A California gay man has filed a
lawsuit after discovering that his medical records list him as
suffering from “chronic homosexual behavior.”
Last year, Matthew Moore, 46, wrote a
letter to the Torrance Memorial Health Association complaining about
the designation on his medical records, which he discovered after a
routine physical.
The medical association apologized to
Moore and issued a public statement of regret.
“We would like to unequivocally state
that the Torrance Memorial Physician Network does not view
homosexuality as a disease or a chronic condition, and we do not
endorse or approve of the use of Code 302.0 as a diagnosis for
homosexuality,” Torrance Health Association Senior Director Heidi
Assigal said in her letter to Moore.
In its public statement, the medical
group said the “record was corrected.”
But when Moore obtained a copy of his
medical records in May, he said that while the 302.0 code had been
removed, under “chronic problems” he was listed as suffering from
“homosexual behavior.”
Moore alleges intentional infliction of
emotional distress and libel in his lawsuit.
Defendants “engaged in a pattern of
deceit and medical record doctoring in an attempt to establish that
they had earlier removed and retracted the defamatory content, when
in fact they had not removed and retracted the defamatory content
until the latter part of May 2014,” the suit states.
Moore
said he felt he had to sue after finding the entry a second time
because otherwise “my silence would condone this activity.”
“I don't want any gay, lesbian,
transgender or bisexual ever to hear from a doctor that their normal
and healthy sexuality is anything other than that,” he said.
Such a diagnosis, he suggested, could
contribute to an LGBT person's decision to take their life: “Maybe
we all just saved a life today.”
I'm more interested in what the hospital intends to do about the Doctor who made this diagnoses.
How will that Doctor be censured and exactly how is the hospital going to prevent such an incident from happening again?
I hope this man sue's not only the Doctor but demands a full review of her medical practice and license.
4 comments:
I hope it all goes to record and, as you say, Ulf, I hope this man sue's not only the Doctor but demands a full review of her medical practice and license.
The doctor isn't the only one at fault, tho she's a major player...the very fact the hospital even has this *code* is an affront to homosexuals everywhere.
Were there any substance to the doctor's observations, then the medical records of the plurality of our population would have to include a diagnostic code for "chronic heterosexual behavior."
Were there any substance to this doctor's observation, then it stands to reason that the plurality of medical records should include a code for "chronic heterosexual behavior."
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