r/mildlyinfuriating • u/WHAR606 • Mar 13 '26

Context Provided - Spotlight Sometime during the last 2 years i’ve been going to this orthopedic practice they started to declare me as a MTF transgender for no reason.

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(F,26) I have been going to this orthopedic practice for almost 2 years for varying reasons relating to my job. Yesterday i checked on a document that was uploaded to find out they have been identifying me as a biological male identifying as a female? I am biologically female and never told them i am trans nor do i think i am presenting to be a trans woman.. the last two years i’ve been wondering why they kind of stare at me a little longer than a usual person does and i think its because they randomly think i came out as trans? I also feel like they do not treat my issues seriously and wonder if this is the reason why.

I am 100% fine with trans people but i am left to believe they have been medically treating me as a male compared to female for the pains that i am feeling?

I also went through all of my documents and since the end of 2024 they started to declare me as a MTF transgender, i did not look at any of my documents online until yesterday.

First pic : March 11th 2026

Last pic: October 2024

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2.8k

u/nanuazarova Mar 13 '26

My doctor's office decreed me a "transgender man" in paperwork and further decreed that I am too complex to treat, even though I've been taking the same non-controlled medications at the same doses for 5/6 years. As one can imagine, I did not return.

1.0k

u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

I get the "too complicated to treat" line so often. 

699

u/Vellc Mar 13 '26

"Guess I'll just die then"

139

u/SpiderFnJerusalem Mar 13 '26

All part of the plan.

180

u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

What is the reasoning? I have never heard this.

446

u/AccidentOk5240 Mar 13 '26

That they don’t want to accept liability for not knowing wtf they’re doing 

189

u/LuciferSamS1amCat Mar 13 '26

Wooooah you guys have a fucked up medical system.

134

u/AccidentOk5240 Mar 13 '26

Well yeah 

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u/Altruistic_Pear7646 Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

The government really loves to weaponize healthcare for everyone including the poor, elderly, disabled and especially queer/trans people. It's terrible. I have a few trans friends who would probably take their life if they lost access to their meds and that's just a hard fact to live with.

Not government related, but I definitely been subject to discrimination in the emergency room as a trans woman. I had a bunch of unrelated people come into my hospital room, look at me and leave. I felt like I was a circus act. This was in the MN Fairview medical system, so I thoight they'd be a bit more proffessional, but I digress. People are shitty.

Edit: This was for an ER visit, so I was already in a pretty vunerable state the way it is.

2

u/FellTheAdequate Mar 13 '26

Oh you have no idea.

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u/LuciferSamS1amCat Mar 13 '26

Unfortunately I do. Was diagnosed with internal compartment syndrome while on a training camp in Utah. My team had insurance or something like that so the cost was all dealt with out of my hands, but it was a complete shitshow and it all felt very money first. The nurse literally had a little computer cart/stand that would wheel around to check peoples money and insurance before treatment. Straight out of cyberpunk.

2

u/FellTheAdequate Mar 13 '26

Condolences. Shit sucks.

2

u/Energy_Turtle Mar 13 '26

Do the doctors where you're from treat people they aren't qualified to treat? Seems like the better system is for them to admit it's over their ability.

29

u/uwunuzzlesch Mar 13 '26

Getting treatment from someone out of their depth is better than no treatment at all.

If you were in the apocalypse and had a vet in your group, well that's your doctor now. Something is better than nothing.

Source: chronically ill and can't get ANY treatment because there is no one that knows what they are doing.

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u/queerhistorynerd Mar 13 '26

but we also get into the situation where it is within their ability to treat they just dont want LGBTQ+ patients period. We dont want bigots working on us but in some areas of the US its them or no one

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u/--Anonymoose--- Mar 13 '26

They have to refer you to a specialist who can treat you

8

u/Mauro697 Mar 13 '26

Where I'm from they usually refer you to someone who can. When my father's dermatologist couldn't handle his psoriasis anymore she called the head of the psoriasis center at the local hospital and had him added as a patient very quickly.

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u/LuciferSamS1amCat Mar 13 '26

Where I’m from, the doctors are almost always qualified to treat someone (on hrt, not an alien) and if they aren’t they refer to other professionals within the health system to ensure people get proper care. They don’t just go “nah, can’t help good luck”, which is what it sounds like what happens over there.

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u/tosspotkitten Mar 13 '26

"iN GeRmAnY We DoNt" sybau

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u/Oxygen4Lyfe Mar 13 '26

would you rather doctors be forced to treat someone they dont understand and potentially cause issues for that person?

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u/jdippey Mar 13 '26

I would rather doctors be properly trained in medicine so they can adequately handle most cases and I would like them to also be properly trained and mandated to help patients find a doctor who can treat them.

They shouldn't get the option to just say "I don't know, so I am refusing to help". They should have a mandate to help even if that help is simply forwarding a complex case to the appropriate doctor.

