A gynaecologist diagnosed a 19-year-old gay woman with “homosexuality” when she visited over a menstrual condition.
The teenager, who remains anonymous at this time, attended the appointment on 4 October at the Reina Sofía hospital in Murcia, Spain.
After being checked over, the woman was given a piece of paper that included a line saying: “Current illness: homosexual.”
Speaking to newspaper elDiario.es, her mother explained that her daughter had consented to having her sexual orientation included in the report when asked by the gynaecologist, as at the time she thought it was relevant to something.
“At first, I thought it was funny, but it just isn’t,” the patient said.
A spokesperson for the region’s health service told elDiario.es that it was aware of what happened and that “all necessary measures would be taken to properly establish the facts and to proceed accordingly”.
They added that an investigation has suggested a mistake was made “when the patient’s details were taken” and that she would be receiving an apology.
The family took the matter to Galactyco, a local LGBTQ+ collective, which has since filed a complaint with the regional government, health ministry and health service.
“Our association has received countless reports of degrading treatment because of sexual or gender orientation,” a statement they released said. “We find it alarming, unacceptable and intolerable that there are professionals today who are responsible for our health, but who ignore the realities of LGBTI people.”
Galactyco claimed that the hospital had ignored the patient’s legal rights and that it was clearly not an isolated incident.
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