Concerning "Ex-Gay" Reparative Therapy, the American Psychoanalytic Association tells us:

This issue deserves coverage in the news as long as individuals and the "ex-gay movement" use faulty science and bias to advance their agenda. APsaA states in its 1999 position statement on reparative therapy that efforts to "convert" or "repair" an individual's sexual orientation are against the fundamental principles of psychoanalytic treatment and often result in substantial psychological pain by reinforcing damaging internalized homophobic attitudes. We emphasize that anti-homosexual bias, just like any other societal prejudice, negatively affects mental health and contributes to feelings of stigma and low self-worth. Reparative therapy is nothing more than quackery fueled by bias.

John Bonnar: Speakers bureau formed to oppose electroshock treatments in Ontario
[rabble.ca, August 18, 2011]

Over the decades, many health-care professionals have spoken out against electroshock.

But for the first time an organization of professionals has been formed to expose what they call a harmful treatment, stating that "mainstream psychiatry has flagrantly and persistently misrepresented both this procedure and the vast body of research surrounding it."

The Healthcare Professionals against Electroshock Speakers Bureau is a diverse group of informed health-care professionals that includes psychotherapists, nurses, doctors, psychologists, counsellors and social workers, situated in different regions across Canada.

The group hopes that educating people about electroshock will eventually lead to its abolition.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), also known as electroshock, is a psychiatric treatment in which seizures are electrically induced in anesthetized patients with severe depression who have not responded well to other forms of treatment.

"As professionals, we know that this is an essentially brain damaging procedure that wipes out huge aspects of memory," said Dr. Bonnie Burstow, a faculty member at the University of Toronto, psychotherapist, trauma specialist and researcher, who has written extensively on ECT.

Yet psychiatrists still believe modified electroshock is a safe an effective treatment.

"Modified shock has been going on since approximately 1959 and almost all the brain damaging studies we're talking about are on modified shock. We also know that it's not effective."

At Monday's press conference in the Queen's Park media studio, Burstow said she and her colleagues can't work with clients on their therapeutic issues because they can't remember what's bothering them.

"Not speaking out is a violation of our obligation of care as professionals," said Burstow, adding, "The administering of ECT is in direct violation of the doctors Hippocratic oath."

Burstow expressed concern that many professionals, including doctors and nurses, are afraid to join the Speakers Bureau because they could lose their jobs if they speak out against electroshock.

"Can you imagine getting fired for telling the truth about damage?" asked Burstow.

[Continued here]

• Health-care professionals against electroshock form new speakers bureau [rabble.ca, August 18, 2011]
• Healthcare Professionals Against Electroshock

Gens Hellquist: Why we're taking on homophobia in Canada's healthcare system
[XTRA, May 12, 2010]

In February 2009, I - along with five others - filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) against Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). All of us have worked extensively in our communities addressing the broad range of health issues that exist, often as a result of homophobia.

Health Canada claims to be "responsible for helping the people of Canada maintain and improve their health" while PHAC claims they are "committed to reducing health disparities between the most advantaged and disadvantaged Canadians," but both seem unwilling to assume their responsibility and commitment when it comes to the health of queer Canadians.

It's long been understood that when a population is marginalized the result is a much poorer health status for that population, and it's no different for the queer community. As a result of the marginalization that results from homophobia, queer people have rates of suicide, alcohol use, illicit drug use, depression, mental health problems, smoking, HIV/AIDS and STIs that are substantially higher than the general population. Queer people also experience higher rates of certain types of cancer and are more often victims of violence resulting in physical injuries. A 2003 literature review estimated that more than 5,000 queer Canadians die prematurely each year as a result of living in a homophobic environment and a 2001 study indicated that homophobia costs the Canadian economy at least $8 billion a year.

One of the roles that Health Canada and PHAC play in our health care system is to assume a leadership position in identifying health issues and health disparities and then partnering with provincial and terrritorial governments to address those issues. Frequently this involves funding research into the issues and developing strategies and funding streams to address the issues. They've done this for other populations such as women, First Nations and Inuit, immigrants and children.

