Allison Hope is a writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Slate and elsewhere. The views expressed here are the author's. Read more opinion on CNN.
A young man I met while doing advocacy work once told me a horrific story that has stuck with me for years. He realized he was having trouble breathing. He knew the culprit was likely asthma, a life-long affliction for him. He was well enough to get himself to the emergency room at the small hospital near his town in New York's largely rural Hudson Valley. But when the staff learned that he was transgender, he said, they turned him away.
Allison Hope This young man, who shared his story with the request that he not be named, is lucky that he survived without emergency medical intervention. This scenario sounds horrific and sensational, but there are many more stories like this one, where transgender people and those who don't neatly fit into categories of male or female have been denied necessary health care. The medical staff that denied this man critical medical care should be liable, by any standard of humanity.
Disturbing rise in hate crimes against transgender community 03:42Transgender people already face stark health disparities, in part because they have historically been denied care. According to a study last year by the Center for American Progress, nearly one in three transgender people reported being turned away by a health care provider in the previous year.
Opinion More victims?
Opinion They are already endangered, they were when they became sick.
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Opinion 2nd day in a row of this fake news
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Opinion Biggest lie fake news has told today. Hospitals do NOT turn anyone away for life threatening conditions (asthma attack) or discriminate. ***Nurses-please respond to this BS. RN nurses Nurse nursetwitter ERnurse
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