Pfizer and PhRMA, a pharmaceutical trade association, funded a medical index that pushes LGBTQ ideologies on young patients while penalizing American hospitals that refuse to follow the index criteria, according to The Washington Free Beacon.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) introduced the Healthcare Equality Index (HEI) in 2022, a scorecard that surveys U.S. hospitals “dedicated to the equitable treatment and inclusion of their LGBTQ+ patients, visitors, and employees” according to The Washington Free Beacon. PhRMA and Pfizer fund the index that rates hospitals based on their compliance with its criteria. (RELATED: Pfizer And Moderna Report Stunning Profits From COVID-19 Vaccine Sales)
According to the HEI, hospitals that want to attain a perfect score must exhibit LGBTQ symbols, use patients’ preferred pronouns and administer LGBTQ training programs approved by the HRC, according to the scoring criteria.
The HRC criteria pressures doctors to provide treatments to patients who claim to be transgender without showing symptoms of gender dysphoria while punishing medical institutions that oppose this medical procedure. The index also deducts 25 points from medical facilities for conduct deemed discriminatory against the LGBTQ community and for refusing to perform a hysterectomy or mastectomy on young patients.
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 02: Hospital staff from Children’s National Hospital watch as the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and U.S. Airforce Thunderbirds fly over the D.C. area on May 2, 2020 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
Beth Rempe, a former nurse at the Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., said that doctors at her previous employer were required to wear pins displaying the transgender flag, made to ask kids unaffected by gender dysphoria for their preferred pronouns and instructed staff members to perform sex change surgeries on patients based on their “mood,” according to the Free Beacon.
“I was concerned that I would eventually have to administer puberty blockers and hormones, not just use the pronouns,” Rempe said, according to the Free Beacon. “I kept finding myself in situations I wasn’t comfortable with ethically.”
Two hospitals in Texas, UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health in Dallas, got penalized last year for halting puberty blockers on patients affected by gender dysphoria while continuing to use them to treat precocious puberty, according to the Free Beacon.
“The actions taken by UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health are life-threatening for transgender youth and required decisive action on our part,” said Tari Hanneman, director of Health & Aging at the HRC, in a press release.
A spokesperson for PhRMA, Brian Newell, said in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation, “We support and work with a wide variety of organizations to help promote affordable access to health care. Our work with HRC has primarily focused on issues impacting patient access and affordability, including for those with HIV, cancer and other deadly diseases. We were not involved in the development or release of this specific project.”
In a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation, Pfizer said, “Pfizer funds the Healthcare Equality Index as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to healthcare access and equity for all. The funding is made through an unrestricted grant; Pfizer is not involved in the index’s development, production, or scoring process.”
The Human Rights Campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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