another patient in a similar fashion.

Teresa’s requests were both lawful and reasonable and no woman should have to justify her reason for wanting single-sex intimate nursing care.

The Princess Grace still need to be held accountable by the CQC.

Anyone else finding that the quality of the TRAs we're getting is depreciating rapidly? There's no satisfaction in out-debating one so hopeless.

It’s half term… maybe they have to help their mum clean out the garage.

The patient can sue all she wants. There’s absolutely no obligation on hospitals to guarantee all female care

Is this a fact? That sounds like a serious threat to the healthcare of women from some very strict religions.

Well, that then sounds like a challenge is needed.

Because in this time where there is such a high % of sexual abuse survivors, maybe it is time for hospitals to actually centre the needs of females.

This has certainly highlighted to many women that I know who were unaware of the issues that all those people declaring that people can already decline care from someone they are not comfortable with are speaking empty platitudes.

I am sorry that this woman has had to go through this to highlight the issues, but now there is no going back to those empty meaningless phrases.

The patient can sue all she wants. There’s absolutely no obligation on hospitals to guarantee all female care

Then one is going to have be created under law.

If good will and inclusive/accessible values are no longer being extended to females then it will have to be compelled.

And if we're seriously talking about 'misgendering' becoming a 'hate crime' to protect male feelings, then this demand for female feelings is a whole lot more sensible and necessary isn't it?