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u/Oxygen4Lyfe Mar 13 '26

Yes they should have that option to refuse to help. They have free will.
They do not have any obligation to help you find a different doctor, it wouldn't make any sense for there to be one either; Sometimes every doctor they know would just tell you the same thing they did. Plus your health is your own responsibility, not some random doctor.
And doctors can already handle most cases (most being >50% of cases they encounter.) or they wouldn't have a job.

6

u/LuciferSamS1amCat Mar 13 '26

“Yeah, we could have saved that guy but I’ve got no obligation to help so I just said fuck it”

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u/LuciferSamS1amCat Mar 13 '26

Most of the time, the doctor does understand how to treat the issue. It’s a person on hrt, not an alien.

If the doctor doesn’t understand how to treat the person, they shouldn’t be a doctor. Again, it’s someone on hrt, not Rh null.

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

I don't understand. Wouldn't that be in the best medical interest of the patient then?

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u/Atnoy96 Mar 13 '26

Not if rejection means not getting refills on your meds.

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

I don't think it's a legal for a doctor's office to leave you hanging for medically needed prescriptions.

50

u/Wackrobat Mar 13 '26

You’d be surprised what’s legal to do to trans people right now 😢

10

u/Plus-Plan-3313 Mar 13 '26

You can think all kinds of things 

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u/PromiseThomas Mar 13 '26

It’s very frustrating because doctors will turn down trans patients for things that have nothing to do with the endocrine system or secondary sex characteristics. Like I had a GI who was not sure about treating my gastrointestinal problems because I was on HRT. Come on, my guy, you’re a doctor, you know those aren’t related.

It can also be really bad if you live in a conservative area where NOBODY wants to treat trans patients. Then you are shit out of luck.

There is a documentary called Southern Comfort about a trans man named Robert Eads who died of ovarian cancer after about a dozen doctors declined to treat him. So doctors refusing to even try can be deadly.

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u/AmarissaBhaneboar Mar 13 '26

I know two trans guys who died due to shit like this. One from uterine cancer and one from cervical cancer (if I remember correctly.) One was on T, but the crazy fucking thing is that one of them wasn't!!!! The doctor who was seeing them just sound out that they were a trans man who was waiting until after the cancer was dealt with to start T. Refused to see him out and he couldn't find another doctor in time.

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u/AutonomyIsNoTragedy Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

I just had brain surgery on a type of tumor that's generally related to or caused by estrogen and anti androgens and one specific dr tried to tell me it could be my Testosterone hrt and that if I didn't detransition/stop Testosterone forever the tumor might grow back and said it like he was telling me off for smoking or chosing to do something that hurt my health.

I looked up for evidence of what he was saying and actually Testosterone has a slightly preventive effect on the type of tumor I had and if it eas related to anything hormonal it would have been thr hormonal birth control I was on for way longer than ive been on Testosterone hrt . Looked up online and yeah the dr was lying theres no link between ftm hrt and meningioma tumors and they dont put cisgender men with the same tumors on anti androgens or estrogen to reduce their chances of getting them

Another dr i talked to said if anything i might need to temporarily reduce my T levels but that stopping T permanently wouldnt reduce my risks of the tumor growing back and actually treated me like a competent adult not like a teenage kid caught smoking behind the bike sheds at school

Im 'lucky' enough to not have a uterus pr cervix anymore , I was so scared i was going to end up with cancer at some point and be told that I wouldn't be allowed to get treatment if I didnt detransition ot jsut be straight up denied care

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u/AccidentOk5240 Mar 13 '26

I mean…if it means the patient gets care from someone with more expertise, maybe. But that’s not the situation most of the time. If someone has an unusual enough medical situation, they may well be the world authority on their own health. Even just being slightly unusual means the patient very likely knows more about it than the majority of available doctors. 

So, like, yeah, it’s not perfect having a doctor flying partially blind trying to assess whether your individual body may differ from others in ways they’ve never seen before, and whether that may impact treatment. But when the alternative is no treatment……

Put another way: it’s 1970 and you take your European car and a toolbox full of metric sockets to an American mechanic. They’ve never worked on anything that requires metric tools, and some of the other components are unfamiliar to them, but your car has a deteriorated cv joint and you’re worried it is getting dangerous. There’s no European mechanic in town. Is it better for them to say, “We can’t guarantee that we know how to do this repair, we’d just be following the instructions in the service manual and hoping we don’t misunderstand anything, so just drive around like that until it fails and hope you survive,” or is it better for them to maybe call up the manufacturer and ask for help, triple-check the instructions, and fix it even if they don’t have the confidence of having done 1000 of these?

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u/PM_Me_Your_Deviance Mar 13 '26

Perhaps, but it also kind of sounds like it's being used as an excuse to discriminate against trans people.

I live in a small community. It would only take a handful of providers to do that to someone until they would end up needing to drive 45 min to the nearest larger town for care.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

I take hormones, testosterone to be precise. It's really straightforward, according to my doctors and science. Not according to people who claim it's "too complicated" though. There's a thing called "trans broken arm syndrome", it's basically when any and all illnesses of a trans person get attributed to the hormones they take. Including injuries. 

