[Viva] STIGMA and JUDGMENT by HEALTHCARE WORKERS
Margarite Sanchez
margaritesanchez at gmail.com
Tue Jan 8 23:26:24 PST 2019
Great topic to educate upcoming healthcare providers on Denise! Thank you!
The question that gets under my skin the most is "How did you get it?"
Especially when it comes from HCP's - folks who should know better.
I feel that there is so much judgement behind that question, like they are
either looking for a juicy story (It's usually sex, drugs or rock and
roll!) or they are trying to feel safe that they aren't in that "high risk"
group.. ... and the level of judgement varies with the way you contracted
the virus. Which is such BS.
Once a poz woman told me a nurse in the hospital asked her that question
and she said to the nurse "Don't you know? I slept with your husband, you
better get tested!"
I went to a cardiologist at St. Paul's Hospital for a heart murmur and when
I had finished doing all of the testing sitting in his office he gave me
all the results and then said "How did you get it?". My husband and I gave
each other a knowing look and I said "What do you mean, the heart murmur?
... and then we proceeded to educate the cardiologist that it doesn't make
any difference in my treatment and care so it's inappropriate to ask.
I did a speak at a hospital a few years back and one of the nurses told me
that it *is* important for them to know how people contract HIV. I asked
why and she said because if they got it from IVDU they might need to know
that. I said "then the question isn't How did you get HIV ,but, Are you or
have you ever been an IV drug user?"
My rant :))
On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 4:50 PM Denise Wozniak <deniseswozniak at gmail.com>
wrote:
> As usual, Peggy, I am always touched by your words and what a wonderful
> person you are. In fact I think being HIV+ is almost a prerequisite to
> being a nice person! lol
>
> I'm not writing an article yet but I like your idea as a paper and it
> would be helpful if you could steer me in the right direction as to how to
> do that. This is a talk I am giving at SFU to healthcare trainees. Mary
> Petty is doing part of the talk and I am doing the patients' experiences.
> She is talking about stigma in general and I will be relating it to HIV.
>
> It is saddening/maddening how HIV+ people have to put up with
> inappropriate questions and finger pointing, just blows me away.
>
> Denise
>
> On Sat, Jan 5, 2019 at 1:49 PM Pegfrank <pegfrank at telus.net> wrote:
>
>> I am so glad that you are writing about this Denise. The stories so far
>> make me furious. My latest, in a long series of medical discrimination was
>> with my current GP. His first comments, on our first meeting, went
>> something like this — “Do you have a dentist?” My response was likely “What
>> [‘the fuck’ was silent]?” “I know you people have a hard time finding a
>> dentist.” I hope that I explained that I wasn’t a ‘you people,' but a
>> person, and that I was coming to see him for non-dental issues.
>>
>> I think it is exceedingly interesting that we recall the actual words
>> that were spoken. This points out how traumatizing this kind of treatment
>> is. I would absolutely love to see your article become a paper for a
>> journal that young, or new, doctors might read. I would be pleased to try
>> to help with this once you have the article written or maybe one of the
>> researchers at Oak Tree could provide better help.
>>
>> On the positive side is my first interview with a well appreciated, but,
>> sadly, retired, Dr at Oak Tree. He commented after asking me a series of
>> questions (taking 2 hours) about my health history, my families health
>> history, including operations I had a three and five years old, that he
>> needed to understand me — my background — my family and friends in order to
>> provide the best care for me — which he did for years. That was a dream.
>>
>> One more funny story. When I first moved from Salt Spring to Victoria, I
>> was looking for a local GP. I called one office and the receptionist
>> reported that they were only taking patients that were pregnant or HIV
>> positive. When I said wonderful, that’s me, she asked which I was — at 46.
>> No judgement there!
>>
>> Bless you for taking on this writing project. I continue to be horrified
>> at the way my friends are treated within the medical community. If only
>> medical care were based on love.
>>
>> Love to all the women in this circle. No matter what kind of treatment
>> people provide, continue to speak out and look after each other. We can
>> continue to appreciate good care, and condemn the horror cases.-peg
>>
>> On Jan 5, 2019, at 12:40 PM, berta vezina <bertavezina333 at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Hello again,
>> I took a really sick HIV / HEP C POS friend to Surrey Memorial
>> Emergency .
>> I was with her when the women at the admitting desk asked her
>> how she was infected. I explained the only time it is important to know is
>> when you are first diagnosed and there are others that need to be informed
>> of exposure . That is it .
>> She was coughing so I had to leave her to get some water
>> because they weren't. As soon as I stepped away from he they asked her
>> again and proceeded to say of she didn't tell them that she would be
>> waiting a very long time for . She told me of this when I arrived back with
>> water. She didn't tell them and I immediately drove her to St Paul's to get
>> the care she needed.
>> Roberta.
