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Loading ...Canadian lesbian couple says doctor refused to treat them
01.30.2009 2:02pm EST
(Winnipeg, Manitoba) A Manitoba lesbian couple rejected by a family doctor from Egypt for religious reasons says Canada must better educate foreign-trained physicians.
Andrea Markowski said she and her partner Ginette were stunned when the Winnipeg doctor told them during a “meet-and-greet” appointment she was uncomfortable accepting them as patients and had never treated “people like you” before.The doctor said she only treated “husbands and wives,” said Markowski, who is legally married to her partner of 18 years.
“It was like a kick in the stomach,” said Markowski, who just moved to the city from the Northwest Territories. “It was definitely a traumatic and unexpected experience … She is a doctor who is paid with public funds.
“I have a really hard time understanding how her religion affects her ability to care for me as a human being.”
The couple has lodged a complaint with the province’s human rights commission and the Manitoba College of Physicians and Surgeons.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms ensures no one can be denied health care on the grounds of sexual orientation, Markowski pointed out. The bodies regulating doctors in Canada must therefore take more responsibility to ensure foreign-trained physicians are ready to practise here, she added.
“We’ve stumbled upon a pretty serious problem and we want to make sure that it gets fixed. In some ways you feel a bit like a prisoner. There are so few doctors, it’s hard to see one, but they still are accountable to provide good service,” Markowski said.
“The College of Physicians and Surgeons in Manitoba and other places in Canada has to broaden the way that it assesses the skills - particularly of foreign doctors who may be coming from places where beliefs and norms are quite different – to make sure that they really are able to practise the physical, mental and emotional care of patients.”
Dr. Kamelia Elias did not return phone calls seeking comment. But she told the Winnipeg Free Press that she has no experience treating gays and lesbians who have “sexual problems” and “a lot of diseases and infections.”
“I said it’s better to find someone who has experience and will take this type of patients,” she told the newspaper.
Gay-rights organizations are calling for better programs specifically aimed at nipping prejudice in the bud.
The registrar of Manitoba’s physicians college said foreign-trained doctors do undergo an orientation before they can practise in the province. Bill Pope said doctors coming from other countries suffer from culture shock when they come to Canada. Some of them have never done a pelvic exam on a woman or put on a plastic cast, he said.
“How much of a change do you think it would be if you or I were put down somewhere in a Muslim Arabic country or Uzbekistan? It would be a shock,” Pope said. “We would hope that we would be forewarned about areas where we could potentially create problems without our knowing it.”
The province’s college has recently extended its orientation for foreign-trained doctors from one week to a month, he said. There is also some discussion of holding a session with the Manitoba Human Rights Commission so doctors get a briefing of the expectations of them under the charter.
The head of Canada’s gay-rights organization said transgendered people are sometimes denied health care. But Helen Kennedy with EGALE said this is the first instance she’s heard of involving a lesbian.
As the number of foreign-trained doctors in Canada increases, it’s incumbent upon colleges and the country’s Immigration Department to ensure they accept gay, lesbian and transgendered patients, she said.
“This is really sad. It really shows a bigger problem with people who are medically trained coming to Canada from other cultures. There is nothing in place to assist them to make the adjustment and to get the training that they need when they come here.”
Still others say all doctors would benefit from a better understanding of gay and lesbian health issues.
“All physicians need to get more training on this,” said Gens Hellquist, executive director of the Canadian Rainbow Health Coalition. “What little they get tends to be focused on HIV and AIDS, which is only one of the range of health issues.”
“I have a really hard time understanding how her religion affects her ability to care for me as a human being.”
What the hell do you expect? She’s an Islamist: there are no ‘human beings’; there are believers and infidels.
When I saw this headline I wondered how long it would be before the first racist comment was made. What a surprise – the majority of comments, including the very first, are racist garbage.
I know people talk about fighting fire with fire, but fighting discrimination with discrimination just doesn’t work. Grow up, get over it.
Islam, like many other religions, says that homosexuality is wrong. In Egypt, like many other countries in the region, homosexuality is a crime. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that a doctor from Egypt is going to be a little perturbed by encountering an overtly lesbian couple.
She has been raised and educated in a country and religion where homosexuality is barely talked about, and when it is talked about the words used are far from charitable. Given that, I feel her response was remarkably restrained.
I’m not defending her – please don’t think that for a minute. However, rather than condemning her I am condemning the religion she was raised in, the country she was born and educated in, and the Canadian Health and Immigration authorities for not doing more to educate her as to what to expect.
Canada needs doctors. Like many other countries, it is facing a shortage of qualified medical professionals, and is having to bring people in from abroad. To do so they must help them to integrate with society, to understand the differences in Canada, and prepare them for situations like this.
I would love to live in a world that is free from prejudice, but we’re a long way from having such a world. Until then we have to accept that people come with baggage, make an effort to show them what is and what isn’t acceptable behaviour, and only condemn them when they do something they know to be inappropriate.