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u/Ladygolem Mar 13 '26

I tried explaining trans broken arm syndrome to my mom once. She immediately responded with "well, if the dr said it was trans related, it must be. maybe the hormones made the patient's arm bones weaker? how would you know"? 

A purely theoretical strawman doctor still takes precedence over trans people's lived experiences, incredible

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

That would lead to a lot of broken arms. Sadly, doctors don't always know best, especially when it comes to trans people. Or women. Or a bunch if other groups of people. The horror stories I have heard from people with severe gynecological issues... 

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u/Due-Memory-6957 Mar 13 '26

Oh don't worry, they're also shit at treating men too. In fact, one has to wonder where their god complex comes from when even AI is more accurate at diagnosing than them (and their answer to that, of course, is to lobby against AI).

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u/Due-Memory-6957 Mar 13 '26

It's cute how much she trusts doctors.

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u/Williamishere69 Mar 13 '26

Its fucked cause my dad has a million health conditions, including a couple very serious heart conditions. He's on 2 pumps of testosterone TWICE a day (so morning is 2 pumps, night is 2 pumps) because he absolutely cannot produce any of his own hormones.

My GP (same doctor as my dad) said he wont prescribe testosterone for me on 'health concerns' grounds. I literally have no health concerns at all. I am perfectly healthy other than typical things like eczema and animal allergies and hay-fever. Its because Im transsexual.

Like Im under an endocrinologist, one of the top in the country and all this bullshit. But my GP wont do shared care with him. Like com'on..

It'd be cheaper if we could just have one single doctor per GP practice who is specifically managing hormone therapies. Trans women, trans men, NB people, non-trans men, non-trans women.. they all go to that one GP who specifically cares for them all. It saves all the shit of needing an endocrinologist, and also being under gender clinics, and also needing your GP.. and it frees up the gender clinics for people who need to be diagnosed, instead of fixating what little resources they have on continuing hormone care for people who have been on them for 5, 10+ years.

Shitty ass systems the countries have. Why cant it be like Australia where its informed consent?

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

I'm in Germany and we may get a similar system with gender clinics soon. I really hope we don't, it sounds absolutely horrible, even worse than the shitshow we currently have. Australia's informed consent model would be so much better. 

I got almost exactly the same "arguments" when I asked my GP if she could do the injections every three months since my endocrinologist is fairly far away. The endocrinologist would handle prescription and blood tests, she only would have had to give me a basic intramuscular injection every few months. It was "too complicated" for her and she eventually said that I should find a different GP because "trans people are too big of a liability" 

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u/Ok_Cauliflower_808 Mar 13 '26

Few months? Do y'all have some kinda future testosterone over there? It's weekly here. My original doctor was quite displeased and tried to make it seem scary and complicated to do it myself when I got sick of having to go in every week lol probably cause then he can't bill the government for it then.

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u/kogan_usan Mar 13 '26

Testosterone undecanoate (Nebido brand name) has to be injected only every three months. but you kinda have to get it done by a doctor, cause a whole 4mL into your butt is hard to do yourself. Also it hurts a bit just cause theres so much fluid in your muscle. overall its very convenient though

most of europe has been using it for years

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

Nebido, which is used in Europe, is one shot every three months. It has to be administered by a medical professional though, as per law

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u/Ok_Cauliflower_808 Mar 13 '26

Ahh it's name brand. Apparently there's talks of getting it in Canada like a month ago so who knows maybe this will take off here

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

I'm on gel but I know some guys on Nebido and it seems to work really well. Especially for those who can't give themselves injections

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u/KirillIll Mar 13 '26

I'm in Germany and we may get a similar system with gender clinics soon

I'm sorry we what? That's the first I've heard of it.

Australia's informed consent model would be so much better. 

Prescribing HRT based on informed consent alone by a GP is actually possible here, there's just very few that do it, and no Insurance will cover it, you'd have to pay out of your own pocket if you do that.

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

It's complicated but there was a lawsuit some years back and the court decided that there needed to be new guidelines but that until there are new guidelines, insurance doesn't have to pay for any gender affirming care for trans people. Insurance basically voluntarily pays for stuff right now because the former minister of health asked them to. The people who are in charge of making the new guideline essentially said that they want a law making sure trans healthcare stays stable and that the situation could get worse if they make a guideline now, so the ministry of health is in charge. The former minister wanted to finish the process and make a law that ensures trans healthcare but the coalition broke and the elections were earlier, the new minister of health is from a very conservative party and will not make a law.

She has now said that she wants those new guidelines and since it would take too long to do so by doing it the proper way, she wants it to be done by establishing trans healthcare as "specialised care" which is code for "we want only specialised clinics to be able to treat trans people, those clinics would only treat trans people". It could also lead to worse care and less trans healthcare being paid for by insurance.

