The disgraceful RCN and Nurse Jennifer Melle

[ArabellaScott]

The Darlington Nurses Union has now formally intervened to ask the RCN to step up and do its actual job:

'Suspended nurse Jennifer Melle says her gender row with the NHS has left her abandoned, vulnerable and alone.
The medic claims she has been cast into the wilderness and feeling like a pariah over her unshakable and religiously-held beliefs on biological sex.
She has been suspended from work for four months for breaching patient confidentiality after “misgendering” a convicted sex offender.
Single mum Ms Melle, 40, now faces being struck off but says the silence from those with a duty of care towards her has left her broken. '
...
'Ms Melle was hauled before a disciplinary hearing after an incident in May last year during which she refused to use female pronouns for a patient under her care.
She remains unable to work after Patient X, who was born male but identifies as a woman, was taken to St Helier Hospital in Carshalton, Surrey, from a male prison for treatment for a urinary condition.
Ms Melle was called a n*** multiple times after the inmate overheard her using biologically accurate pronouns during a phone call with a senior doctor.
She was suspended by the trust on April 2 for breaching patient confidentiality after speaking about the racial abuse and referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council.'

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/2090368/gender-biological-sex-trans-NHS-nurse

'A paying RCN member for 12 years, Jennifer says that when the incident happened the union dismissed her case as not “meritorious” and told her to complete a “reflection” exercise to avoid future ‘misgendering’. She received no support despite the RCN recognising the abuse she experienced.
The Darlington Nursing Union (DNU), which represents Jennifer, has now formally appealed to the RCN to intervene.'

https://christianconcern.com/ccpressreleases/christian-nurse-in-trans-paedophile-misgendering-case-says-royal-college-of-nursing-abandoned-her/

Where does it end? I bet you have a limit, however traumatising the person might feel it was to not have their identity affirmed. How about if hypothetically a person with mental health issues wanted to be called something dehumanising like “it” or “scum” or “fucktoy”. Would you go along with it?

How do you think a wife and child or children would feel after the trauma of their husband/father 'transitioning' to be gaslight again by the medical staff continually lying to them even when he is dead?

I agree, it's a really important case to support. Without knowing the full circumstances yet it is still clear that the nurse was not supported by her employer or her union. This nurse had an exemplary record of 12 years. Where were her human and employment rights in all this? Has the racial abuse even been investigated yet?

I also do believe medical staff should be able to opt out of performing abortions on conscientious objection grounds too, despite being pro choice myself, as that was mentioned.

@Shedmistress I would agree that these cases are a disadvantage of using "preferred pronouns" that these errors are more likely so goes on my mental list, thanks.

The counterargument would be that this calls for better medical records of transgender individuals rather than always using "correct sex" pronouns. And in some cases people using what they think are "correct sex" pronouns aren't and need to be better aware of trans "Jane Does".

There are broader issues with inaccurate recording of sex/gender that need addressing btw.

As well transgender individuals may argue that they prefer to accept this risk. Going back to last rites example, a patient may want to see a priest before a life saving procedure even if a delay may raise risks slightly.

That said, that obviously doesn't apply to a case mentioned where a transgender individual is dead.

I think having to pretend people are the opposite sex takes its own mental toll on people.

That's a good point. I presume there is training around how to deal with relatives grief. The point I'm making still stands though- the medical professional should be centering the needs of the grieving not their own needs or beliefs.

So I'd be equally critical of a TRA nurse who insisted on wrong pronouns in your scenario.

The error wasn't 'more likely' it actually happened.

You cannot override human instinct so when a man who says he is a woman comes in having a heart attack, female heart attacks do not have the same symptoms as male heart attacks so what do the medics do? React to the body or react to the clothes?

So what do you want, life saving or gender affirming?

Again, I'm uncomfortable with severe mental illness being brought in to justify the argument for medics using "correct sex" pronouns, having suffered several mental illness myself.

This isn't a good argument as it's "Slippery Slope". Someone using preferred sex pronouns is a mark of respect to a patient, is not the same as calling someone "scum" and one doesn't lead to the other...

So yes there's obviously a difference...r.e. the NMC code of conduct it's about "prioritise people, practise effectively, preserve safety and promote professionalism and trust."

Noone wants their ill relative to be described as "scum" even if they asked to be as it's directly harmful in the vast majority of contexts.

It's worth noting as well that mental health professionals generally don't go around self righteously "correcting" delusions as that doesn't necessarily work very well.

