The president of the physician group says the new law is "unacceptable" interference in the patient-physician relationship.
The American College of Physicians is raising alarm over a new Alabama law that criminalizes the provision of gender-affirming healthcare to minors.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey recently signed a new law making it a felony for healthcare professionals to provide medical care including hormone treatment, puberty blockers, and gender reassignment surgery to minors. Violators of the law face as many as 10 years in prison.
The new law is a misguided intrusion in the patient-physician relationship, George Abraham, MD, MPH, president of the American College of Physicians said in a prepared statement.
"The American College of Physicians (ACP) strongly objects to laws and policies that interfere in the patient-physician relationship and prevent physicians from providing their patients with evidence-based medical services. This includes the legislation passed by the Alabama legislature, which would criminalize providing gender-affirming care to minors. Physicians should not be subject to threat for ensuring that their patients receive care that is in accordance with the recommendations of ACP and other medical organizations. Transgender individuals already face extreme barriers to accessing necessary healthcare, and this type of interference in the patient-physician relationship is unacceptable," he said.
Physicians should ensure that they have an effective relationship with LGBTQ patients, Abraham told HealthLeaders. "Physicians need to respect patients' choices even if they conflict with our own, treating them with respect, and being non-judgmental when addressing their needs."
The Alabama law is the latest in a string of attempted government intrusions in the patient-physician relationship, Abraham said. "Recent laws in Texas, Idaho, and Oklahoma as well as the recent challenges by multiple states to Roe vs. Wade are all examples of either legislatures or the courts inserting themselves in the exam room and interfering with a physicians' ability to offer the care that is in the best interest of their patient; additionally, they are a failure to recognize that the physician is best equipped to determine what their patient needs, in conversation with their patient."
It is important to protect the patient-physician relationship and allow physicians to provide their patients with evidence-based medical services, he said. "Physicians have the requisite training, education, and experience to address the healthcare needs of their patients, since that is their specialty and why they exist in that role and why patients turn to physicians for guidance. If that sacred relationship is now hampered and limited by legalities that interfere with the physicians' ability to offer the best care that their patients are eligible for, based on evidence-based medicine, then it limits patients' opportunity to get the best care they are entitled to, purely based on legalities and not based on medical scientific principles."
Trust is a primary element of an effective patient-physician relationship, Abraham said. "Patient trust in their physician and the physician's ability to spend the time needed to coordinate care, educate, and counsel as well as address all the elements of the often complex needs of their patient."
Christopher Cheney is the CMO editor at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Transgender patients already face daunting barriers to getting necessary healthcare, American College of Physicians President George Abraham says.
The Alabama law is the latest in a string of attempted government intrusions in the patient-physician relationship, Abraham said.