The results of a Southern California man’s most recent routine physical revealed a few conditions that really did not surprise him: He has a B-12 deficiency, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
But it was another condition, identified as “chronic” on Matthew Moore’s patient plan, that blindsided him: His physician had listed “homosexual behavior” as a disease on his chart.
Moore, an openly gay man, was understandably shocked, as he told NBC News: “My jaw was on the floor. At first, I kind of laughed, I thought, ‘Here’s another way that gay people are lessened and made to feel less-than,’ and then as I thought about it and as I dealt with it, it angered me.”
When he returned to the office to discuss his doctor’s diagnosis, she defended it to him, explaining that it “is still up to debate” whether or not homosexuality is “thought of as a disease,” according to Moore. (Fact check: It is decidedly not “still up to debate.”)
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The health association returned Moore’s money and included a note of apology distancing itself from his doctor’s actions. ...
“We would like to unequivocally state that the Torrance Memorial Physician Network does not view homosexuality as a disease or a chronic condition and we do not endorse or approve of the use of Code 302.0 as a diagnosis for homosexuality.” ...
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Medicine is not a field in which the active application of one's sociopolitical views is harmless and acceptable. The "good" Doctor should be told, "can it... or be canned."
In SoCal I can guarantee that the doctor is gone, possibly to Orange County, but even that is iffy these days.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia on the East side of the coastal mountains is what's left. My city council critter in San Diego in the late 1980s was openly gay, so this is really an aberration.
Bryan, _my_ jaw dropped when I read this. In Houston... friggin' Houston, f'chrissake... we have an openly lesbian mayor, and she looks likely to win her third (and by law final) term this fall. Basically, no one thinks about it except the fundies, and Houston is, after all, a big city, even if it is in Texas, so they are not the heart of the electorate. But SoCal? That doc is bound to be mighty lonely!
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