#healthcare in the south

[bekandrew]

A Good Trans Medical Story

This morning I had surgery today for the phase 1/trial period/temporary version of the nerve stimulator bladder implant I'm supposed to be getting (and first of all, holy shit! A relatively minimally invasive and easily reversible trial period for implants!!!). I'm decades younger than the usual patient that needs this, but I had sepsis earlier this year and it fucked up a lot of things, including leaving me walking with a cane. It should be noted that I'm transmasc and I live in Mississippi. Even though the doctor I was seeing wasn't in a religious hospital when I saw him for appointments, he had surgical space at one of the religious hospitals - and his people had marked me as Male in my records. Even when I had to clarify with the receptionist at the Mississippi religious hospital that I was trans because it was potentially relevant to the surgery, she was kind and happy to help me, and even went out of her way to ask a supervisor how to enter the information properly so it wouldn't get messed up. It should be further noted that the surgery had nothing to do with transitioning in the slightest, I was just a person who happened to be trans seeking healthcare. Even the original sepsis had nothing inherently to do with my transness, really, just poverty and being brushed off as "med-seeking" until I was obviously and visibly dying. The surgical nurse was polite when asking whether I still had the equipment needed for pregnancy to determine whether I needed the routine pre-procedure pregnancy test. No one gawked or made a big deal about anything. There was only one person who misgendered me, but I don't remember how long they were actually in the room, and I don't know whether they even saw anything other than my long hair. So I don't know for sure whether it was malicious and will choose to believe it was accidental because the rest of the experience went well. Beyond that, when I was (as usual) a difficult stick for the IV - I probably have some scar tissue in places from the sheer number of times I've been hospitalized or needed ER trips - the nurse tried only a couple short times before reaching for the lidocaine and using what would be a normally painful spot in the wrist. he got a great, painless IV line in only one more try and I wish hospitals would just do that sort of thing with me from now on. 11/10.

The surgery itself was also significantly less painful than other surgeries I've had before, and they provided low-dose but still completely sufficient medication and recommendations for how much ibuprofen to take. My symptoms already seem to be getting better to the extent I hadn't realized quite how bad they were before and I'm very excited to get the full implant soon after the trial period is over. My quality of life is going to increase measurably.

[pissditching]

not to doompost or anything, but if you’re trans, arm yourself. if you’re the parent of a trans child, arm yourself. if you’re trans in south dakota and you have the ability to get out, do it now. they aren’t going to stop here and we need to prepare for when it gets worse.

[genderqueerpositivity]

Our state Senate will likely vote on a gender affirming care ban this morning, intending to get the bill on the governers desk with only days left in the legislative session. Depending on how today goes, the ban could be signed into law as early as tomorrow.

The bill isn't just a gender affirming care ban for minors:

It prevents Medicaid coverage for gender affirming care for anyone under 26

It forcibly medically detransitions all minors

It creates a legal definition of male and female

Has explicit exceptions to allow for nonconsensual procedures on intersex youth

And requires public school staff to out trans children

So it's bad here and I'm nervous for the future of our trans community.

[junkyardromeo]

IMPORTANT:

if you live in south carolina, please take a second to fill out this form to try and stop the house from passing an anti-trans healthcare bill. if you don’t live in south carolina, PLEASE reblog this so that it can reach as many south carolinians as possible. thank you.

[odinsblog]

Is hell freezing over?

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina senators rejected a bill that would have banned nearly all abortions in a conservative state that has increasingly served patients across a region where Republican officials have otherwise curtailed access.

A 22-21 vote Thursday marks the third time a near-total abortion ban has failed in the Republican-led chamber since the U.S. Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last summer. Six Republicans helped block motions to end debate and defeated any chance the bill passes this year.

The chamber’s five women filibustered the proposal in speeches highlighting the Senate’s male majority that they criticized for pushing debates on abortion over other pressing issues.

Republican Sen. Penry Gustafson spent over 30 minutes Wednesday detailing the bodily changes throughout every stage of pregnancy. Gustafson said she spoke so long because the millions of women addressed in the bill had not been heard. She emphasized her “pro-life” position but said the proposal left “no room for empathy, reality or graciousness.”

Republican Sen. Sandy Senn criticized Majority Leader Shane Massey for repeatedly “taking us off a cliff on abortion.”

“The only thing that we can do when you all, you men in the chamber, metaphorically keep slapping women by raising abortion again and again and again, is for us to slap you back with our words,” Senn said.

(continue reading)

[skeleslime-phantom]

‼️HEY GUYS‼️

This is happening in my state and as a trans guy who wants to continue receiving care and wants other trans people to have the same opportunity, this is a big deal.

There's a pre-filled out form you can submit, feel free to add custom comments at the top. If you have a moment to spare, the support goes a long way!

TYSM, wish you nothing but success 🙌 💓

[forbiddennhoney]

im begging people to turn on the post dates for your feed bc sometimes i see ppl rb advice with good intentions but the advice is from 2010-2017 and therefore is WILDLY outdated!!!! and that's not good!!!!!

[palisadewasp]

Someday We'll Get Out of Tennessee

You've been growing out your hair for a while; It's even longer than mine now. Beautiful golden waves like sand dunes that I brush at the edge of the bed. I ask you if I'm brushing too hard. You tell me to ease up just a little. Don't worry, young one. I trust you to know what's best for your body.

I see you curled up next to my son on the couch, head rested against his shoulder. It's a feeling of contentment that's hard to find here, especially for girls like you and boys like him. I promise I'll find us a place where peace is easier to come by. I promise we'll all be safe.

