LGBTQ+ patients frequently experience high rates of discrimination and unfair treatment in both their daily lives and in healthcare settings compared to other patients.
A recent report from KFF, a medical health policy research and polling organization, found LGBTG+ adults “were twice as likely as non-LGBTQ+ adults to report negative experiences while receiving health care in the last three years, including being treated unfairly or with disrespect (33% v. 15%) or having at least one of several other negative experiences with a provider (61% v. 31%), including a provider assuming something about them without asking, suggesting they were personally to blame for a health problem, ignoring a direct request or question or refusing to prescribe needed pain medication.”
Another article in The New England Journal of Medicine – A Legacy of Cruelty to Sexual and Gender Minority Groups – explores the history of LGBTQ+ discrimination among the broader medical community and its own coverage of related research and medical opinions. The referendum finds, “Exhuming the Journal’s portrayals of SGM people reveals the ways in which medicine continues to treat LGBTQ+ people as abnormal. Diagnostic and billing practices built on the International Classification of Diseases — with codes such as ICD-10 F64.0, ‘gender identity disorder in adolescence and adulthood,’ and ICD-10 Z72.52, ‘high risk homosexual behavior’ — perpetuate pathologizing misconceptions from another era.”
These disparities point to a clear need for ongoing education and culturally competent care. The following resources from ACOFP offer a starting point for physicians looking to better serve LGBTQ+ patients in family medicine settings.
Read More in ACOFP Voice
