CHLOE KIM RECOUNTS DEHUMANISING EXPERIENCE RECEIVING TRANS HEALTHCARE
On Sep. 15, 2023, Chloe Seongeun Kim, a Master’s student at the University of Ottawa, went to the Student Health and Wellness Centre (SHWC) to refill her prescriptions for paroxetine, estrogen, and progesterone. She had “an easy time” receiving her medications when she spoke with nurses at SHWC in Sep. 2022 and in Dec. 2022. However, her experience with the Nurse Practitioner Marie-Noëlle Bisson on Sep. 15 was “quite dehumanizing and transphobic.”
In an email to Cindy Miron, Senior Manager of SHWC, that same day, Kim described her encounter with Bisson.
“..When I came in today, the nurse practitioner told me that she couldn’t prescribe me the medication, without any explanation. I panicked and explained that I needed the medications, but she refused to elaborate. Instead, she started asking questions about my genitals and surgery status…Later, she explained that because today’s appointment time was only 15 minutes, she wasn’t able to assess me enough to prescribe the medication. I told her it would’ve been better if she’d explained that before, but her response was something along the lines of ‘if you don’t like my approach, you could go somewhere else.’”
Additionally, Kim stated that even when she expressed to Bisson that questions about genitals felt invasive, Bisson continued to ask, “What surgeries have you gone through?” and “What surgeries do you want?”
In an interview with the Fulcrum, Kim said of her experience, “I felt like I was being treated like cattle in a factory…I wasn’t seen as a human being. I was just another case.”
Miron responded to this email, saying “I am deeply saddened that you perceived your experience as ’quite dehumanising and transphobic’ which is far from the type of experience we want our students to have.”
She supported Bisson’s approach, calling Bisson “the most advanced in gender-affirming care at our centre” and agreeing that a 15 minute appointment is too brief to “carry out a full assessment and re-prescribe multiple medications.”
Kim did not schedule the 15 minute appointment; the slot was allotted to her by SHWC practitioners.
Miron’s response was, in Kim’s opinion, “not an acceptable answer” and “individualiz[ed] the experience while refusing to address the systemic transphobia present in [SHWC’s] current system.” Miron’s email did not include any comment about Bisson’s questioning about genitals.
Kim’s experience at SHWC was “traumatizing” and brought back memories of state-sanctioned transphobia she had encountered in South Korea, where she grew up. Kim was deemed “not feminine enough, not trans enough” by doctors for years before being prescribed life-saving medications.
As a result, Kim is “so tired” of being assessed before being given medications, especially since she has been taking Paroxetine, Estrogen, and Progesterone for nine years.
“I’ve already gone through those full assessments many times,” Kim said in an interview with the Fulcrum. “I don’t want to prove myself again and again and again every time I go into a clinic.”
Dr. Phyllis Rippey, Director of the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies and Kim’s graduate supervisor, sent an email on Sep. 18 in response to Miron’s statement.
In her email, Dr. Rippey provides statistics from both the U.S. and Canada supporting Kim’s assertion of systemic transphobia.
“The concerns [Kim] brings to you are not about an “experience at the centre was not as [she] would have wished” or a suboptimal visit. [The] issues she is raising are about a failure of the Student Health Service to educate its staff to ensure that our students most at risk of being murdered or ending their lives via suicide get the life-saving medical treatment they require. If Marie-Noelle is the most advanced in gender affirming care at your centre, your centre has a serious problem.”
As of Sep. 30, Miron or any SHWC representatives have not responded to Dr. Rippey’s email. However, Kim is in talks with the Pride Centre to discuss her options for recourse and has filed an official complaint to the Human Rights Office of the University of Ottawa.
Update from legal counsel to Marie-Noelle Bisson (May 26, 2024): “On February 14, 2024, the Human Rights Officer determined that no further action was required in relation to Ms. Kim’s complaint. This was on the basis that Ms. Kim’s complaint falls outside the scope of the definitions of “discrimination” and “harassment”. Ms. Kim did not request a review of the Officer’s assessment and the Human Rights Office has since closed its file.”
