Don't assume you know me

Published on March 8, 2006 By BlueDev In Misc

Bizarre.

That is the only way to describe it. Bizarre. I am currently taking my 4 week, mandatory "Capstone" course. It is an amalgamation of all sorts of different things they think they should teach us before we go. Sort of a last ditch effort. To be fair, there have been some really great lectures/presentations so far.

But today we had a class that just beat them all. It was a thoroughly uncomfortable experience.

The class was on LGBT issues in medicine. LGBT is the abbreviation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered. So, we start off with a group activity, with different sections of the room discussing issues specific to each group. Of course, we brought up the notion of fear of discrimination, specific education regarding STD transmission, etc. While we aren't old, seasoned doctors, we have all been trained in an era when LGBT lifestyles aren't unheard of, and have had exposure.

But apparently the instructor had an agenda, and a healthy set of assumptions about us. From the get go, it was obvious that she had a chip on her shoulder. The haughty, passive/aggressive manner in which she addressed some of the comments and questions made it evident from the beginning. She was on a mission.

Apparently that mission was to assume and assert we were all insensitive troglodytes.

Throughout the course of the presentation she constantly asserted that we needed to treat LGBT patients as "different". On the other hand, we asserted that we should treat them the same: as patients. If their sexual preference was germane to their visit, we would address it. If not, there was no reason to perseverate. In other words, we didn't want to define them by their sexual preference, but the person who was there to teach us to be sensitive to their "issues" was positive we needed to define them by their sexual preference.

She assumed that we would be uncomfortable by a patient's sexuality if it wasn't good old vanilla heterosexuality. She assumed that none of us had the insight to ask our patients if they have sex with men, women or both. We all do, we have been trained to NOT assume, and just ask the patients and let them answer. She asserted that there were specific issues we needed to address with an LGBT patient that we wouldn't with a heterosexual patient. When we asked what those issues we would need to address were, she just clammed up and informed us she wasn't there to discuss biology.

In the end, she stopped her presentation short, and pretty much stormed out of the room. Simply because we refused to be prejudiced in the way she thought we should be. Instead of being relieved that, as a group, we are pretty comfortable in dealing with LGBT patients, she chose to be upset that her assumptions about us were incorrect.

Bizarre.

Comments (Page 1)

Texas Wahine

on Mar 08, 2006

Eek.

Wonder how many lawsuits (heh, or the desire to start one up) and/or hurt feelings have been caused by doctors who've followed her instructions?

BlueDev

on Mar 08, 2006

Wonder how many lawsuits (heh, or the desire to start one up) and/or hurt feelings have been caused by doctors who've followed her instructions?

You know, I just don't know. What was even more weird is she is intimately tied to the whole LGBT culture. She has worked in AIDS clinics, works in the diversity office, etc. She has experience, which is why I found it even more disturbing that she assumed we would all be terrified of the notion of working with LGBT patients.

MarcieMoo

on Mar 08, 2006

I've had similar experiences within my professional training as well. So much so that I left my professional training and went on my merry way.

Texas Wahine

on Mar 08, 2006

She has experience, which is why I found it even more disturbing that she assumed we would all be terrified of the notion of working with LGBT patients.

I wonder if she come across that before and just projected it on to you guys? I'm glad to hear that you guys weren't a captive audience for her and actually challenged her wrong-headed assumptions.

Again, eek.

bakerstreet

on Mar 08, 2006

I've noticed that a lot of people like that won't believe you even if you say you aren't hung up about it. The idea seems to be that the biases are so ingrained and subliminal that there is no way to be raised in our culture without suffering from them.

Stanty8

on Mar 08, 2006

I suffered through the same class today, and I echo BlueDev's comments. It was probably the most awkward and adversarial lecture that I've ever been to. I've talked to LGBT people in the class, and they also agreed is was very subpar.

She came in unprepared, frightened, and angry. I think she was actually not the person who was supposed to be giving the talk - evidently the same lecture last year (given by a different person) was a huge hit.

Of course, some of the rather infamous members of our class goaded her on a bit...

Trudygolightly

on Mar 08, 2006

, man they must have dug her up in Nevada or Utah, one of those places I saw on tv today where you can, for a price, dig up dinosaor bones, fossils, that sort of thing. You did say "trogdolytes"? I think that's one of the fossils you can dig up, she sure sounds like a basket case...

weird woman!

BlueDev

on Mar 08, 2006

Of course, some of the rather infamous members of our class goaded her on a bit...

Of course they did. That is just part of the fun.

It was just so weird. I am still scratching my head over the whole experience.

The idea seems to be that the biases are so ingrained and subliminal that there is no way to be raised in our culture without suffering from them.

I suppose we can't give up our biases 100%. We will always have them. But I feel that a lot of use have been able to learn to set the biases aside, even though we still have them. Heck, I think recognizing we have them is important, so we can set them aside. She just seemed convinced that it was her job to tear down these biases of ours, when most of us have already learned to set them aside and just deal with the patient as a human, not as a queer (her word, used extensively) or a straight, just as a person.

bakerstreet

on Mar 08, 2006

Kind of reminds me of witchhunters who believed that only they had the authority to decide who was a witch, and you, yourself might even be one without knowing it. I guess this lady was sent to purge you of evils you don't even know you have.

MasonM

on Mar 08, 2006

How dare you people show up and be sensitive and understanding without her tutelage? If people keep up that sort of thing her job may well become unnecessary. Shame on you!

ParaTed2k

on Mar 08, 2006

I'm just sitting here wondering if there was a gay person in that room being told by this princess o' propaganda how uncomfortable he must be around gay people. ;~D

I remember our lecture about such patients. It was short, to the point and very informative. Basically it was, "well, we don't judge any other kind of patient out of our own biases, so why start now?"

In a profession where the patient could be a murderer, rapist, child molestor or anyone else we wouldn't choose to have in the back of our ambulances, LGBT just doesn't seem like the ones you would need extensive education in dealing with. ;~D

Now, how to hold your professional demeanor when your patient is an abusive father, whose 12 year old daughter finally showed him what she thinks of his form of "love"... that would be a great experience for a med student.

Dr Guy

on Mar 09, 2006

I will commend you on your writing as I could not tell from the article whether she was pro or anti (but your comments answered that). Given the precautions that health care workers now take, unless they have some exotic disease, I dont see how their life style would matter.

But then as Stanty8 mentioned, apparently some people in the class liked goading her too!

foreverserenity

on Mar 09, 2006

Totally bizarre!

Funny Mason, funny!

Gideon MacLeish

on Mar 09, 2006

This is not surprising. While advocates for the developmentally disabled insisted we drop the term "retarded" decades ago because it was insensitive to the DD community, the chief advocacy group for the developmentally disabled changed its name only three short years ago from the "Association for RETARDED Citizens". And, as a young man with Down's Syndrome once lamented, it was only among these groups where anyone ever called him "retarded" anymore.

These advocates ALWAYS expect us to be more "enlightened" than they are.

Gideon MacLeish

on Mar 09, 2006

Oh, and, btw...our lecture on dealing with LBGT issues was confined to "be careful as a first responder. You may come across things you don't expect, and you HAVE to be professional at ALL TIMES".

Between the advice I got and the advice para got, I think that sums it up perfectly.

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