Doctors Want To Learn More About Treating Transgender Patients, Survey Shows

One in three transgender patients reports experiencing serious discrimination or bias when seeking medical care, even when that care is unrelated to their transgender status, according to a recent survey of nearly 30,000 people, released in December.

These negative experiences ― which ranged from verbal harassment, physical or sexual assault and refusal of treatment, to having to educate doctors about transgender people ― degrade the overall standard of care that transgender people receive, no matter what health care needs they may have. In fact, 23 percent of survey respondents said they skipped seeing a doctor, even though they needed to, for fear of mistreatment.