Just weeks before his term as the American Medical Association’s first openly gay president begins, Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld spoke with Washington Blade on Tuesday to discuss legislation targeting trans-American access to health care. In the onslaught of attacks.
“We view attacks on reproductive care, reproductive access, and transgender health care as government overreach to patient and physician decision-making,” said Ehrenfeld.
“We absolutely do not support government interference with the doctor-patient relationship,” he said.
An anesthesiologist who was the Joseph A. Johnson Jr. Distinguished Leadership Professor of Anesthesiology, Surgery, Biomedical Informatics, and Health Policy at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, much of Ehrenfeld’s professional background is focused on healthcare access, especially for LGBTQ patients. has focused on the issue of .
Ehrenfeld directs the $560 million charity Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin Endowment and is a consultant to the World Health Organization’s Digital Health Technical Advisory Group. He was a special adviser to former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who served in the Trump administration.
In 2018, Ehrenfeld was the first to receive the NIH Sexual and Gender Minority Researcher Award for his research, “Understanding How Technology Can Be Used to Work Better with LGBTQ People.”
He and his team did much of the work on that project at Vanderbilt’s Program for LGBTQ Health. He co-founded and led it for several years “before I assumed my current clinical role in Wisconsin.”
Ehrenfeld says: We are trying to do it nationally through policy action. “
In testimony before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee in 2019, Ehrenfeld told lawmakers:
Last year, far-right anti-transgender pundit Matt Walsh targeted Vanderbilt’s transgender health clinic on his podcast, where a conservative Tennessee lawmaker accused the university of being “misrepresented” or Based on the information they claim to have been taken out of context, they have come to request an investigation of the facility.
“It’s very personal to me,” said Ehrenfeld. “Almost everyone I helped recruit and hire at Vanderbilt had their personal information shared online. Their names were on TV. rice field [both] In many places around the country, there have been attempts to intimidate and intimidate practitioners who offer what we know to be evidence-based appropriate care.
An important moment for Ehrenfeld and the AMA
Ehrenfeld will become AMA president on June 13, midway through Pride Month. It will be an exciting time, he said. “The AMA will have its first contingent at the Chicago Pride Parade…so my husband and family and kids will all be there at the end of June with a bunch of my AMA colleagues.”
“This is an exciting moment for the organization, but I think it’s also for the community for many reasons,” said Ehrenfeld. “One is to be a very visible role player, sending a message not only to patients in the community, but also to LGBTQ doctors and other health care workers that their needs are being listened to. I think it will.
On a personal level, “Growing up, I didn’t have many LGBTQ role models in college or medical school who defined my career path,” he said. This meant that I would often ask, ‘Do I play a role? Did I have a place in medicine, in leadership, in policy work, as someone trying to make our communities healthier and improve access to healthcare?”
Ehrenfeld said his leadership of the AMA marked a “pivotal moment” in the organization’s history and what has been made possible for LGBTQ people who have historically been denied opportunities of this kind. There is
Anti-trans laws exacerbate systemic problems in medicine
“The AMA has policies that “create barriers between patients and their physicians to make decisions that are in the patient’s best interests,” including “efforts to ban the care of transgender people” at the state and federal levels. Ehrenfeld said against the [and] The clinical guidelines we know lead to better outcomes for patients. “
Beyond the healthcare restrictions passed by law, “many backseat drivers are trying to tell their doctors what to do,” says Ehrenfeld. Like “insurers that put up barriers around pre-approval to get approval for care and services.”
“These are realities and people give up on getting the care they need,” he said.
Six states have passed laws criminalizing certain medical interventions to treat gender dysphoria. According to Ehrenfeld, these are the most “heartbreaking” things for him.
Survey data shows that one in five doctors are experiencing symptoms of burnout, an increase that began with the COVID-19 pandemic, Ehrenfeld said. “That burnout is only exacerbated when you find yourself practicing where laws have been passed telling you how to practice and how to practice. [tells you] inability to practice. ”
“This is either providing care that is known to be in the patient’s best interest, or violating the law, [potentially] Go to jail,” said Ehrenfeld. “And the stress is real. Not a week goes by without hearing the words ‘I can’t take it anymore’ from his colleagues. ”
Beyond the impact felt by individual health workers, “we are seeing fewer physicians applying for apprenticeships in states where care is restricted,” he said. When specialists, internists and primary care providers suddenly disappear, it affects care for everyone.”
Anti-trans legislation on health care is increasingly targeting adults as well. Florida’s SB 254 authorizes the state to keep children away from parents facilitating access to the best treatments for gender dysphoria, allowing all Florida residents to access gender-confirmed care, via telehealth, or prohibit access to care administered by a nurse practitioner. doctor’s assistant.
“Telemedicine is especially important for many LGBTQ people because of distance issues and the need to seek care in locations that are often not in their immediate vicinity,” said Ehrenfeld.
“Unfortunately, there is a cascading effect of reduced access to care, which is very concerning to me and the AMA,” he said.
If the law bans medical interventions “that we know are appropriate,” Ehrenfeld said, “we will use all available means.” with our state partners. ”