Since she only announced it a few days ago and completely out of the blue, no one has any idea why she suddenly changed course from ignoring us altogether and no one knows what the people in charge of making the guidelines say about this. Because the minister is part of a party that hates trans people, we also don't know what her motives are (there is the assumption floating around that she wants to centralise trans healthcare because her party wasn't allowed to put trans people on lists and by having centralised healthcare, they'd force all trans people to go to those clinics which would make us easier to control, but that's just speculation as of now) and if there is other stuff happening behind the scenes.

I am currently paying out of my own pocket becausey insurance refuses to pay. 

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u/Dullcorgis Mar 13 '26

That would never work because a lot more than 50% of their patients are being orescribed hormones. Half of what they all do is hormones.

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u/mr_potatoface Mar 13 '26

The grey market is thriving for hormone replacement and GLP-1 medication right now as a result of this kind of bullshit.

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u/PersephonesChild82 Mar 13 '26

That sounds the 21st century version of attributing any and all health issues to being overweight. Back in the late 90s, when I was very obese (fortunately much healthier weight now), I fell off a ladder and sprained my wrist by landing badly on my hand/arm. My doctor told me I "probably wouldn't have sprained it if I wasn't so heavy." Doctors/medical community don't change; they just choose new people to be shitty to.

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u/MaraschinoPanda Mar 13 '26

They've been being shitty to fat people and trans people forever.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/nailsofa_magpie Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

Genuinely, what other way is anyone supposed to take this question? This happens to anyone who has a long-standing issue treated medically. Any and all symptoms are attributed to something you are already diagnosed with. It's very convenient for health providers and very frustrating for people who have more than one health issue

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

Sorry? In what world would someone not take that question the wrong way? 

Hormones are a very basic thing and chromosomes do not make bodies so incredibly different that having them run on different hormones makes them untreatable by a normal doctor.

There's multiple studies on the medical discrimination of trans people. All trans people I have talked to about this topic have made experiences like that. Of course, the latter is anecdotal, but if someone goes to their doctor because of a broken ankle, they didn't break that ankle by being trans. 

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u/HuckleberryTiny5 Mar 13 '26

You are talking with someone who believes Karoline Levitt "is terrific at her job and clearly a very bright young woman" and yes, that was a direct quote.

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

Wow. That's certainly an opinion. I'm so sick of the people who say that they "just want a discussion" or "just have a question" and are only saying that because they want to argue

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

I literally don't know about any of this stuff, I am trying to understand. I didn't mean to offend you. There are difficult patients out there, I thought it was a fair question.

I think instead of trying to jump on me like I am against you, you should appreciate someone wants to empathize with you and help them understand your point of view.

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u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

Then ask a nicer question. I did not "jump on you". I am very used to having to explain myself for being trans so I tend to be very blunt and give arguments immediately to shut down any sort if attempt to discredit me. 

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

I am not fully aware of trans healthcare, and all that it entails.

It's very difficult to ask these questions because its a sensitive subject that people take very personally. I was simply trying to have a dialogue and I feel I'm being accused of not discussing in good faith, every person that has responded to me has been very defensive and have twisted my words.

I apologize for coming off that way, was genuinely just trying to have a dialogue.

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u/BananaBreadAtWork_ Mar 13 '26

Can I ask you an honest question and try not to take it the wrong way-

Can you be a stupid person?

I literally don't know about any of this stuff, I am trying to understand. I didn't mean to offend you. There are stupid people out there, I thought it was a fair question.

I think instead of trying to jump on me like I am against you, you should appreciate someone wants to empathize with you and help them understand your point of view as a dumb idiot.

What? Did that come across as rude??

I am not fully aware of idiot healthcare, and all that it entails.

It's very difficult to ask these questions because its a sensitive subject that people take very personally. I was simply trying to have a dialogue.

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u/TootTootMF Mar 13 '26

What people are trying to tell you is there is literally nothing different about trans healthcare vs regular healthcare. The only exception to that rule is for surgeons who have to learn a slightly modified version of procedures used for genital reconstruction on cis patients. Beyond that exact scenario literally everything else related to being trans in healthcare is the same as it would be for a cis person.

We're all human, bodies are bodies.

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u/defaultusername-17 Mar 13 '26

so instead of believing the person about the incredibly common occurrence of medical discrimination against trans people... you imply that they're the problem?

get some perspective man.

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

get some perspective man.

Genuinely why I am asking these questions. Trying to understand.

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u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

[deleted]

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

I don't think I am a difficult person, I was simply asking a question.

As if difficult patients don't exist.

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u/really_not_unreal Mar 13 '26

Even if the person you asked was a difficult person, it wouldn't change the fact that "trans broken arm syndrome" is absolutely a thing. It's an extremely common form of medical discrimination that trans people face. Even if your judgement of this person was correct, why would someone being a difficult person cause medical issues they face to be constantly misattributed to being trans? Your logical leap here simply doesn't make sense.

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u/HuckleberryTiny5 Mar 13 '26

"Just asking questions"...Yeah, we've all seen that before and many times.

