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'.

And the woman (a rape survivor) who had her request for a female examiner for her breast exam passed around the Hospital Trust as an example of 'transphobia'?

The hospital had to publicly apologise for that one (as mealy mouthed as it was).

That one was in the Times and the Brighton and Hove Reporter. Not the Daily Mail.

Twitter didn't write the letters.

I didn't realise the hospital in question is private, not NHS

You still can't discriminate against women if you're a private hospital.

We certainly know that the NHS will flat out lie about single sex wards -

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/03/17/hospital-told-police-patient-not-raped-alleged-attacker-transgender/

But you can cancel a procedure if you're unable to provide the service the patient demands.

Indeed. And you can be sued for discrimination if you tell somebody, in writing, that you are cancelling their operation because you don't share their legally protected beliefs.

I think it's important to remember this and that it is part of HCA Healthcare, a huge American company.

A professional nurse (male, female or transgender) would respect the wishes of a patient about their care. The health trust should be protecting and emphasising the professionalism of their nursing staff and doing their best to accommodate a request for single sex care.

What a mess we are in.

If you actually read the exchange of letters, it puts the situation in a rather different light. The woman demanded something the hospital were simply not able to provide to her (a fully private with ensuite ICU bed, which the hospital simply doesn't have available). Her life was not at risk. She sounds paranoid, obsessed and insane.

She comes across as knowledgeable about her rights to me but then I believe women have a right to single sex spaces.

The hospital could have replied that they were unable to provide single sex ICU care but that she would only be in there for x hours and during that time would not be using the toilet and that they would ensure nursing staff were all women.

This is regularly provided to devout Islamic and Jewish women who I'd imagine make up a considerable percentage of PGH's patients, given the hospital's location.

The hospital cancelled her operation not because of her request for single sex care but because of why she asked for it.

I'm a sexual assault survivor. That doesn't put someone above criticism. Or entitle them to have their every demand met even when it's logistically impossible to do so.

It's fine all you need to do is identify as trans....

Firstly, an en suite room is not usually a feature of any ICU, as the patient is too vulnerable to be able to make use of a bathroom or a toilet.
When the patient is well enough to use a bathroom they will be transferred to step down care.
Staff and visitor toilets on an ICU are usually located well-way from the bedside, to minimise infections via cross contamination.

This could be tactfully explained, no?

Secondly, paranoia is a well-recognised feature of post traumatic psychological disorders, so being ‘paranoid’ (according to your opinion) does not mean she isn’t also genuinely traumatised, and may well indicate the opposite.

And thirdly, a paranoid woman has the same right to a same sex HCP for intimate care as a non-paranoid woman does.

Im not sure why four different people are on this thread pointing out it’s a private hospital, or what they think the relevance of that is, but at this point you can safely assume everyone reading the thread knows this information.

Well it wouldn't be surprising if they weren't familiar with the maya Forstater case.

I expect that is being swiftly rectified.

I really n't understand why this would seem to be such a bizarre request? I work in female only space providing personal care - we recruit females only. Why is it any different in this scenario? Especially considering her personal experience with sexual violence.

And also because you can't provide them with the private en suite icu room they're demanding because you physically don't have any? Ultimately this is a case of a customer demanding a service the hospital couldn't provide, and the hospital said "Sorry, we can't provide that". The rest is Daily Mail outrage fluffing combined with a patient who was clearly primed to be paranoid and see scary transgenders everywhere.

Can I suggest you read the actual correspondence?

Exactly, Mischance. This isn't about the staff, it's about patient care. The patient was intruded upon by a male with no reason to be there when she had specifically asked to be treated with dignity and respect. It's not about male people's feelings of invalidation that women clock them as male.

It doesn't mean she isn't genuinely traumatized but it also doesn't mean that the hospital is obliged to indulge every aspect of that, or subject their staff to potential abuse because of that. Plenty of patients who abuse staff do so because of trauma or mental illness, doesn't make it okay.

But given the intimate nature of your scan, you shouldn't have had to ask, it should have been the default that they asked you if they could observe. That's how informed consent works.
I've been in positions where I wasn't in a fit state to object to being stared at by a room full of male students in postnatal but would have said no if I could. The hospital-ANY hospital-should understand that dignified, patient-centred care includes working with traumatised women to make them feel safe when they are vulnerable.
Your post (and subsequent ones) seem very over-invested in dismissing the lived experiences of (other?) women. Why does someone else's discomfort bother you so much? And if the Daily Mail and Twitter are not sources you are comfortable with, what makes Mumsnet different?

I seem to be the only person here who did. It tells a vastly different story to the Daily Mail article.

I'm not sure TRAs realise how badly they come across to the average person in the street when they dismiss women who have been treated appallingly due to this ideological agenda. Self-awareness has never been their strong suit.

Reminds me of this case

www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/lancaster-mum-with-fear-of-men-locked-on-hospital-ward-with-transgender-patient-653048

The way ScaryFaces talks about these women is truly callous.

Is there any evidence that the woman in question was abusive towards a member of staff?

Or are her opinions* regarding single sex spaces and services being unlawfully labelled abusive^?