[Continued here]

• Human Rights Complaint Against the Government of Canada: Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada (a *.pdf file) [XTRA]
• Canada's healthcare system is homophobic, says group: Six queers file human rights complaint [XTRA, February 17, 2009 ]

"The constitution of this country guarantees equality to all Canadians in all areas but that still does not hold for gay, lesbian, bisexual Canadians when it comes to our health," said Gens Hellquist, one of the complainants and executive director of the Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition, at a press conference in Toronto on Feb 17.

"We're tired of watching many senseless premature deaths in our community that result from homophobia while government health agencies sit on the sidelines. It's time both agencies live up to their missions and visions when it comes to gay, lesbian, bisexual Canadians."

Hellquist, along with fellow complainants Art Zoccole of Toronto and Sheri McConnell of St John's, were on hand for the press conference. The other complainants are Vancouver's Phillip Banks, Saskatoon's Charlotte Rochon and Montreal's Daniel Lanouette.

The complaint, presented as a 10-page document, charges that the government agencies are ignoring queer health issues that have been brought to their attention through multiple, government-funded reports.

"Over the past 10 years [Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada] have contracted with experts on gay, lesbian, bisexual health to produce studies on the many health issues that are endemic to our community and ask for recommendations how to address those issues," said Hellquist. "To date none of those reports have been acted on and none of the numerous recommendations have been acted upon.

"Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada have developed policies, strategies and funding initiatives for most other populations in this country but they seem unwilling to do the same for gay, lesbian, bisexual Canadians even though we have one of the poorest health statuses in this country."

The report's list of health issues affecting queer Canadians includes lower life expectancy than the average Canadian, suicide, higher rates of substance abuse, depression, inadequate access to care and HIV/AIDS.

"There are all kinds of health issues that are endemic to our community," said Hellquist. "We have higher rates of anal cancer in the gay male community, lesbians have higher rates of breast cancer. These are all issues that need to be addressed."

• Fighting HIV in Saskatoon: Hellquist plans new STI campaign for gay men [XTRA, December 31, 2011]

The Avenue Community Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity in Saskatoon will soon be home to a new sexual health clinic for men. The clinic will offer the full range of testing for Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in a queer environment.

"People don't get tested because they don't feel comfortable about it," says Gens Hellquist.

Hellquist is developing a new social marketing campaign for The Centre aimed at improving sexual health for gay men and men who have sex with men. Part of that campaign will encourage gay men the Saskatoon area to get tested regularly for STIs.

"In a homophobic culture, going to a medical professional and exposing that you're gay, or you might be gay - that you had sex with another man - is scary for a lot of people, and for good reason," he says. "I think the more options we provide people to be tested, especially in environments they feel comfortable, the better success we're going to have at getting people tested."

• Liz Margolies, L.C.S.W.: Breaking Down the One-Two LGBT Cancer Punch, and Fighting Back with Resources for Welcoming, Accessible Care [HuffPo, April 23, 2012]

Looking carefully, we see that there is little to no difference in the biology or physiology of LGBT bodies compared with the general population. The increased cancer risks result from behaviors, many of which can be traced back to the stress and stigma of living as sexual and gender minorities. On close inspection, we also see that the decreased screening rates are due to multiple barriers LGBT face in accessing safe, affordable, welcoming health care.

It is impossible to overstate the impact of minority stress. We use and abuse alcohol at higher rates. Lesbians are also more likely to be overweight, eat a high-fat diet, and not have a biological child before age 30, all increasing their cancer risks. As a group, we smoke at nearly twice the national rate. Gay men not only smoke and drink more than their heterosexual brothers but are more likely to be infected with HPV and/or HIV, both increasing their risk for multiple types of cancer. There is little supplemental data on transgender cancer risks, although the hormones used for transitioning have been implicated in cancers found in cisgender people.

