Just another day

When telling another healthcare professional about a patient say, “a 78-year old 'man or woman' not 'male or female'”  

This is what my preceptor told me. I believe it was an attempt to “humanize” the patients, which I’m usually all for, but in this case I disagreed.

 In healthcare, a patient’s sex is more important than their gender for their medical management. If I were seeing a transgender patient I would use “man” or “woman” in regards to their identified gender, which would end up confusing the (inevitably heterosexist) attending and I might get my ass handed to me.  I would say, “a 78 year old male, who identifies as a woman…” Both those facts are relevant to caring for a patient. Sex is necessary; there are biological and anatomical differences, no way around it. The use of hormones is also relevant, as are all medications a patient takes.  Gender is important, as social aspects of a patient’s life impact their health, and of course the best way to interact with a patient is to make them comfortable and respect their identity. 

Not that this is ever much of an issue in general medicine since so many transpeople have had horrible experiences with the system disrespecting them that they tend not to go to the doctor, or only go to explicitly LGBT-friendly practices.

Does the heterosexual majority really never think about these things? Am I the only one who finds sex and gender to be so fascinating that I think about it every day?