Transgender nurses and nursing students

Mohammed A Memon, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine reported for Medscape.com:

"According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5),  for a person to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria, there must be a marked difference between the individual’s expressed/experienced gender and his or her assigned (natal) gender, and it must continue for at least 6 months. In children, the desire to be of the other gender must be present and verbalized. The condition must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning."

"Not all transgender people experience dysphoria, and some controversy exists among the medical community regarding the necessity of the psychiatric diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Many transgender advocates believe that inclusion of this diagnosis increases awareness and helps advocate for health insurance that covers the medically necessary treatment recommended for transgender people."

The Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) explicitly excludes claims based on gender identity. However, a federal court for the first time has ruled transgender people can sue under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

U.S. District Judge Joseph Leeson, determined that a case filed by transgender plaintiff Kate Lynn Blatt filed against Cabela’s Retail, Inc., can proceed because she meets the conditions of the 1990 law. Gender dysphoria, a type of anxiety, was the basis for her claim under ADA.

“[I]t is fairly possible to interpret the term gender identity disorders narrowly to refer to simply the condition of identifying with a different gender, not to exclude from ADA coverage disabling conditions that persons who identify with a different gender may have — such as Blatt’s gender dysphoria, which substantially limits her major life activities of interacting with others, reproducing, and social and occupational functioning,” Leeson stated according to Washingtonblade.com.

Times have changed since passage of the ADA in 1990 and complicated questions surrounding disability issues related to employment of transgender nurses, as well as the education of transgender nursing students, are being asked. Links to related stories and more information are included below. 

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With thanks!

Donna

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/2200534-overview

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-lgbt-idUSL2N1IK2Q4

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2017/05/19/court-transgender-people-can-sue-ada/

https://onlinenursing.simmons.edu/nursing-blog/an-interview-with-pamela-levesque-the-lived-experience-of-the-transgender-nursing-student/

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2016/07/21/transgender-discrimination-prison-department-corrections/87389040

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/28/alex-wilson-transgender-student_n_3826543.html