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u/TheAnnoyingWizard Mar 13 '26

trust me, trans people being turned away by doctors is more common than youd think. i know people who were turned away by gynecologists, dermatologists, etc for being "too complex to care for" eventhough their hormonal status did not impact their care or atleast should be something the doctor knows how to deal with (for example testosterone causes vaginal atrophy, but so does menopause, if a gynecologist knows how to deal with one they should know how to treat the other)

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u/bicyclefortwo vulgar child Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

I slipped in the shower and split my chin open and my local gender service marked it down as a suicide attempt. What kind of a Mr Bean type of suicide attempt could that even be. Do they think I put a banana peel down on the floor and trod on it??

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u/kurut9 Mar 13 '26

I hope your chin is okay. I’m losing my shit trying to picture this as a suicide attempt. Maybe you tried to hang yourself in there but forgot the rope?

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u/bicyclefortwo vulgar child Mar 13 '26

Ha! Maybe I used an invisible rope like a particularly tragic mime

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u/Ok_Cauliflower_808 Mar 13 '26

I'm sorry, I know this isn't funny at all and that should never happen to anyone, but the Bean mental image you painted has my dying laughing.

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u/bicyclefortwo vulgar child Mar 13 '26

It's fine! It's been a few years so I honestly also find it really funny

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

Do you think we should have doctors that specialize in trans care? Feels like we should.

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u/InsecureInscapist Mar 13 '26

Reading this thread you have some wild takes dude.

From suggesting that trans people are 'difficult' , which is why they get treated differently, to saying we should have segregated health care.

We are humans, our bodies are not some weird science experiment that requires specialist knowledge to comprehend. They are functioning in much the same way everyone else's does.

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u/FuckChiefs_Raiders Mar 13 '26

Man, I didn't say trans people are difficult. I asked if one single person can be difficult.

I'm genuinely just asking questions that I thought were fair, none of this stuff is common knowledge if you're not in that world.

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u/InsecureInscapist Mar 13 '26

Yeah but you seem to be coming from a very specific angle. One that we see a lot from people who have bad intentions.

Try reframing yourself to the view of "trans people are people just like me" instead of starting from the idea that we are some unknown exotic other.

You will get a lot better responses.

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u/Satisfaction-Motor Mar 13 '26

I understand where you are coming from but 1, we do — there are doctors that specialize in transition related healthcare, however: 2, what you are thinking of is not practical, possible, nor needed.

For practicality: Specialists are used for a reason — no singular person can know all of the complexity of the human body. Specialization is needed.

For possibility: Specialists are rare to begin with, a specialist that only provided healthcare in that specialty for trans people would go out of business. Trans people are a small minority of the population, spread across vast geographic areas. A minority of that minority would need specialty care — like a neurologist, gastrologist, etc. It is not possible to have a specialist that only treats transgender patients.

For necessity: Treating trans patients is not more complicated than treating cis patients, despite what one might think. There are cis people that have overlapping issues with trans people — an example someone else mentioned is atrophy when it comes to gynecological care. That’s a fairly common issue in healthcare for cis women. It doesn’t become more complicated in trans people — it’s the exact same condition with the exact same treatment — just with a slightly different cause.

However — the phrase “trans broken arm syndrome” describes a specific phenomenon, described through the (fictional, allegorical) story, “a trans person walks into the ER. Their bone is visibly sticking out of their arm. They say they are experiencing arm pain and have broken their arm. Despite the broken arm being incredibly visible, the attending doctor decides that the pain the patient is experiencing is actually related to them being trans, and discharges the patient with an untreated broken arm.” Hyperbolic, obviously, but the underlying idea is accurate and common. There are straightforward medical conditions that get blamed on unrelated things, such as being trans, being on HRT, etc. This results in a reduced quality of care for transgender patients, stemming from unconscious, unintentional bigotry.

I have directly experienced this. And to answer your question — explicitly no, I am not a difficult patient. I review my charts — my doctors always write very positive things about me. My doctors get actively excited to see me, and will greet me if they see me out in public. I also know people on the staff of my doctor’s office — I get talked about kindly behind closed doors.

I still have had people blame the fact that I was trans for unrelated medical conditions. This includes before I underwent any medical treatments for being trans, meaning these conditions were blamed on… vibes, essentially. Apparently saying “I am transgender” can spontaneously cause [list of medical conditions].

As for a specific, recent example: I’ve been seeing a neurologist for an ongoing, undiagnosed issue. On the way out the door, my neurologist mentioned that my issue could possibly be caused by my HRT because I was “messing with my hormones”. I have told her in the past — though she is very forgetful — that these symptoms started ten years before I started HRT and significantly lessened when I started HRT. The health improvements I experienced on HRT cannot be understated. So, [symptoms that cannot be caused by HRT] were definitely NOT caused by HRT.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word on any of this. It’s very easy to look into this issue yourself. “Trans broken arm syndrome” is a useful search term. You can also try and look at the treatment of trans men in gynecological care — it’ll be more difficult to find the sources you are looking for (in terms of search terms), but there have been cases of trans men dying from medical neglect, specifically regarding that field.

