Human rights college: hospital discriminated against transgender man

Berghouwer calls the statement historical. “I am very happy that the College agrees with me. And I hope that other trans people will feel empowered if they run into problems in healthcare.”

In addition, Berghouwer hopes that hospitals will consult themselves with the judgment. “Hopefully, hospital boards and doctors will now take action. I hope they will think about how to prevent such situations.”

OLVG: take pronunciation very seriously

Judgments by the Human Rights Board are authoritative, but not legally binding. Nevertheless, the organization calls on health care providers not to jump to conclusions when it comes to the treatment of transgender people. “The Institute therefore calls on healthcare providers to take the question of transgender patients seriously and to offer them the same quality of care as non-transgender patients”.

The OLVG in Amsterdam argued in the hearing that it had referred Berghouwer for transgender care, because it seemed that he wanted the operation because of his physical transition. The hospital is now back.

The hospital says it takes the ruling “very seriously”. “We recognize that we have made a mistake here. The ruling is very clear in that regard, we have something to improve,” a spokesperson said. According to the hospital, this does not mean that protocols have to be adjusted; which are established nationally. “But we will talk to the medical staff about how we are going to prevent this from happening again.” Berghouwer also says that he has not received an apology from the OLVG.

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