Spanish hospital ‘diagnoses’ gay woman with ‘current illness: homosexuality’

The 19-year-old was handed a paper which read ‘homosexual’ under ‘current illness’

A formal complaint was registered by a local LGBT support group, Galactyco, which has asked for answers from the city’s administration, regional health ministry, and the regional health service (AFP via Getty Images)

A gynaecologist in southeast Spain has sparked anger after “diagnosing” a 19-year-old woman’s illness as homosexuality.

The teen woman went to the doctor earlier this week in the Spanish city Murcia’s Reina Sofia hospital where after her examination, she was handed a paper which read “homosexual” under “current illness,” according to a local report.

Before citing the women’s sexual orientation on the diagnosis, her mother said the doctor had asked her if it can be mentioned on the report. The woman was surprised but gave her consent, thinking it could be relevant.

The patient said: “At first, I thought it was funny, but it just isn’t.”

A spokesperson for the hospital told the online paper elDiario.es that they have acknowledged the incident and suggested that the error could be a result of discrepancies while taking down the details of the patient.

The hospital will be offering an apology to the patient in any case, the spokesperson said.

They also assured that all necessary measures will be taken to establish the facts and proceed accordingly.

A formal complaint was registered by the local LGBT support group Galactyco, which has asked for answers from the city’s administration, regional health ministry, and the regional health service.

In a statement released to denounce the “humiliating treatment displaying LGBTIphobia” during the 19-year-old’s gynaecological consultation, the collective said:  “It was in 1990 when the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses, and yet 31 years later, in the Murcian Health System some professionals continue to assume sexual orientation as a disease.”

For centuries, this error of relating sexual orientation with disease has involved stigmatising, discriminatory, violent and denigrating treatment towards people whose sexual orientation was different from heterosexuality, the statement read.

“We accuse the Regional Government of Murcia, the Ministry of Health, and the Murcian Health System, of institutional neglect to apply Law 8/2016 of May 27, of social equality of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, transgender and intersex, and public policies against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in the Autonomous Community of the Region of Murcia, which after 5 years passed remains as a legislative ornament,” the statement added.