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@PALKO_HTA recommends "confusion" regarding gender identity should be first treated in local health center or special health care (erikoissairaanhoito) before referring the patient to trans clinic at TAYS /HUS.
That does not support health and safety of trans folks. Thread:
That does not support health and safety of trans folks. Thread:
Firstly, the new recommendations are available (in Finnish) here: https://palveluvalikoima.fi/valmiit-suositukset
Binary">https://palveluvalikoima.fi/valmiit-s... trans folks and nonbinary folks are discussed in separate recommendations - which doesn& #39;t make sense. I am referring to recs. regarding binary trans people since that& #39;s who I am.
Binary">https://palveluvalikoima.fi/valmiit-s... trans folks and nonbinary folks are discussed in separate recommendations - which doesn& #39;t make sense. I am referring to recs. regarding binary trans people since that& #39;s who I am.
At the moment, to enter the diagnostic process at TAYS or HUS, one needs a referral from a doctor (from e.g. local health center) that is then evaluated at TAYS/HUS and either accepted or rejected. Approved ref. starts the long diagnostic process that may result in diagnosis.
The doctor one goes to get a referral from might have never written one before nor treated a trans person before in any capacity.
In new recommendations instead of referring the patient to a specialized clinic, they& #39;d be asked to provide psychosocial care to that patient. (4/x)
In new recommendations instead of referring the patient to a specialized clinic, they& #39;d be asked to provide psychosocial care to that patient. (4/x)
Of course every doctor should be equipped knowledge about transgender and nonbinary that they& #39;d know how to treat us in their _regular work_ (e.g. not get flustered when encountering trans bodies or names and legal genders that do not match.) (5/x)
But we cannot expect that every health center will have a doctor that knows how to treat/support someone that is struggling with their gender identity and/or experiencing gender dysphoria.
By doing so we put patients at risk of being mistreated. (6/x)
By doing so we put patients at risk of being mistreated. (6/x)
Maybe not every person seeking for referral is trans or nonbinary.
But we wouldn& #39;t accept this kind of policies with other medical conditions? Like maybe that& #39;s skin cancer but I& #39;m not an expert so... I& #39;ll just try something and not refer you to a specialist? right? No. (7/x)
But we wouldn& #39;t accept this kind of policies with other medical conditions? Like maybe that& #39;s skin cancer but I& #39;m not an expert so... I& #39;ll just try something and not refer you to a specialist? right? No. (7/x)
This of course happens with other conditions too - and it shouldn& #39;t. But putting it into a policy is next level wrong.
Not to mention that doctors are not immune to bigotry and biases regarding trans people. There& #39;s no guarantee a doctor might just not believe we exist. (8/x)
Not to mention that doctors are not immune to bigotry and biases regarding trans people. There& #39;s no guarantee a doctor might just not believe we exist. (8/x)
And those that simply no nothing about trans folks, rely on recommendations and guidelines. The doctor I got my referral from in 2017 had never written one before. They were kind to me but very confused.
Had PALKO& #39;s rec. been in place, I don& #39;t know if they had referred me. (9/x)
Had PALKO& #39;s rec. been in place, I don& #39;t know if they had referred me. (9/x)
And mind you, I lived in Turku and purposefully went to employee healthcare hoping for more accepting doctor. I couldn& #39;t have imagined going to my childhood hometown& #39;s health clinic.
Nobody should be scared to seek treatment and help. But that& #39;s what the new rec creates. (10/x)
Nobody should be scared to seek treatment and help. But that& #39;s what the new rec creates. (10/x)
To put it simply: imagine you& #39;re having some symptoms that are pointing to condition X. You go to a doctor that doesn& #39;t specialize in X to get a referral. But instead of referring you to a specialist, without knowledge of your potential condition, they put you to therapy (11/x)
We don& #39;t need more gatekeeping. The current diagnostic process is already long and complicated - and not everyone referred is taken in as a patient. Not everyone is diagnosed.
This all precedes even a name change let alone legal changes. That& #39;s inhumane. #translakinyt (12/x)
This all precedes even a name change let alone legal changes. That& #39;s inhumane. #translakinyt (12/x)
My experience:
I understood that I was trans in 2013, when I was 19. I was scared and didn& #39;t seek referral to diagnostic process until summer 2018 (got the year wrong earlier).
My process took 1 year and 9 months and I got my diagnosis (F64.0, binary trans) this April.
I understood that I was trans in 2013, when I was 19. I was scared and didn& #39;t seek referral to diagnostic process until summer 2018 (got the year wrong earlier).
My process took 1 year and 9 months and I got my diagnosis (F64.0, binary trans) this April.
Because of Finnish name law, I couldn& #39;t file for name change until I got my diagnosis. That is still being processed.
My legal name is still my birth name. My legal gender is still female.
I am not on hormones but I look like a young boy. Showing my id to anyone is scary.
My legal name is still my birth name. My legal gender is still female.
I am not on hormones but I look like a young boy. Showing my id to anyone is scary.
I& #39;ve been living as Ossian since last summer but I had to wait for a diagnosis to even _apply_ to have it as my legal name.
Why do these legal changes need to be tied to a medical process?
And why on earth would we make that medical process even harder to access?
#translakinyt
Why do these legal changes need to be tied to a medical process?
And why on earth would we make that medical process even harder to access?
#translakinyt
These last tweets weren& #39;t about PALKO rec. anymore, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We shouldn& #39;t need to be fighting agaisnt going backwards in our rights when our current situation already violates human rights and is against the law. Seriously. Scrap PALKO rec and #translakinyt. End of thread
We shouldn& #39;t need to be fighting agaisnt going backwards in our rights when our current situation already violates human rights and is against the law. Seriously. Scrap PALKO rec and #translakinyt. End of thread
