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 do think that the hospital has mishandled this situation. 'Teresa' had already requested that her pre and post operative care would be provided by women. She recognised that the hospital could not guarantee that everybody involved in the actual surgery would be a woman so her request was not unreasonable, especially in view of her experience of sexual assault.

The situation seems to have arisen after Teresa complained that there had been a 'breach of patient dignity' after someone in a 'blonde wig and full evening make up' came into a clinical area where she was undergoing an intimate procedure without knocking. Nobody, whatever their gender identity, should come into an area in which patients might be undressed without knocking, unless it's an emergency (which this wasn't).

It might be hurtful to the member of staff concerned to be described this way but does this justify the hospital cancelling the operation at such short notice, knowing that it was not a simple operation that could easily be done elsewhere and where there was no apparent justification why that member of staff came into the room without knocking? I would say that it doesn't because her clinical needs outweigh the hospital's disagreement with her 'beliefs'.

I wonder if Teresa is going to complain to the Care Quality Commission. They do regulate private hospitals so I assume they would investigate if she is not happy with the HCA response.

I understand now
Sarah Muirhead-Allwood, was born William Muirhead-Allwood,[1][2] from Wiki

I do have some questions about all this.
I wonder if the Chief exec discussed the decision with the various specialists that had all come together to make complex arrangements for this operation to go ahead? I really think they would not have wanted to cancel so I wonder what their reaction is.

I also wonder if her operation has been funded by the NHS, which contracts out some operations to private hospitals. Clearly it would be massively expensive for her to self fund although it may have been covered by private health insurance.
If it was being funded by the NHS I wonder what the Trust's response might be.

Complex arrangements like these can be planned within the NHS but as anyone who has watched some of the excellent "Hospital" series on BBC2 will know, after all that planning all it takes is for an RTA or something to fill the ICU the night before the op and it all gets cancelled at the last minute. By booking it within the private system there is a reasonable expectation that the op will go ahead on the day planned. It will be very difficult to rearrange within the NHS, as we all know the hospitals are full and bed space short.
Just yesterday we had a patient booked for a straightforward procedure involving an overnight stay, we do about three a week but there is always a nail biting period of will there / won't there be a bed and from time to time have to cancel. Yesterday was such a day but there had been particular special arrangements made including an interpreter for the pre-op consent etc and again for today for post op training in care and management by specialist nurses. Cancellation would have put the next stage of cancer treatment back. We pleaded and stressed the importance and thankfully the bed managers were able to magic up a bed. But NHS hospitals are doing this all the time. It's really difficult for such a complex procedure and planned ITU etc.
I really hope she gets the treatment she needs.

Horrifying. If they were unable to meet her request, then they could have had that discussion and proposed compromise situations. It seems they had no interest in her care at all - physical or emotional.

I wonder if that's the person who 'appeared to be a transgender man in a blonde wig and make-up opened the door and made eye contact with her.'

They're blond in their photos.

his member of staff with a "gender identity" had made their presence felt to me in such an inappropriate way during my first visit.

'I began to suspect that I had been targeted because my patient records showed that I refused to use pronouns and wanted single sex facilities, although I have no evidence of this.

They out the feelings of staff (actual staff or hypothetical staff) above the life of a woman.

bloody hell.

so if a deeply religious man was in there and asked that his intimate care was only carried out men (and he wouldn’t accept a trans man as a carer), he’d be out in his ear?

Sarah Muirhead-Allwood has grey hair now and is a phenomenal surgeon who would not be in a room for a colorectal pre-op unless there was a need for her to be in then.

Someone being trans does not mean they lower their professional standards - particularly when someone has had a career like Sarah has.

re. Judaism and condoms - they aren’t inline with religious beliefs in some/most branches of Judaism. Other contraceptive forms are though. The health of the mother and the risk to the mother are always the first considerations during pregnancy so condoms can be used if a pregnant woman would be at risk (this includes mental health too). Abortions are allowed as well

I wonder if that's the person who 'appeared to be a transgender man in a blonde wig and make-up opened the door and made eye contact with her.'