When he brought you home to meet me for the first time, I instantly wanted to take you under my wing and treat you like my daughter. Any friend of my son's is a friend of mine, of course! I know my love will never replace that which your true parents should've given you, but I'll still try my hardest to make you feel safe and at home. Not only is it my obligation as a mother, it is a duty I've always loved fulfilling.

Your houseplant's been looking a little droopy lately, so I've decided to take it outside for some sun. That's one thing I'll miss if we ever end up having to move north: The sun. Gardening's easy here, and the weather's just right. When we finally make our escape, I hope the sun's warmth follows us.

Oh, and we will escape one day, I promise. And we'll have love abound and lots of good food and the light of my life will go off to college and hopefully he'll come back and see his mother sometimes, and we'll have more than enough money for you to get the care you need and you'll be such, such, such a pretty girl. You already are. You already are.

And your love and I will be waiting out front and we'll see you go in and I'll be praying as hard as I can for everything to go well because I've always been a little scared of surgeries, but I'll put my fears aside because this is what's best for you and it's what you've always wanted and seeing you happy is all I will ever want in life.

Don't worry, young one. I trust you to know what's best for your body.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Erin Reed at Erin In The Morning:

Days after a landmark ruling in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that found medical discrimination against transgender people unconstitutional, the South Carolina Senate passed a broad gender-affirming care ban. The bill, House Bill 4624, prohibits gender-affirming care for transgender youth and also targets mental health providers. It forces teachers to out transgender students to their parents. It also includes an expansive public funding ban, prohibiting the use of public funds "directly or indirectly" for gender-affirming care at any age, potentially affecting the availability of all transgender care in the state. By doing so, South Carolina appears to be ignoring a ruling from the very court circuit in which it is located, just days after the decision was issued.

The bill states that “A physician, mental health provider, or other health care professional shall not knowingly provide gender transition procedures to a person under eighteen years of age.” The mental health provider portion of the bill was a heavy point of contention, with the ACLU of South Carolina interpreting it to cover at least some counseling for gender dysphoria. Though a later amendment was added that says it would not “impose liability on any speech protected by federal or state law,” the vagueness of the bill means that mental health providers who give out of state treatment locations to the families of transgender youth may still be targeted.

The bill also includes an extremely broad prohibition on public funding for gender-affirming care. It specifies that "public funds may not be used directly or indirectly" for such care, regardless of the recipient's age. This would eliminate Medicaid coverage, prohibit gender-affirming care under the state employee health insurance plan, and could potentially target any doctor or hospital that receives public funding. Notably, "indirectly" funding gender-affirming care could mean that any doctor providing such care might see state grants jeopardized. Such actions have already been taken against the Medical University of South Carolina, whose funding was threatened unless it ceased all transgender care in 2023. The hospital discontinued care for all transgender youth shortly thereafter. This provision, along with much of the bill, appears to come from the Family Policy Alliance’s model legislation, although it goes further than that model legislation in applying the ban to any age.

The bill seems to both directly and indirectly disregard a recent decision by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, to which South Carolina belongs. In that decision, a Medicaid ban on transgender care in West Virginia and a public employee health care policy ban in North Carolina were deemed unconstitutional. The court determined that gender identity is a protected characteristic and that medical discrimination infringes upon the equal protection rights of transgender individuals. Similarly, it ruled that Medicaid bans contravene both the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid Act.

South Carolina shamefully decided to circumvent the 4th Circuit Court’s Kadel v. Folwell ruling by passing a bill (H4624) to ban not only gender-affirming care but also tack on a forced outing provision.

[alethianightsong]

European healthcare: "Time for my regular doctor's checkup."

American healthcare: "Welp, that lump in my leg hasn't gotten any bigger. Time for work! Maybe if I skip breakfast every odd day, I can keep the landlord off my ass."

[aflamethatneverdies]

@pilferingapples it is more egregious because all these articles written by Global North academics are talking about decolonising the field of bioethics, they're talking about importance of listening to and recognising research in healthcare from Global South and yet, how do you expect this to happen in the unequal system that persists in academia?? I can easily find articles about bioethics from US, UK, EU, Australia etc. There is dearth of information from Global South and the ones that are published are behind a paywall. The least, the extreme bare minimum these journals can do is make it open access, waive the fees. But, no! All their arguments are for their research papers. No one actually wants to do what they are so eager to publish. And that kinda sucks, imo.

[southernsolarpunk]

26!!! TWENTY SIX YEARS OLD???

[genderqueerpositivity]

South Carolina just released a new law that goes beyond trans youth and instead would ban transgender people up to the age of 21 from receiving gender affirming care. It would criminalize doctors from providing gender affirming care for trans youth as well. It doesn’t stop there though. The bill would also ban informed consent hormone therapy, the most common form of hormone therapy for all transgender adults, and would require psychiatrists to sign off on gender affirming care - a model of care that has been outdated since the 1990s. It bans public funds for gender affirming care. It bans comprehensive health programs from encouraging transition for trans students. Lastly, it forces teachers to out students who they even suspect are trans to their parents. This is an absolutely devastating bill, and if it is allowed to go through, it would dramatically harm many trans youth in the state.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

South Dakota, take action tomorrow and show up for our trans community at a protest near you! Let's show them, and our legislators that trans people belong in our state. Protest House Bill 1080. Gender affirming care saves lives!

Via Transformation Project Advocacy Network

[southpark-art]

What did I do while I was stuck in Manchester because every single train to where I live is delayed?

I rewrote the American healthcare system to be the British transport system.

I’m still stuck btw.