This woman is unqualified to practice medicine in the West if she doesn’t KNOW that there are virtually NO diseases or infection unique to GLBTQAI people …
Health CONCERNS, yes … many years ago, I was embarrassed to ask my (straight) doctor at Kaiser Permanente about the long term effects of certain kinds of love-making.
She WRONGLY assumes that GLBTQAI people have lots of diseases, infections, and “sexual problems.”
If she’d done her homework, she would have found that lesbians are the Goddess’ Chosen People, disease-wise (chuckle).
But that’s irrelevant. Presumably Muslim doctors take something resembling the Hippocratic Oath (or maybe not … it’s not MUSLIM).
Somebody better figure out what to do with the MILITANT Islamists who are overrunning Europe, England, and now (apparently) Canada. They have no respect for democracy, freedom of religion, women’s equality, etc. etc. etc. and think they can just ignore it. And yes, I DO fault the MODERATE Islamists for not taking them to task. OTOH, I guess they’re afraid of having a fatwah placed on their heads for disagreeing with the religious fanatics.
As a Muslim and a homosexual I support all those who condemn these words, thoughts and actions of this doctor. To say that these are people have “sexual problems” and “a lot of diseases and infections …” is unacceptable and inappropriate as they are a part of the human condition. She should be severely reprimanded and discplined.
ok, so you are all concerned about her country and religion and for some of you for the woman herself. All valid points.
But the bigger issue is why is Canada accepting licenses from countries that would educate such a doctor? WHAT ELSE did she not learn in Egyptian medical school????? If I were Canadian, I’d fear for the credentials of all my doctors if this sort was allowed to practice.
Yowza! This one’s a shocker. But for my fellow Americans, don’t worry too much: one of the gifts that Canada offers us is a very clear definition of what is permitted and what is not. This doctor has broken the law. She will be retrained, reprimanded, or lose her license. As a Montrealer pointed out, Quebec has overcome this issue for the most part, and such instances are vigorously denounced and action quickly taken. Manitoba needs to beef up such efforts. I take solace in the fact that this will not be swept under the rug. Things don’t run perfectly up here, but one really gets the feeling that they are trying to correct such insanity when it flares up. It is nonetheless disconcerting that any medical professional is not aware of the fact that lesbians are the least likely to be “full of disease”. I thought everyone knew that by now. In my experience up here, this Winnipeg doctor is about to find out just how cold our winters can be when you turn your back on the values of the nation that welcomes you. Especially when taxpayers are paying your salary. Shudder.
Certainly the couple should complain under human rights legislation, and they should win. There is no excuse for denying anyone access to health care. But the framing of this article is ridiculous and will foster racism, as a number of the other comments so clearly demonstrate…it is completely ridiculous to generalize from one bigoted individual to assert that the foreignness of foreign-trained professionals en masse is somehow a significant barrier to queer people getting adequate health care.
“Bill Pope said doctors coming from other countries suffer from culture shock when they come to Canada. Some of them have never done a pelvic exam on a woman or put on a plastic cast, he said.”
They shouldn’t be doctors if they have no experience in doctoring. This is ludicrous! What kind of world do we live in where it’s acceptable to take doctors who don’t know how to “doctor”? Am I the only one who thinks this is strange? How about the government pay for good doctors, instead of getting the “cheap” ones who couldn’t figure out how to open an umbrella!
Well you figure Egyptian… the doc wasn’t talking about lesbianism. The doc just never treated a female that hadn’t been circumsized.
Out of order!
If you are a doctor obviously you are going to treat all types of different people…She shouldn’t be a doctor!!!
Wow, what a blessing in disguise!
I wouldn’t want to be treated with her brand of Medicine, or Bag of tricks!?
Nice heads up albeit a slap in the face
with a wet fish.
Bottom line to immigrants:
If your culture is so wonderful, then STAY IN THAT COUNTRY.
I’m sick and tired of immigrants–people who are supposedly fleeing whatever awful conditions of their own culture, country and society–then insisting on bringing that tired, socially retarded culture with them.
If their culture is soooo important to them, then they must stay within the socially retarded structure which has fostered that culture.
Bigotry is not allowed under any circumstances. It doesn’t matter if the doctor was from El Paso Texas or Sudan how she dare give the impression that her “comfort” level was the reason for her barbarous statements. She should be fired before she slips up and pulls a stunt like that only this time it will be regarding someone’s race… unacceptable.
Isaac,
Go [screw] yourself. Islam is not a race. Criticism of Islam isn’t racism. Grow a [freaking] brain.
I take exception to those who are claiming “racism” re this matter—even after this doctor was “confronted” on the issue, she continued to make “homophobic” comments to the paper! What’s that??
In Canada, she is being paid with my tax dollars; does she want the job or not??
Yes, she’s from a different culture, etc. I fail to believe that she was not briefed re Canadian realities before going into her office!! Ultimately, she must take some responsibility for her actions!