1. You say “causing distress”, but the cause of the distress is dysphoria (or another condition or behaviour less flattering to the trans person), not the language used. Have you considered the distress to others caused by using pronouns that don’t match sex and common usage? In a hospital setting, many of those people will be sick, vulnerable, dying. Since the pronouns are used about the person, not to the person, those others are the people most likely to encounter the relevant pronouns.
2. Using factual language doesn’t prevent people from seeking medical care.
3. Persisting in the pretence that being “in” is a possibility for the majority of trans people is not grounded in reality and doesn’t help trans people.

The medical professional should not have to do a survey of all grieving relatives to work out what to call the person who just died, especially if it is as a result of them getting the treatment wrong for the person's sex. Medicine needs to recognise sex because so many treatments are completely different depending on which sex the person is.

A male racist paedophile's right to be called a she is being held above a nurse's right to be gender critical.
Jesus wept. The world is officially f*cked now isn't it

If someone is in hospital where medical treatments depend on your sex, and you want the medical treatment of the opposite sex then you are under a delusion.

Any medic who says 'Yes Superman, you can fly' to someone who thinks they are Superman and who wants to pop up to the roof should be removed from their position.

Solidarity with Jennifer. What utter useless, nasty 🤬the RCN are! Neither use nor ornament as my mother used to say ! And what support did she get after the horrendous racist abuse she was subjected to? Awful!

You're being deliberately obtuse. It's not hard to change tack if you're clearly upsetting someone, or if they ask you politely not to do something. That doesn't require a survey.

I completely agree with the correct use of pronouns in a clinical context, as I've repeatedly said throughout the thread.

@Shedmistress r.e. "risk" am aware it happened I was generalising to add it to disadvantages as is standard risk management talk.

The medical profession needs to be aware both of the importance of biological sex and of the existence of transgender to effectively treat them. Whatever anyone's views on whether it is "okay" or not, someone with breasts and a female name may be actually male and that's relevant.

Equally as well it's going to cause some confusion if some staff are using "he" and some are using "she" to talk about a patient.

R.e. discouraging treatment yes I think that's a reasonable con so it's staying. I've had a look at transgender forums before and there's a lot of concerns and anxiety about how they will be treated in hospital. Many find "known" misgendering extremely distressing.

I am struggling to see how any compassionate healthcare professional could use "correct sex" pronouns when talking about a deceased patient to their next of kin. Even if their next of kin has asked them not to. I don't see how that makes me misogynist or anti women's rights.

I'm also continuing to find it offensive to the mentally unwell to compare using "preferred pronouns" to i.e. agreeing someone is superman and letting them jump of a roof.

Can you really not see the difference between a directly harmful delusion and someone who wants to present as a gender other than their birth sex?

I'm guessing you'd complain if someone compares not allowing transwomen in a women's changing room to not allowing a black person in as "using" racism. This is worse.

This is so utterly disgusting that I actually feel tearful.
How anyone can support that deluded man, who hatefully racially abused a nurse who was doing her job and making sure he had appropriate care is beyond me.
Maybe she should have said ‘her penis burns when she urinates’. What utter nonsense.
Surely any right minded person sees that?
I hope the nurse brings a case of racial abuse against him but no doubt she is expected to just put up with it. That’s how people feel free to be vile and illogical.

They won't ask politely will they, that's the point. They will complain and the person who slipped up [by saying ONE WORD] will LOSE THEIR JOBS.

Just like the lady who this thread is about.

No, people who have delusions about what sex they are are just as delusional as someone who thinks they are superman. And they shouldn't be allowed to have their penises removed, which about 90% of them don't of course.

Or they are lying.

Take your pick.

And I have no idea why you think I'd complain about blah blah blah. I don't complain, I argue my point.

I'm a decade on from worrying about people being offended.

This is reminding me of midwives being encouraged to use the gross term 'front hole'.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10727051/Midwives-urged-avoid-using-proper-words-anatomy-avoid-upsetting-trans-patients.html

I suppose the key thing here is whether HCPs should be forced to use words they personally find offensive to avoid offending patients.

But it is delusional to deny your biological reality. No matter how hard someone wishes to be something other than their biological reality it will.never ever be the case. These people should have been told No from the very beginning. I'm sick of the time and money that's been wasted on this nonsense over so many years. It should always have been treated as a mental illness.

So it’s not hard to change tack if you are upsetting someone

so we have two people being upset - one for not having their pronoun choice respected and one for not having their sex based beliefs respected - but only one of them is expected to alter their behaviour?

I honestly do not know how she could possibly describe a urological /catheter problem to a doctor on the phone without specifying the sex of the patient.

The mistake she made was admitting to having a Christian faith that influenced her thoughts and actions.