The Ethicist
relief from abusive patients. We rightly put
the welfare of patients fi rst. But the welfare
of health care providers matters, too.
I have been a patient at a health center
that caters to the L.G.B.T.Q. community
for over 30 years. During that time, I
have had several physicians assigned
to me, and at times that has included
licensed practical nurses, or L.P.N.s, as
well as transgender caregivers. At one
point, it became obvious to me that my
doctor of many years, a woman, had
made the decision to transition and was
choosing to be addressed by the pronoun
‘‘he.’’ Th e same physician then requested
that I fi nd a new caregiver because
he was going to pursue research.
I was then assigned to a wonderful
L.P.N. who, after years of delivering
excellent care, chose to leave her job for
personal reasons, which then left me
without a care provider. I was then
assigned other doctors that included
several transgender members of the staff.
I believe the choice of a physician is
an extremely personal and important
issue for anyone. My question is this: Do
I as a patient have the right to request
that I not be assigned for personal reasons
to any one doctor or caregiver? Also is
a clinic or hospital legally obligated to
provide the full background of any of
their physicians to perspective patients?
I am a gay male in a very happy biracial
marriage. I am neither a racist nor do I
discriminate against any one group. I do,
however, feel I have the right to make my
own decision about who my physician is.
Name Withheld, Brooklyn
If you want consistency in care and your
health center can’t off er that, you should
look for another. And you do, in princi-
ple, have the right to refuse care from a
provider. But why are you interested in
getting a provider’s ‘‘full background’’?
Have you decided that you don’t want
to be treated by a trans person? You say
you don’t discriminate against any group;
but that would indeed be discriminatory.
What would you say about someone who
categorically refused care from gay or
black doctors? Having a right to do some-
thing doesn’t make it the right thing to do.
And no, the clinic doesn’t have a duty
to provide you with information about the
people who work there, beyond facts that