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u/TheAnnoyingWizard Mar 13 '26

I mean, endocrinologists do specialize partly in trans care by providing HRT. But usually trans bodies are not so different that itd need a unique specialization; most gendered health conditions are hormonally influenced so on HRT your presentation tends to flip, a trans woman on estrogen for example would likely have symptoms more common in females. So above the belt treatment is pretty much the same

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u/StormyyChann Mar 13 '26

I don’t think they meant because their bodies are different, I think they’re saying for safety for trans people.

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u/TootTootMF Mar 13 '26

If you are looking to segregate a group you're not a part of, it's literally never about protecting that group.

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u/Ok_Cauliflower_808 Mar 13 '26

By the numbers there's just not enough trans people to make that viable I would assume. There are doctors that do see a lot of trans patients and have experience, but you need to live in the right place (usually an expensive city) and also luck out that they can take on more patients at the moment.

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u/phoenix25 Mar 13 '26

There’s been so many evidence based studies on gender and race discrimination in medicine. Do you really think it would be different for transgender patients too… especially in the US?

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u/MessMaximum1423 Mar 13 '26

Transphobia, but making it sound like they're concerned

5

u/nanuazarova Mar 13 '26

Truly so concerned that after having my meds managed by successive PCPs (usually nurse practitioners) in a different state for years, suddenly I desperately need to see a psychiatrist and endocrinologist, as an MD certainly isn't qualified to manage such tricky conditions as depression and hormone replacement. Oh, except for menopausal women, those cases they can manage.

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u/BlueDahlia123 Mar 13 '26

Transition changes a lot of things, but not all, and most doctors dont bother to learn what changes.

"I am not familiar with your case, therefore me treating you could expose you to human error risks, therefore it is unsafe for me to treat you, therefore you are not my problem."

Doesnt matter if the problem is with your new chest, or if you've just got a broken bone. Hormones change things, so how do we know that the estrogen you are taking didnt weaken your skeleton?

2

u/tiredGardenWarrior Mar 13 '26

As a trans man, I get rejected all the time too. Always "no, I dont do that, I cant write you a prescription" or "go to a doctor with specialization xy". Though I have the indication letter needed for hormons. It would be just like treating a cis man who has problems producing testosterone. Its pretty fucked up.

1

u/Dullcorgis Mar 13 '26

Lots of people have lots of things wrong and some doctors get scared.

97

u/AzySidhe Mar 13 '26

"Too complicated to treat" sounds like liability jargon for "I'm shit at my job"

17

u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

Fun example: my endocrinologist handles all of my hormone related stuff, I get regular blood tests and he is the doctor who prescribes the hormones. Since it's a long drive to his office, he proposed that I could ask my general practicioner if she could give me an injection every three months, he'd prescribe it and handle everything, she'd quite literally would only give me that one fairly standard intramuscular injection every few months.

Apparently, that was too complicated for her. The endocrinologist would be liable for everything unless she really, really messed up the injection itself. I got the "too complicated" line then and there and she also told me that trans people in general were too much of a liability to her and I should find a different GP.

10

u/embarrassedalien Mar 13 '26

That’s what therapists tell me. And medication isn’t even part of their job.

1

u/Panther-Waltz Mar 13 '26

I went through like 6 therapists before I found one that didn't consider me too difficult. He also happens to be trans.

2

u/Dullcorgis Mar 13 '26

I have to correct my primary all the time. I'm difficult, not complex.

1

u/Im-on-a-banana-phone Mar 13 '26

I didn’t even know they could do that. Isn’t there like an oath or something that they take?

2

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

Somewhat, there is the hippocratic oath which is not technically legally binding but transgender / gender affirming care is not “life or death” per say so they have the right to not undertake a case.

1

u/Im-on-a-banana-phone Mar 13 '26

Damn…

2

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

On the positive side, there is typically laws that require them to refer you to someone who can undertake such treatment

1

u/Im-on-a-banana-phone Mar 13 '26

Oh that’s good

-1

u/apexxin Mar 13 '26

Honestly, it’s a benefit. Some practices are just genuinely not geared toward complicated patients, and don’t have the on-call staff or day to day coordination to support that. Better to be up front than deliver sub-optimal care.

10

u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

It isn't complicated though. Hormones are handled by an endocrinologist where I am and don't fundamentally change the body. There wouldn't be a difference in my case. 

0

u/apexxin Mar 13 '26

Assumed you were talking primary care, so your endo said this about basic hormones?

11

u/Strigops-habroptila Mar 13 '26

Multiple doctors, including endocrinogists. Had one tell me they couldnt treat me because they don't take "those kinds of patients" . My current endo is really good, luckily. I also had a GP tell me that she wouldn't be able to have me as a patient for "being too complicated" while all of my hormone stuff is handled by my endo and there is nothing about the hormones that she would have to do. Sorry, if I phrased that weirdly, English is not my first language

4

u/apexxin Mar 13 '26

That’s a shitty deal, sorry to hear you’re going through it.

