Many have had surgeries delayed
Uh oh, it turns out that lockdown presents problems for trans people. Why did no one think of this?? Why did no one put a stop to the whole thing?! All these selfish privileged exclusionaryist people for whom lockdown is such a massive party, what were we thinking?
International transgender rights groups are warning [that] global coronavirus lockdown restrictions have led to trans people being denied healthcare. Many have had surgeries delayed, and some are struggling to access hormone therapy and counselling services.
But is that healthcare? Are the surgeries in question health-preserving? Is hormone “therapy” meant to make men resemble women and women resemble men really therapy?
And, even if you think they are, are they urgent? Are they more urgent than the non-emergency surgeries and therapies that many people are having to wait for? If so, how? Why?
We’re not told. We’re given the usual stories, of children who don’t like the clothes considered mandatory for their sex, one in Kenya to make doubt even more reprehensible, but we’re not given real explanations.
WHAT?!! You mean they might have time to desist??!
That phrasing is off somehow. Lemme fix it.
There. Much better.
My father’s treatment for life-threatening cancer has been delayed because of the lockdown. He has no idea when treatments will begin or whether they will be too late (which they most likely will).
He is taking this in good spirits because he understands that the current situation is not all about him. He is notably not whining that public health might have to take precedence over his particular case, deadly serious though it is. He is certainly not complaining that he is being denied healthcare.
I don’t think I need to explain how sympathetic I am toward those trans people who will have to wait a little bit longer for their treatments.
Damn, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t think that would fall under “non-emergency” but then again hospitals can only do what they can.
I have seen some headlines about necessary treatments being on hold though, I think including from the BBC. I think the BBC should have spiked this piece, and given the author a dam’ good scolding.
And some states are using that as an excuse to deny abortions to women…abortions that will not be able to be performed once this is over, because they will have passed the date, or will have already had the baby if it lasts long enough. I think that is a bit more serious than having a surgery to change the sex you are to look sort of like the sex you are not.
@Ophelia, #4:
Yes, the treatment is counted as essential but is not being treated as particularly urgent, probably because of his age. Many other people are in the same position. I don’t know whether it’s a problem of capacity or logistics and – frustratingly – neither does he.
He understands that scheduling chemo and radiotherapy is difficult at the moment but he’d appreciate at least a letter telling him that treatment is delayed but in hand. At the moment he feels forgotten and with only one end in sight.
latsot, I am so sorry. The not knowing part in particular must be so hard on him, and you. I hope you get some news soon.
I lost my father to leukæmia last year. No anti-cancer treatment. It was tough on him; both my parents, actually. I can’t imagine how much tougher it would have been in this situation. At least they knew that the decision to provide palliative care only had been made with his ultimate wellbeing in mind. Eighty-five years old (he turned 86 just before he died), and already frail from years of battling polycythemia, he understood that aggressive treatment was as likely to kill him in the same time-frame as the cancer; and much more unpleasantly. He had regular blood transfusions, and was well enough to be allowed home, once a make-shift hospital room was set up in their tiny sitting room (my youngest sister stored their furniture in her garage). He died a few days later. He really hadn’t wanted to die in hospital.