• Stonewall survey: NHS 'failing gay and bisexual men' [Pink News, April 24, 2012]

The survey, conducted by Stonewall, of 6,861 men is reported to be largest of its kind in the world, and found that nearly a third have had a negative experience with the NHS due to their sexuality. The levels of trust in confidentiality and openness were so low that an equal proportion of men were not even out to their regular GP or nurses, though they had no problem coming out to their colleagues at work.

In the year covered by the survey, 3% of gay men and 5% of bisexual men had tried to kill themselves, the proportion being 0.4% for all men. Similarly, self-harm rates among gay and bisexual men stood at 7% as opposed to 3% for men at large. ...

One 23-year old respondent says: "I overheard the reception staff say to a nurse: 'The poof is here for his appointment.'" Another said that his doctor wrote 'homosexual' in capital letters on a letter he had to take to hospital after breaking his wrist, a label which would appear every occasion his file came up. Many also reported that health professionals assumed they were HIV positive merely on account of their sexuality.

• Stonewall's Gay and Bisexual Men's Health Survey [Stoenwall, April, 2012]

With 6,861 respondents from across Britain, this is the largest survey ever conducted of gay and bisexual men's health needs in the world. However, it demonstrates that many of those needs are not being met and that there are areas of significant concern - most particularly in mental health and drug use - that have been overlooked by health services which too often focus solely on gay men's sexual health.

These findings send a stark message that Britain's health services need to rethink how they approach many of their patients.

(Survey available as a *.pdf file.)

Medical schools teaching little about gay health
[CBS News, September 6, 2011]

Future doctors aren't learning much about the unique health needs of gays and lesbians, a survey of medical school deans suggests.

On average, the schools devoted five hours in the entire curriculum to teaching content related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients, according to the survey results appearing in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. A third of the schools had none during the years students work with patients.

More than a quarter of the medical school deans said their school's coverage of 16 related topics was "poor" or "very poor." The topics included sex change surgery, mental health issues and HIV-AIDS.

While nearly all medical schools taught students to ask patients if they "have sex with men, women or both" while obtaining a sexual history, the overall curriculum lacked deeper instruction to help "students carry that conversation as far as it needs to go," said lead author Dr. Juno Obedin-Maliver of the University of California, San Francisco.

Without such education, doctors are left guessing and can make faulty assumptions, Obedin-Maliver said. For instance, lesbians need Pap tests, which screens for the sexually spread virus that causes most cervical cancer, as often as heterosexual women do. But some doctors assume they don't need them.

[Continued here]

• The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding [Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, March 31, 2011]

At a time when lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals-often referred to under the umbrella acronym LGBT-are becoming more visible in society and more socially acknowledged, clinicians and researchers are faced with incomplete information about their health status. While LGBT populations often are combined as a single entity for research and advocacy purposes, each is a distinct population group with its own specific health needs. Furthermore, the experiences of LGBT individuals are not uniform and are shaped by factors of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographical location, and age, any of which can have an effect on health-related concerns and needs. Researchers still have a great deal to learn and face a number of challenges in understanding the health needs of LGBT populations.

To help assess the state of the science, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) asked the IOM to evaluate current knowledge of the health status of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations; to identify research gaps and opportunities; and to outline a research agenda to help NIH focus its research in this area. The IOM finds that to advance understanding of the health needs of all LGBT individuals, researchers need more data about the demographics of these populations, improved methods for collecting and analyzing data, and an increased participation of sexual and gender minorities in research. Building a more solid evidence base for LGBT health concerns will not only benefit LGBT individuals, but also add to the repository of health information we have that pertains to all people.

• LGBT Community 'Largely Ignored' By Health Research [Huffington Post, April 1, 2011]

Far too little research exists on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals and more study into their lifestyles is needed for medical authorities to better serve them, a report released on Thursday shows.

The report, authored by the Institute of Medicine and commissioned by the National Institutes of Health, found a lack of research on LGBT individuals.

It lays the groundwork to close that information gap, suggesting more research into social influences, barriers to equitable health care and the differing needs of various generations of LGBT people.

• Medical Schools Neglect Gay and Gender Issues [New York Times, November 10, 2011]

She was transgender, and where he had been expecting to find female genitalia, he found male genitals instead.

