Medical records should accurately identify LGBTQ Canadians: advocates
Global News
A report is calling for the addition of more fields on medical forms in all jurisdictions to capture the full diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Correcting health-care providers who typically assume he’s heterosexual gets tiring for Jeremy Long, who wants his queer identity to be acknowledged and counted in electronic health records.
“It’s taxing on a person’s mental health and their ability to be understood by the world and to have to constantly feel like it’s a piece of the fight of coming out again and again, which can be retraumatizing,” the 38-year-old said from Vancouver.
“People aren’t always asking questions that lead to more understanding. They’re just labelling and so to have to correct that, it feels exhausting,” Long said.
Long, who came out at age 15, said LGBTQ patients should be asked appropriate questions instead of sometimes facing judgment and feeling unsafe when they access care.
Advocates are also pushing for the inclusion of gender, sex and sexual identity information in electronic health records through a co-ordinated and standardized approach across the country.
The Community-Based Research Centre, based in Vancouver, released a report Wednesday calling for the addition of more fields on medical forms in all jurisdictions to capture the full diversity of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Michael Kwag, the centre’s executive director, said that information is either misrepresented or not properly collected in Canada’s health-care system but including it would make it easier to plan for services the LGBTQ community needs.
“Lesbian, gay, bisexual or queer people do have unique health needs and at times also experience higher rates of physical and mental health issues,” Kwag said.
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