Ethical Issues In Healthcare

This paper focuses on the ethical biases healthcare workers exhibit in the treatment of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) aka “homosexual” patient. The premise for this paper is that LGBT patients are discriminated against in healthcare because of their sexual orientation. I will show evidence to support the argument that LGBT patients are not treated equal due to ethical dilemmas of the healthcare organization and provider. As healthcare leaders it’s our responsibility to create a welcoming environment for our LGBT patients and their community.
What does LGBT mean?
• Lesbian is female identified as a person who is attracted romantically, physically or emotionally to another female-identified person (Merriam-Webster, …show more content…
It is estimated that approximately 2.3% of Americans make up the LGBT population in the U.S. (NHIS 2014). These people have often been discriminated against in the healthcare organizations and should have access to quality health care. According to Dolan (2012) a recent report by Lambda Legal found that 56% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people and 70% of transgender people have been discriminated against while accessing healthcare in the U.S. The discrimination experienced by LGBT individuals ranged from the healthcare worker refusing to touch them to taking unneeded universal precautions before doing so; being spoken to disrespectfully with harsh language, and receiving rough physical treatment. A study conducted by Snelgrove, Jasudavisius, Rowe, Head and Bauer (2012) revealed that specific barriers to healthcare for the transgender patient included medical knowledge deficits of the practitioner, ethics of transition-related medical care, and diagnosing vs. treating them as physically abnormal or unhealthy. Research has shown that the LGBT patients’ physical and/or mental health condition is erroneously diagnosed and attributed to their LGBT status (Snowdon, …show more content…
It’s surprising that to date there are still clinicians diagnosing and treating being “homosexual” as a mental disorder when in 1973 “homosexuality” was removed from the mental disorder list moving away from curing homosexuals to treating their health concerns. However, there are still many clinicians who conceptualize homosexuality as a mental disorder and reject the mainstream view that homosexuality is not a mental disorder. Their clinical theories are debatable but unethical just the same and violate the LGBT individuals right to receive the appropriate healthcare they are afforded and deserve under the

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