The operation had gone well; but years later the doctor's glaring oversight continued to haunt the rest of us. The patient had obviously not felt comfortable disclosing her transgender identify, and the doctor had clearly not asked the right questions. We knew that any one of us could have made the same mistake. While we had been trained well in treating cancer with the best chemotherapy regimen, curing flesh-eating infections with the most powerful antibiotics or transplanting organs with the greatest of ease, when it came to caring for patients who were transgender, we were lost. For many of us, the same could be said for lesbian, gay and bisexual patients as well. The only thing most of us knew how to do was ask about a single issue: "Whom are you having sex with? Men, women or both?"

• Study: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender-Related Content in Undergraduate Medical Education [JAMA, 2011]

Context: Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals experience health and health care disparities and have specific health care needs. Medical education organizations have called for LGBT-sensitive training, but how and to what extent schools educate students to deliver comprehensive LGBT patient care is unknown.

Objectives: To characterize LGBT-related medical curricula and associated curricular development practices and to determine deans' assessments of their institutions' LGBT-related curricular content.

• Changing the Face of Medical Education to Improve Care to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Patients [Stanford University: LGBT Medical Education Research Group, 2011]
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Recommended Actions to Improve the Health and Well-Being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Communities [U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2011]
• Andrew Silapaswan: Are Our Future Doctors Receiving Enough Training to Care for LGBT People? [Huffington Post, January 4, 2012]

My experience is not unique, as many others in the LGBT community face similar challenges. In a 2005 survey (a *.pdf file) 22 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual patients reported having experienced some form of discrimination in a health care setting. So why are so many health care providers ill-equipped to handle the health care needs of LGBT people? As a medical school candidate with my sights set on starting medical school in fall 2012, I am cross-comparing prospective M.D. programs and actively examining components of medical school curricula.

A medical school's curriculum must meet rigorous standards established by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) to receive accreditation. Nonetheless, recent studies and testimony on behalf of medical school administrations indicate that there are significant gaps in curricular content. More specifically, the quality and breadth of LGBT health-related content is lacking and remarkably uneven across medical schools.

• Scout, Ph.D.: Is LGBT Health Research Going in Circles? [HuffPo, April 12, 2012]

Many of my professional colleagues felt that this book went above and beyond expectations. The two-year wait from first word to when we could finally hold it in our hands was well worth it. Cheers all around.

But alas, those cheers were one year ago. And the silence in the months since is starting to echo loudly.

Many agencies in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are making a yeoman's effort to examine their work and counter places where they have excluded LGBT people from normal business. But what have we heard from the body that commissioned that custom roadmap, the deeply influential seat of health research in our country, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)?

They've assigned a staff lead on LGBT health, and they've renewed some (unfunded) program announcements that were out under the last administration. Unfortunately, those program announcements did less than expected to spur research; they did more to reveal the dire need to expand the pool of trained investigators in this arena.

In sum, there may be internal activity, but a year later, not one of the IOM report recommendations has been implemented; there's not even an action plan for doing so.

• Pauline W. Chen, M.D.: Does Medicine Discourage Gay Doctors? [New York Times, April 26, 2012]

That morning, one of the senior surgeons stormed over. He had found one of his patients feeling slightly short of breath, no doubt because of an insufficient dose of diuretic overnight.

"Which of you idiots," he growled at us, "gave my patient a homosexual dose of diuretic?"

It took me a moment to understand what the surgeon was trying to say. But when I finally did, I couldn't help but glance at my colleague. He stood mute, his face ghost white.

Later that day, the group of us would rant against the surgeon and even make fun of him. But none of us, including that colleague and me, ever confronted him directly or reported the egregious remark. We were too scared. Doing so, we felt, would have been tantamount to saying we were gay or lesbian ourselves. And it wasn't hard to realize that in an environment where senior doctors felt free to equate homosexuality with incompetence, such an admission would have clearly been a career-ender.

