5 consejos para personas LGBTQ+ que viven con enfermedades graves
June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community’s voices, culture, and civil rights. In honor of Pride, we spoke with Dr. Noelle Marie Javier, who is a palliative care doctor and a woman of transgender experience. She works with patients every day who are living with serious illness, such as cancer and heart disease.
In our conversation, Dr. Javier shared a few things that people who identify as LGBTQ+ may want to keep in mind when visiting a palliative care doctor (or any other doctor, really!).
Pero primero, ¿qué son los cuidados paliativos?
Cuidados paliativos is specialized medical care for people living with a serious illness. This type of care is focused on relief from the symptoms and stress of a serious illness. The goal is to improve quality of life for both the patient and the family. Palliative care is provided by a specially trained team of doctors, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other specialists who work together with your other doctors to provide an capa adicional de soporte. It is appropriate at any age and at any stage in a serious illness and can be provided alongside curative treatment.
Consejos para personas que se identifican como LGBTQ+
Como se mencionó anteriormente, el Dr. Javier tenía algunas cosas que compartir con pacientes y seres queridos que se identifican como LGBTQ+:
1. Your medical team does not know which gender(s) you identify with.
Gender identity is how you identify inside of yourself and gender expression is how you express yourself to the world. If you feel comfortable, you can share these with your medical team (for example, “I identify as a woman”). You can also share your gender pronouns (“pronouns”) with your medical team if you feel comfortable doing so. If unfamiliar with that term, pronouns are the words that we choose to use to refer to ourselves (for example, she, her, hers). Sharing your pronouns with your medical team can help make sure that your the correct pronouns are always used.
2. If you have a different name that you like to go by, share it with your medical team.
Sus médicos y enfermeras pasarán mucho tiempo con usted. Quieren que te sientas cómodo tan pronto como entres por la puerta.
3. If you are comfortable sharing your sexual orientation with your medical team, feel free to do so.
Tu orientación sexual significa quién te atrae física, sexual, romántica y emocionalmente. Independientemente de su sexualidad o estado civil, es útil para el equipo médico saber quién le importa. Sabiendo esto, el equipo médico puede asegurarse de incluirlos en las conversaciones sobre su atención médica, si así lo desea.
4. More and more doctors’ offices and hospitals have started to ask their patients about sexual orientation and gender identity.
No hacen esto para ser entrometidos o hacerte sentir incómodo. En cambio, quieren poder abordar sus necesidades e inquietudes únicas desde el principio. Esta información también se puede utilizar para actualizar sus registros, si decide compartirla y da permiso para hacerlo.
5. There are many resources about inclusive health care for the LGBTQ+ community.
Don’t hesitate to reach out to your doctors to help! If you have palliative care, definitely ask your care team about other resources.
Acerca de GetPalliativeCare.org
Para obtener más información sobre los cuidados paliativos y cómo pueden ayudar, explore másObtengaCuidadosPaliativos.orgEncontrará recursos útiles, incluido un Test rápido para ver si los cuidados paliativos podrían ser adecuados para usted o su ser querido.
El sitio es proporcionado por el Centro para Avances en Cuidados Paliativos.
Noelle Marie Javier, MD, es médica en medicina paliativa y profesora asociada de geriatría y medicina paliativa en la Escuela de Medicina Icahn en Mount Sinai en Nueva York. La Dra. Javier obtuvo su título de médico en la Universidad de Filipinas.
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