A woman who requested a female nurse for an intimate procedure was given an “obviously male” member of staff with stubble and tattoos, who claimed to be a transsexual.
The National Health Service (NHS) patient said she was “embarrassed and distressed” when summoned by a nurse with “an obviously male appearance … close-cropped hair, a male facial appearance and voice, large number of tattoos and facial stubble” to carry out a cervical smear, The Times reports.
When she pointed out what she thought was a mistake, the nurse told her off: “My gender is not male. I’m a transsexual.”
Speaking after the examination, which she ultimately decided to abandon, the patient said it was “weird where somebody says to you: ‘My gender is not male’ and you think: ‘Well, what does that even mean? You are clearly a man.’ ”
In a formal letter of complaint, she objected that “People who are not comfortable about this are presented as bigots and this is … kind of how I was made to feel about it.”