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'.

We were skiing in Austria and I went to the spa. I was lying reading my book on one of the heated beds. A man came and dried himself right beside me practically smacking me around the face with his willy.

I was in two minds whether to tackle him on it (pun intended). In the end I decided any attention would probably feed into his wank later so completely ignored him.

When I showed DH what an awkward position the guy had to stand in to do so DH was 😡. I didn't go back in.

I recommend that posters on this thread look at this post on twitter. Do you think many young female patients would have the courage to carry on insisting on a female member of staff to treat them after that? If your daughter's request was met with the appearance of a male member of staff interrogating her as to whether she counted transwomen as female, would she dare to say "no, thank you"?

twitter.com/LuciT00405829/status/1585812739598872576?t=7yEtVf8-J-6EPhwSqavZWQ&s=19

The person who has been seen on facebook boasting about intimidating a patient is almost certainly a fantasist who does not work in the NHS. But something very like that imagined scenario is already on record as having happened: a woman requested a female nurse to perform her smear, got "assigned" a transgender male nurse, and the nurse told her they weren't male when she queried it.

What incidents might there have been that aren't a matter of public record?

extract

The NHS has apologised to a woman who said she was "embarrassed" after a nurse who identifies as trans was assigned to carry out her cervical smear test.

The woman had requested a female NHS nurse to perform the procedure.

When the woman asked, the nurse replied: "My gender is not male. I'm a transsexual."

"[It was] weird where somebody says to you: 'My gender is not male' and you think: 'Well, what does that even mean? You are clearly a man', the woman told the Sunday Times.

(continues)

The woman declined to go ahead with the smear test but emphasised her complaint was not about the nurse's appearance or her gender status.

Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust said: "We apologised to this patient for the recording error and because the staff member accepted they didn't manage the situation appropriately or professionally; the patient needed to feel listened to.

IB Times

When I next see a doctor I want him to be George Clooney

This is so invasive. They must live in another world. I would have declined the smear test also.

I've always wondered about the "assigned". It's a weasel word in the NHS trust statement that implies "computer error, certainly no evidence of premeditated intention to trample over a patient's wishes".

Hmm. Was it? Did someone else intentionally allocate that woman's smear to member of staff to make a point? Or did the member of staff put themselves forward to do smears?

I think some PP have said similar, or at least that they were trained to do so, upthread.

Teresa, the woman whose surgery was cancelled, has reached an agreement and her surgery is going ahead. She is pushing for the hospital to make changes to ensure female-only care can be accessed rather than suing.
So good to hear.
twitter.com/ripx4nutmeg has the details

That is really positive, I hope her surgery went well and she is now recovering and being looked after by some lovely female nurses.

I’m so glad to hear this.

Here’s a link to the unrolled thread (good for non Twitter users):

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1587082094701944834.html

I think she's being very generous. I hope her surgery and recovery goes well. I hope the hospital listen and have learned.

I hope she's keeping the option of legal action open.

So pleased to hear this news. All the best of luck to Teresa for her recovery.

I hope this hospital and its management realise the generosity of Teresa in engaging with them rather than taking them straight to court, and does something to improve their prejudiced and exclusionary policies for females.

To approximate one of the tweets: for male TQ+ people to be handed a veto on female people's medical care is wholly unacceptable.

I would add that for male TQ+ people and those who would define themselves as 'allies' to then exercise that veto as in this case, makes very clear that female people's concerns about TQ+ male people carrying out health care as a woman hcp are very much justified.

Delighted she is getting the surgery and good that the hospital is listening. However I do wish she had taken them to court so this could be kept in the public eye and so we could have a legal precedent.

I appreciate she may not be up to it health wise though. Wish her a speedy recovery.

That news from Nutmeg was wonderful to read.

Great that she is getting the operation and the care that she needs. I wish her all the best for her recovery.

Thanks Nutmeg for letting us know. Best wishes toTeresa .hope she is recovering well. Maybe this will be a turning point for womens rights to same sex care.

Oh, that's such a relief. I can't imagine the stress she must've been under. It's bad enough when you're ill, but the powerlessness of having your treatment being arbitrarily decided, based on your adherence to reality - it's like some kind of nightmare film.

Maybe the reason she isn't going to court is that it was not specifically a hospital wide viewpoint, but a few individuals who got carried away.

I expect the reason she's not taking them to court is that her first priority is getting her health situation resolved. Which I'm sure is the best choice for her, and she shouldn't have to martyr herself to any cause.

However, I'm disappointed that there isn't going to be a case brought against the hospital after their disgusting treatment of this woman. At the very least, the male individual who harrassed her should be fired.

I hope she's keeping court action in her back pocket. In the interim getting through the medical procedure and using the leverage the hospital have given her to try to restore the need for reasonable accommodations for the dignity and safety of male and female patients.

Shocking she was put through this. I would like to see them taken to the cleaners, pounded on a flat stone.

Article on this by Victoria Smith in the Critic

thecritic.co.uk/issues/december-january-2023/the-trans-shaming-of-a-rape-survivor/

Brilliant article

This is all so scary and nightmarish

I'd love to know what, if anything, happened to the CEO of the Princess Grace. But who slaps a CEO on the wrist anyway - herself?

And it's very worryingly that Maxine Eastop Green is also a trustee of a hospice. She's shown she's unfit for any such role, imo.

Also, it's a private hospital. You would think that they would make looking after clients a priority

Thank you for the link