Transgender patients and their health providers fear worsening discrimination
Some transgender people — along with their advocates and health care providers — fear the treatment of trans patients will worsen under President Donald Trump.
Kelly Houske was walking her dogs one morning when she developed stabbing pain in her back that brought her to her knees. Houske, who had survived her first heart attack only a year earlier, was worried she was experiencing a second.
When Houske arrived at a local emergency room by ambulance, she hoped for compassionate treatment. Instead, her doctor appeared cold and kept his distance, standing in the doorway without ever entering her room, Houske said.
An imaging technician ignored how much pain she was suffering and shouted at her, Houske said. Rather than help her out of the scanner, the technician barked at her to climb out of the machine herself.
Kelly Houske, 67, said she has been mistreated by health care providers on many occasions.Courtesy Kelly Houske“I was in so much pain I could hardly move,” said Houske, 67, whose back pain was later found to be caused by kidney stones. The technician “kept saying, ‘Come on, come on, come on,’” she recalled. “He didn’t offer to help.”
When Houske tried to stand on her own, she crumpled to the ground.
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