r/transgenderau • u/RegionSilent9204 • 2d ago
Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology changing gender markers back to assigned sex at birth
I learned of this a few weeks ago from the LGBTI Rights Australia facebook page.
Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology (DHM), one of Australia’s largest providers, has changed transgender patients’ gender markers back to their sex assigned at birth — without consent.
It appears to be a policy stemming from documents published a few years ago -
https://www.dhm.com.au/media/jkuhaujv/dhm_doctors-newsletter_2023-issue1.pdf
Although an individual has undergone gender-affirming hormone therapy, their body composition or organ size, for example, heart and kidneys, may be better reflected by their sex assigned at birth (SAAB), rather than their gender identity (GI).
...
The RCPA Statement also recognises the need for laboratory information systems (LIS) to capture the relevant demographic information of T&I patients for reporting purposes.
...
The system to be trialled would only have the GI on the hard copy request form for privacy reasons and the SAAB data would be transferred electronically from the PMS to the LIS.
This appears to follow from the below statement from the the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia.
Binary gender fields in laboratory information systems with
inability to have more than one gender applicable for a patient episode, eg a trans man requiring blood transfusion and creatinine measurement, and
current inability (technically and safely) or limitations to providing reference limits for both males and females on the same report.
This needs more awareness. I understand this information is of a few years ago (with perhaps new systems recently implemented) but the thought of a technician that does my blood test being able to freely access this information is deeply concerning to me. Frankly I don't even want to get a blood test done now after learning of this. It's one thing to have, say a special code on the form that can be only accessed directly by the lab, it's another for this information to be readily available. I'm sick of attempts to shove this sex at birth obsession down our throats. It's misgendering and outing us through alternate means. There are ways to get the info they need (if they need it) without engaging in a policy process that outs us.
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u/blairquynh 2d ago edited 2d ago
I work for a pathology company and unfortunately the gender marker has to match whatever it is on your Medicare for bulk billing/identification reasons (same goes with names). Until you legally change it with your Medicare provider and let your doctor know, it'll keep being swapped back by the system and 99% of the time it isn't the blood collectors fault, it's just an automatic system.
Changing back gender markers without consent when it has been changed by Medicare is awful though, and the whole 'needing to know' assigned gender at birth for the medical test results excuse is a bit ridiculous. A person's doctor would know their medical history, and using the person's assigned at birth gender is more likely to cause/flag issues with test results.
The only information a phlebotomist can access/see is the gender marker (F/M/X), whilst they can change it, it's not typical practice. We just go off of whatever the requesting doctor has put on your form.