Provider Ignorance and Biases Turn Lesbians Patients off Healthcare

By Pamela Merritt for RHRealityCheck

When seeking medical care, LGBT people are often confronted with a system that denies our existence or insults who we are. From medical forms that ask for a patient’s marital status to doctors who refuse care to lesbians who seek to parent to medical ignorance of intersex conditions, even LGBT people with health insurance struggle to get the healthcare services they are paying for and need.

The lesbian community faces unique challenges when accessing health care, from widespread provider misperception about STI risks for women who partner with women to doctors who tailor their medical advice to stereotypes they have of lesbians’ lives and needs.

For the full article see: http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/08/01/provider-ignorance-bias-turn-lesbian-patients-off-health-care