Transgender man says he was mistreated at Toronto fertility clinic

A Toronto resident'sfirst-hand account of his humiliating experience at a local fertility clinic has shed light on the health-care barriers transgenderpeopleface when they're trying to start a family.

Alex Abramovich wrote in The Advocateabout his experience as atransgender man undergoing in-vitro fertilization and having his eggs removed.

The story, Trans Men Need the Competent Fertility Care I Never Got,was posted on Wednesday and quicklybecame one of the internationalLGBTpublication's most-shared stories.By Friday, it had already been shared more than 16,000 times.

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"The story has received so much attention, much more than Iever expected,"Abramovich, a researcher at theCentre for Addiction and Mental Health, told CBC'sMetro Morning.

"By sharing my story,my hope was that Icould help another trans person so no other trans person has to feel as alone going through this as I did."

Starting a family

Abramovich has always wanted children. For most of his life, he said, he assumed he would carry his own child. But that changed when he came out astransgender and started taking testosterone.

"After discussing all of our options, my wife, Caroline, and I decided that the closest we would ever get to creating another human together would be to fertilize my eggs with donor sperm and to then implant the embryo into Caroline for her to carry the baby," he wrote in The Advocate.

That meant going off testosterone for a brief time,which was not an easy decision to make.

"Going off of testosterone made me worry about dealing with extreme body dysphoria that discomfort over the mismatch between my physical sex and internal gender identity."

Knowing that the process would be emotionally and physically draining,Abramovichand his wife decided to make sure they could find a fertility clinic that would be welcoming to trans patients.

Ultimately, they decided on Mount Sinai's Centre For Fertility and Reproductive Healthbecause ithad a good reputation and a trans-inclusive policy.

'Completely humiliated'

Onhis first visit to get an ultrasound,he was given a dressing gown and made to wait in a room full of women.

"A nurse came out of the ultrasound room to get the next patient to come in, and I'll never forget the look of shock on her face when she saw me. As she walked away,she turned around three times in this small space, almost to make sense of what she was seeing, to make sure that I was actually real," he told Metro Morning.

"This caught the attention of the other patients and now everyone's staring at me. I feel completely humiliated, like I don't belong there."

Abramovichcalled the clinic to complainabout what he says later turned out to bethe first in a series of humiliating incidents.

"Every time I complained, I was promised that the next appointment would be better. But it actually never got better, it only got worse."

All I ever expected was to be treated like a human being like anybody else.- Alex Abramovich

At his next appointment,he says a group of physicians openly discussed the details of his health care in front of a group offemale patients,andone of thenurses on dutyrepeatedly referred to him as "her" and "she." Despite his wife's corrections, he says the nursedid not apologize and repeated the slight.

What's more, he said hismedical file wasmislabeled: "Female patient."

Abramovich told Metro Morningthat heunderstands that transgender fertility is a "complex issue" that not everyone is familiar with.

"But treating someonewith dignity and respect is not a complex issue. That should be very simple."

Mount Sinaidid notcomment on the specifics of Abramovich's allegations, but told CBC News in an email thatthe treatment of transgenderpatients is an important issue.

"We work very closely with leaders of the LGBTQcommunity to ensure that access to care, including fertility, is inclusive, accessible and compassionate," Dr.EllenGreenblatt, the fertility clinic'smedical director,and MarylinKanee,the hospital'shumanrightsdirector, wrote in a jointstatement.

"In cases where we do not meet the standards set out in our policies, we take immediate action to investigate and remediate the situation. This includes extensive training and ongoing research about how to improve access to care. The health-care sector must continue to work as allies to ensure that we are addressing the needs of the trans community, and Sinai Health System is committed to upholding our reputation for leading in this area."

Abramovichtold Metro Morning heexpects more from medical professionals at a large Canadian hospital with atransgender-inclusivepolicy in place.

"We're talking about a speciality clinic where the patient is expected to pay thousands and thousands of dollars out of pocket."

There is some good news in all of this, he said. His wifeCaroline is now five monthspregnant.