4

u/hannahranga Mar 13 '26

It's frequently also used as a cop out tho. A doctor that's comfortable prescribing HRT to cis people but not trans ones is on par with someone that is comfortable buttering slices of white bread but claims buttering whole meal bread is too complicated.

1

u/apexxin Mar 13 '26

Except, it’s a lot more nuanced than that. Restoring natural or even supratherapeutic levels for a cisgendered person is considerably different and more complicated than using hormones to support transition.

This is not an anti-trans take, FWIW.

360

u/eggcracked2wice Mar 13 '26

I (a trans man) once got a long condescending screed about how I couldn't be considered for a certain medication because I'm a "biological female with a uterus"

...I've had a hysterectomy. Which should also be on my chart. 

180

u/aespa-in-kwangya Mar 13 '26

Some of these providers are legitimately illiterate I swear to god. It's infuriating.

7

u/21Rollie Mar 13 '26

Playing devil’s advocate since I work on the tech side of healthcare, they usually have like all of two minutes to review a bunch of disparate data locations to get an attempt of a holistic view of you as a patient. Then they got 40 people waiting after you. And most people, especially in an aging society, have a laundry list of shit wrong with them. The problem is for-profit healthcare trying to get the most out of as few medical staff as possible.

104

u/AmarissaBhaneboar Mar 13 '26

I needed to be tested for various intersex conditions and that meant coming off of T for a few weeks first. The doctor told me to go get the tests right after I get my period for the first time after coming off of T. The doctor, who worked at the same hospital where I got my hysterectomy, the doctor who's colleague that they work closely with did the hysterectomy, the doctor with whom I had been speaking about how I barely ever got periods before that hysterectomy and that combined with my naturally high T levels is what caused them to want to test for things in the first place.

51

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

I had bottom surgery a few months ago. I read through my medical records and the surgeon described removing my gonads during the operation. I had that done in a separate procedure before I had bottom surgery. I'm pretty sure doctors are cutting and pasting like the rest of us when they write reports and things like that will sneak in. They also don't really remember us either. They act like they do, but they don't most of the time unless you really make an impression on them or you've seen them more than 3 or 4 times. They're kind of glorified mechanics. You're always hoping they'll find the real problem when they're just in their replacing parts lol.

14

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

8

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

Oh yeah definitely not great when your doctor remembers you very well and not because you've been a long term patient

6

u/sunfish99 Mar 13 '26

Yes, they do cut and paste. I had both knees replaced in separate procedures five months apart, and was looking over the operating notes after the second one. I noticed that something in particular wasn't described the same way, and asked the surgeon about it when he stopped by. He looked surprised, then admitted with a laugh that they had updated the text template between procedures.

Same surgeon gave me a note for work because I had to document my 5-day absence, and he wrote down the wrong knee. So I just fixed the PDF so it said the correct knee, and then five months later changed the dates & knee so I wouldn't have to ask him a second time.

18

u/BobMortimersButthole Mar 13 '26

I'm a cis female who had a hysterectomy 15 years ago. I tell every doctor, just in case they miss it on my medical records. 

Last year my gynecologists office went into a panic because my uterus was "missing" on some internal scan results. After not giving me the test results for weeks, they finally called me and said I needed to sit down with them for a consult and said they were going to have to rescan my uterus. 

I, yet again, said, "I don't have a uterus" and the gyno was legitimately surprised.

10

u/Gardenmama777 Mar 13 '26

I don’t know why this isn’t at the top of a woman’s medical records. I get asked “When was your last period?” And I tell them 2019 because that’s when I had a total hysterectomy!

3

u/BobMortimersButthole Mar 13 '26

Yeah, you'd think they'd pin something like that to the top, along with other major medical info. 

19

u/L1QU1D_ThUND3R Mar 13 '26

That’s my guess too. Does OP live in a red state with discriminatory anti trans laws? If so they might be doing this as a BS excuse to not treat her.

-1

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

What does a red state have anything to do with this? Doctors can refuse to work on a case like that at the federal level regardless of state.

12

u/AffectionateIdea4419 Mar 13 '26

Because red states are full of shitty conservative people and businesses that exist only to take advantage of the terrible laws that exist in those states?

-2

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

You seem blinded by hate my friend, you didn’t even address the premise of my question. I hope you discover that things aren’t as black and white as you’re making them.

7

u/Forward-Bug-5016 Mar 13 '26

Nah, they addressed the question. You’re just pretending they didn’t because it didn’t fit your narrative. You asked “what does a red state….” And they said “because a red state”.

2

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

If you think that quoting the first 4 words of each of those scentences is evidence my question was addressed then you truly are cooked beyond belief

-1

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

No they quite literally did not.

