adminA gay man is suing doctors after being diagnosed as a “chronic homosexual”.
Matthew Moore, from Los Angeles, US, was outraged when he discovered his sexual orientation was listed “suffering” from the “chronic condition” of “homosexual behaviour” in his medical records during a check-up.
The 46-year-old, who is openly gay, took legal steps against physician Dr Elaine Jones, the Torrance Health Association and the Torrance Memorial Physicians Network, both based in California, US, after a year-long campaign to have the listing removed from his records proved fruitless.
He told NBC: “It was infuriating. It was painful. It was another attempt by this doctor and this medical group to impose their agenda of discrimination and hate on to a gay patient.”
Moore added that doctors had used the numeric code 302.0, which describes homosexuality as “sexual deviancy or mental illness” in his medical notes.
The health network said Moore’s records had been corrected, blaming the gaffe on human error, while Torrance Memorial Physicians Network said complex software was at fault.
However, prosecutors accused the medical teams of a “pattern of deceit and medical record doctoring”.
Moore, who is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, said he hoped the lawsuit would help to end sexual discrimination.
“I don’t want any gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual ever to hear from a doctor that their normal and healthy sexuality is anything other than that,” he added. — AFP
derick.khumalo