That was my first thought too, but Teresa said it was "a young male"; Muirhead-Alwood is 75.

But that person is an orthopaedic surgeon, so would not have any reason to be involved in this woman's treatment. And barging in when someone is having a intimate examination is inappropriate, no matter who they are

I wonder if that's the person who 'appeared to be a transgender man in a blonde wig and make-up

she described him as a young man, so definitely not!

Ah I missed that the person was young.

Well hopefully she'll be able to identify them and clear what they were doing there. She certainly felt it was inappropriate.

I hope other members of staff speak out. Sounds like someone is acting badly.

Haven’t RTFT, but it’s worth noting that:

I began to suspect that I had been targeted because my patient records showed that I refused to use pronouns and wanted single sex facilities, although I have no evidence of this

if this was about misgendering or some such, the perception of being targeted would be enough to be able to declare a non hate crime incident. But for this poor woman, she has to consider whether there’s evidence of targeting, because being a woman with trauma wanting single sex doesn’t get the same legal protection than calling a gender non-conforming male “he”.

Sarah Muirhead-Allwood has grey hair now and is a phenomenal surgeon who would not be in a room for a colorectal pre-op unless there was a need for her to be in then.

Someone being trans does not mean they lower their professional standards - particularly when someone has had a career like Sarah has.

One would hope not. But as the hospital has been woefully unprofessional to the point of endangering this poor woman's health, if not her life, I don't share your faith in the staff's understanding of acceptable standards.

Many males who want to be called 'she' behave in a very male gendered way. Very entitled and make it clear that they consider women to be inferior. I don’t think it’s accurate to refer to them as gender nonconforming.

@OldCrone You know, that was my first thought - and I don't agree that anyone should be barging in anywhere during examinations but it happens all through hospitals and clinics across the country. I'm not making excuses for this, this is wrong, but this is not happening because someone is trans.

SM-A will have a phenomenal amount of knowledge regarding nerve systems etc. around colon and rectum - one of the complications with hip replacements is that they can impact those areas (and often do). Regardless it doesn't sound like it was her at all.

But as the hospital has been woefully unprofessional to the point of endangering this poor woman's health, if not her life

Yes, and that letter came from a CEO who is not trans - poor care is not a trans-related issue. That is my point.

But why would this have any effect on hospital policy?

It would be like telling patients that because one of the surgeons is a devout Christian, they won't treat atheists or people of other faiths unless they convert to Christianity first.

*I wonder if that's the person who 'appeared to be a transgender man in a blonde wig and make-up opened the door and made eye contact with her.'

They're blond in their photos.*

I was stood next to SM-A two weeks ago and it's definitely not. Her hair is light grey, not blonde.

But she has received poor care because of a trans related issue.

They've explicitly said her surgery is cancelled because they don't share beliefs regarding it.

Outpatients is also split across different buildings and orthopaedics is not at the same site as the digestive practice.

Many males who want to be called 'she' behave in a very male gendered way. Very entitled and make it clear that they consider women to be inferior. I don’t think it’s accurate to refer to them as gender nonconforming.

oldcrone I so agree.

Whatever happened to "actions speak louder than words"? Or louder than how somebody is dressed and does their hair?

Might have already been asked but:

As a male, can I insist on all male care at a hospital? Baring in mind that 90% of nursing staff are female?

You don’t know why this happened.

someone barging in without knocking is highly unprofessional, all staff knows this.

if this was an in innocent mistake, the man should have apologised then or later, and the hospital should have apologised when she made the complaint.

as none did I find it hard to believe it wasn’t on purpose to intimidate her.

Meant for @OldCrone

You don’t know why this happened.

someone barging in without knocking is highly unprofessional, all staff knows this.

if this was an in innocent mistake, the man should have apologised then or later, and the hospital should have apologised when she made the complaint.

as none did I find it hard to believe it wasn’t on purpose to intimidate her.