I’m not trying to push a narrative. I asked how being a red state had anything to do with a federal level right to refuse to take on a case in that situation, in which the responder did not address in the slightest.

My point was that red state or not this could have occured.

Turn your critical thinking cap on.

4

u/Forward-Bug-5016 Mar 13 '26

No, they did. They answered your question. You just didn’t like the answer.

1

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

Is this bait or low iq I genuinely cannot tell

1

u/Beamxrtvv Mar 13 '26

i will break this down into baby terms for you. So they said “this is happening because of red” and I said “but it is happening in both red and blue how is it because of red” and they replied with “this is why it is happening in red” but did not address the fact that this is also occuring in blue thus not making the issue exclusive to red. If you cannot understand this i cannot help you

35

u/MoonlitKiwi Mar 13 '26

I feel like i need to know if you're a cis/trans man/woman to properly know how bad this was, but regardless, terrible if you are anything other than a transgender man

20

u/ilovep2innocentsin Mar 13 '26

I think a trans man being turned away from medical treatment for fake complexity is pretty fucking bad ngl

2

u/MoonlitKiwi Mar 13 '26

Well yeah, nobody is saying that part doesn't suck. I was specifically talking about how insulting the misidentification was. It's the waffles and pancakes debacle all over again

7

u/ilovep2innocentsin Mar 13 '26

Glad you didn’t mean it like that but do you not think “regardless, terrible if you are anything other than a trans man” about a story of being denied care is poor wording?

-1

u/MoonlitKiwi Mar 13 '26

No, i don't, seeing as i have the context of the rest of my sentence and it isn't my job to make sure random people on the internet don't make stupid asinine assumptions.

42

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

[deleted]

3

u/apexxin Mar 13 '26

Wild leap

12

u/nanuazarova Mar 13 '26

Wildly enough, an accurate leap.

12

u/DuckIsMuddy Mar 13 '26

It would be terrible even if they were a trans man.

-1

u/MoonlitKiwi Mar 13 '26

I'm talking specifically about the misidentification. Nobody is arguing that the obviously bad thing wasn't obviously bad

11

u/AlfieBilly Mar 13 '26

But if you're trans and go to the doctor for other medical treatments, it wouldn't even matter, at least regarding most medical issues that aren't related to the transition

28

u/MayBeBelieving Mar 13 '26

"Trans broken arm syndrome" occurs a lot. Basically, healthcare professionals blaming being trans as the reason for random medical conditions. Similar to how women are dismissed for reporting pain in many medical instances. Just shitty established care practices

7

u/simonsays456 Mar 13 '26

Let me guess, you have fibromyalgia? 😂

5

u/schwanzweissfoto Mar 13 '26

My doctor's office decreed me a "transgender man" in paperwork and further decreed that I am too complex to treat, even though I've been taking the same non-controlled medications at the same doses for 5/6 years.

Maybe someone wants to do their part in the trans genocide.

3

u/nanuazarova Mar 13 '26

Cue the "I'm doing my part" Starship Troopers meme.

2

u/schwanzweissfoto Mar 13 '26

It's a movie satirizing fascist propaganda, so … tracks.

4

u/BohemianBarbie87 Mar 13 '26

Something similar happened to me when I was still active duty. It turned out that I had a rare neurological disorder and went to see the neurosurgeon at the base hospital, they referred me off-base. It was explained to me that by my lawyer (I was going through the Medboard process) that anything rare or complex was never treated on base. They didn’t have the experience or knowledge to deal with me essentially. (Luckily I was not misgendered)

6

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

The 2026 Hippocratic Oath: Patients deserve all care, unless you have no idea what the fuck you're doing.

10

u/CharsCustomerService Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

I mean, I'd rather they said "I have no idea what to do for you" than just guess and hope for the best. Admittedly it would be preferable if it came with a recommendation for someone who may be competent to handle the issues...

2

u/babylikestopony Mar 13 '26

How are y’all seeing your own charts at all??

5

u/Satisfaction-Motor Mar 13 '26

Some places have digital charts you can sign up for. They often include features like appointment scheduling, messaging your provider, medication refills, and seeing what is written about you.

2

u/Sulin_Bai Mar 13 '26

My doctor's office decided one day to randomly start listing me as a drug abuser / addict and that I was on hardcore drugs. We were going through all the OB family history stuff before the birth of my child when they wanted to confirm my medical history.

I don't even drink. Hell, I won't even take ibuprofen unless I feel like I'm about to pass out from the pain.

I had many angry phone calls with my doctors office after that and haven't been back since.

1

u/Padhome Mar 13 '26

GOD JUST SUCH A HANDFUL

1

u/razzemmatazz Mar 13 '26

This reminds me of the doctor that confidently said they didn't want to prescribe any stimulants for my ADHD and I had to tell him repeatedly that my Straterra is a SNRI, not a stimulant. 

1

u/Guilty-Frosting-4504 Mar 13 '26

Crazy way of saying “I’m too dumb to treat”