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Introduction
It is a rather known fact that transgender individuals are faced with harsh discrimination in a wide array of settings, including the health care setting. It appears highly likely that such discrimination may have a profoundly negative impact on the life of transgender people. This paper investigates the discrimination that transgender persons are subjected to in the health care setting in more detail and examines the potential impact of such discrimination on the transgender community.
The Challenges Faced by Transgender Individuals in the Health Care Setting
Generally speaking, research reports that transgender individuals are faced with severe discrimination in the health care setting (Bradford, Reisner, Honnold, & Xavier, 2013; Jaffee, Shires, & Stroumsa, 2016; Shires & Jaffee, 2015). For instance, in their study, Shires and Jaffee (2015) state that transgender individuals specifically, female-to-male (FTM) persons report experiencing discrimination while attempting to obtain health care, such as verbal harassment, denial of provision of equal treatment, or even physical assault; this occurred with 41.8% of the respondents. It is noted that FTM individuals report problems when attempting to gain health care more frequently than male-to-female persons (MTF): 39% versus 13%, according to Bradford et al. (2013, p. 1820); however, MTF people also suffer from discrimination often.
In addition, it is stated that such factors as self-identification as asexual or queer, being multiracial or Native American, having completed graduate studies, living full-time as a person of a gender that is different from that with which one was born, possessing documents identifying ones gender of preference, and taking hormones or having undergone an operation for gender transition, are associated with an increased risk of reporting discrimination in the health care setting (Shires & Jaffee, 2015). Simultaneously, having age greater than 45 years, or having a yearly income of $60,000 or greater, served as protecting factors against health care discrimination in the study of transgender people by Shires and Jaffee (2015).
The Impact on Discrimination in Health Care on the Transgender Community
Discrimination in the health care setting has a profoundly adverse impact on the transgender community. In the study by Jaffee et al. (2016), nearly 30.8% of transgender respondents of the study reported delaying or not seeking the medical attention they needed because of the discrimination they faced. It is noteworthy that out of these people, the participants who had to teach medics about transgender individuals were approximately four times more likely to postpone seeking health care because of discrimination issues (Jaffee et al., 2016).
At the same time, Bradford et al. (2013) stress that out of the transgender respondents of their study, nearly 8% reported that they were HIV-positive, approximately 23% stated that they had alcohol addiction at the time of study or prior to it, and nearly 6% admitted to having a lifetime history of use of injection narcotics. Transgender people also often face violence in adolescence or adulthood, or unwanted or forced intercourse since the age of 13 (27% of respondents; Bradford et al., 2013). It might potentially be possible to hypothesize that at least some of these problems are exacerbated by the hindered access to medical care due to the discrimination of transgender people in the health care setting.
Conclusion
On the whole, transgender persons are subjected to severe discrimination in the health care setting, ranging from the refusal to provide equal medical attention or verbal harassment to even physical assault. MTF individuals face inequity more often than FTM people, but both groups are subjected to it often. Such discrimination causes transgender persons to postpone or refrain from seeking medical attention and might be an additional factor that exacerbates the many problems that are already frequent in the transgender community, such as the high rates of HIV infection incidence or substance abuse.
References
Bradford, J., Reisner, S. L., Honnold, J. A., & Xavier, J. (2013). Experiences of transgender-related discrimination and implications for health: Results from the Virginia Transgender Health Initiative Study. American Journal of Public Health, 103(10), 1820-1829.
Jaffee, K. D., Shires, D. A., & Stroumsa, D. (2016). Discrimination and delayed health care among transgender women and men: Implications for improving medical education and health care delivery. Medical Care, 54(11), 1010-1016.
Shires, D. A., & Jaffee, K. (2015). Factors associated with health care discrimination experiences among a national sample of female-to-male transgender individuals. Health & Social Work, 40(2), 134-141.
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