>>
>> On Sat, Jan 5, 2019, 12:28 PM berta vezina <bertavezina333 at gmail.com
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Denise ,
>>> Recently I was in a lab to get bloodwork. I could see two nurses
>>> speaking with each other intensely . They were both looking at me the one
>>> had my chart and as they were talking she was shaking her head no then the
>>> other nurse took my chart got some gloves on to take my blood . What that
>>> suggested to me was that one absolutely did not want to take my blood
>>> because I was HIV HEP C pos. Some may think I was reading too much into
>>> this. I've had so many of these experiences over the years and am not .
>>>
>>> On Sat, Jan 5, 2019, 8:49 AM Charlene Anderson <pickles4 at shaw.ca wrote:
>>>
>>>> Hi Denise. Last year I was waiting for a cardiac CT scan and I saw that
>>>> very clearly marked on my chart it said that I was HIV positive, I could
>>>> read it on the counter from the bed I was laying in. The nurse felt the
>>>> need to yell across the room to make sure the tech doing the test knew I
>>>> was”HIV”. I said excuse me but there was no reason to yell my health issues
>>>> across the room as I’m sure everyone who needed to know knew I had HIV, I
>>>> also said I had HIV and that I wasn’t HIV.
>>>> Char
>>>> Over the years I have told various health care people when that have
>>>> asked “how I became positive” that if it doesn’t have anything to do with
>>>> what’s wrong with me then it’s irrelevant.
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>
>>>> On Jan 4, 2019, at 12:15 PM, Denise Wozniak <deniseswozniak at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Oh my gosh.. that is so so sad and terrible Anne. Total BS.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks for replying.
>>>>
>>>> Denise
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, 4 Jan 2019, 12:13 pm anne bonner <thewoodbuffalo at gmail.com
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I once was in for a LEEP procedure (cone biopsy on my cervix) at the
>>>>> Jubilee Hospital in Victoria. I had my appointment at a certain time but
>>>>> was waiting for a very long time. I finally asked the receptionist what was
>>>>> happening and why I had been waiting so long. She dutifully informed me (in
>>>>> front of other people) that because I was HIV positive, that I was to go
>>>>> last "because of the vaginal juices". There was a big post-it note on top
>>>>> of my file that said HIV+. They expected me to wait all afternoon. I was
>>>>> mortified/horrified/angry and had to interrupt her from speaking or else
>>>>> she would have just gone on. I told her to please stop talking. I waited a
>>>>> bit longer, steaming, and then told her I was leaving, that they should use
>>>>> universal precautions, and if there was a chance of infecting other people
>>>>> through the hospital then they had a real problem. Also that this was total
>>>>> bullshit, and that she was an asshole. I should have reported her AND that
>>>>> clinic to the hospital.
>>>>> This was more than 5 years ago so it's kind of an old story. Maybe
>>>>> things have changed?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 12:37 PM Denise Wozniak <
>>>>> deniseswozniak at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi everyone:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This talk is not until April and so anything you can give me in the
>>>>>> next two months would be great and I can start working on the talk.
>>>>>> Perhaps think of what you would like to be treated like and how you were
>>>>>> treated or talked to.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As an example, when I went to see a new doctor I was told "i don't
>>>>>> know anything about HIV, you will be getting that care down at St. Paul's"
>>>>>> - I had to wonder how many cancer patients he said that to!!!
>>>>>> Another case was a nurse who was in pre-op asking me if the surgeon
>>>>>> knew I had HIV. I had disclosed to the surgeon but was horrified she felt
>>>>>> she had to defend him!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Denise
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2019 at 12:21 PM berta vezina <
>>>>>> bertavezina333 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Happy new year everyone!
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello Denise,
>>>>>>> How much time do I have to forward some experiences to you?
>>>>>>> The reason I'm asking is I dont have time right now and wanted to know when
>>>>>>> is your deadline is for input .
>>>>>>> Thanks, Roberta.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2019, 11:35 AM Denise Wozniak <
>>>>>>> deniseswozniak at gmail.com wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Ladies:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What do we want when we go to a healthcare provider? To be treated
>>>>>>>> with caring and interest, whether it's a doctor, a homeopath, a hospital, a
>>>>>>>> psychiatrist, a clinic. We don't need aggressive and inconsiderate
>>>>>>>> comments. we just want to be treated like any other patient who has come
>>>>>>>> for treatment.. not asked a bunch of inappropriate questions or receive
>>>>>>>> rude comments.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have an upcoming speech to healthcare workers on stigma and
>>>>>>>> discrimination. Most of us have faced it and it makes it incredibly
>>>>>>>> difficult to feel confident in going for care.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have a few incidents I've run into myself but does anyone have
>>>>>>>> any healthcare examples they would like to share that I would keep as
>>>>>>>> anonymous and that I could use as examples of how we need change? I'm
>>>>>>>> looking specifically for incidents in the last 5 years.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thanks for taking the time to do this for me.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Denise
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
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>>
>> - Peggy Frank
>>
>> Now seeing the morning sun rise from 1103-139 Clarence St., Victoria, BC
>> V8V2J1
>>
>> “
>>
>> *I have been and still am a seeker,but I have ceased to question stars
>> and books;I have begun to listen to the teachings*
>> *My blood whispers to me.*”
>> - Herman Hesse
>>
>>
>>
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