Elderly carers 'need more support from GPs'
[BBC, September 11, 2011]

GPs throughout the UK should be giving more support to carers who are aged over 60, a charity says.

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers says family doctors should offer older carers an annual health check, including screening for depression.

The charity says almost 70% of hundreds of older carers questioned in a survey said that their health was suffering because of their responsibilities.

Ministers admitted that more work needed to be done to help older carers.

More than 600 carers aged between 60 and 94 answered questions for a survey by the Princess Royal Trust.

Just over a third reported having cancelled an operation or treatment because of their caring responsibilities, while half said their health had got worse in the past year.

[Continued here]

• Recognised, valued and supported: next steps for the Carers Strategy [Department of Health (UK), November 25, 2010]

Copy of report available here as a *.pdf file

Margate Christian GP Dr Richard Scott 'crossed the line'
[BBC, September 22, 2011]

Dr Richard Scott spoke about religion to the "suicidal" and "vulnerable" 24-year-old at his surgery in Kent, the GMC heard.

Paul Ozin, for the GMC, said Dr Scott told the patient Christianity might help him overcome personal problems.

Dr Scott has said he does not accept that portrayal of events.

The investigation committee heard that the 51-year-old GP discussed his own personal religious beliefs after the patient told him to "go for it".

He went on to suggest the patient might benefit from a Christian faith above his own religion.

Patient A, whose identity has not been made public, has decided not to attend the hearing. His religious affiliation has not been made public.

[Continued here]

[Note: I had a similar experience with a cardiologist in Ottawa. He plied me with Ex-gay/Reparative Therapy pamphlets during a consult. My primary care physician at that time was visibly upset when I told him about it but lacked the backbone to do anything about it.]

Disparities: Illness More Prevalent Among Older Gay Adults
[New York Times, April 1, 2011]

Older lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in California are more likely to suffer from chronic physical and mental health problems than their heterosexual counterparts, a new analysis has found. They also are less likely to have live-in partners or adult children who can help care for them.

The research brief was based on data from the California Health Interview Survey gathered in 2003, 2005 and 2007 by the Center for Health Policy Research at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Older gay and bisexual men - ages 50 to 70 - reported higher rates of high blood pressure, diabetes and physical disability than similar heterosexual men. Older gay and bisexual men also were 45 percent more likely to report psychological distress and 50 percent more likely to rate their health as fair or poor. In addition, one in five gay men in California was living with H.I.V. infection, the researchers found. Yet half of older gay and bisexual men lived alone, compared with 13.4 percent of older heterosexual men.

Older lesbian and bisexual women experienced similar rates of diabetes and hypertension compared with straight women of their age, but reported significantly more physical disabilities and psychological distress and were 26 percent more likely to say their health was fair or poor.

[Continued here]

• Older lesbian told to get out of bed herself: New study finds gay seniors face health care barriers [XTRA, March 30, 2006]

On two of the occasions Grace Owens sought health care services in major city areas-once in her mid-40s, the other in her 60s-the outcomes were nothing short of nightmarish.

In 1985, at St Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Owens' already stressful dialysis appointment turned offensive when a social worker found out she was a lesbian, after asking about her marital status and sex life.

"I walked down [to where] they change the [dialysis] tubing," Owens recalls. "There were three nurses there and the speaker phone was on. All of them were hearing the news that that woman was a lesbian.... I was so upset. After that, one of the nurses wouldn't come near me."

Cut to 2002: Owens, then 62 and living in Vancouver, endured a repeat performance of the discriminatory treatment she received at St Michael's, but this time at St Vincent's Hospital which catered specifically to the health care needs of seniors.

A fractured pelvis, sustained when she fell while getting off a downtown bus, eventually landed her in the care of a nurse who insisted she recognized Owens from somewhere. Owens, an activist for senior issues, mentioned she had recently appeared on the front page of a Burnaby newspaper that covered a seniors' walk in which she was interviewed about life as an older gay person.

From that moment, the nurse did her best to minimize contact with Owens, telling her it was time she learned to get in and out of bed on her own.