Ball Memorial Hospital’s Facebook page has been lit up by angry remarks from users for the past week due to allegations and complaints made by a transgendered patient who had apparently been denied treatment. It was the patient’s feeling she was denied treatment due to her transsexual nature. Ball Memorial Hospital has issued a statement in the Star Press today, and the hospital has also posted a link to the article on their page around 9 AM.
Since then the response has still been overwhelmingly negative. Many people are demanding disciplinary action versus sensitivity training, and most of the disciplinary action requested has been the termination or revoking of employee licenses.
The root of the issue the community feels there was an act of discrimination and somewhat of a double standard. Many reference if the patient had been African-American and the same treatment had occurred there would have been a much more severe and expedited response by the hospital.
Some have acknowledged what the hospital has tried to do, but it seems the overall message from the Facebook community is still negative towards it.
Why is the community is still responding negatively?
It’s hard telling what the hospital is failing to do to calm the community. There have been a couple statements from hospital executives to address the issue and how the situation is being investigated with a plan to put a solution in place for the future. My theory is the community feels it hasn’t been addressed directly – at least not formally pertaining to this situation. Everything still has come across with a “PR” or “press release” tone.
One comment by Ball Memorial Hospital has sparked other negative feelings which may fuel the continuous criticism:
We appreciate the discussion, but this is a ‘G’ rated site, please keep the inappropriate language out of comments. Thank you!
This one post has sparked 24 comments with nearly all attacking the hospital for it’s remarks. Here are some responses with names removed:
I’d agree with this. Anger and outrage are justified, but we will be taken more seriously if we keep our communications to a level of professionality…especially since we’re calling out the hospital on their professionality.
Gosh, yes, of course! Now, if only YOU’D keep the inappropriate language out of the Emergency Room…
I find it absolutely amazing that Ball Memorial chooses to… comment on the language used in some posts here, but has nothing to say about the incident that provoked it.
Oh how rich!! This is a discussion? What have you added to this “discussion”? I certainly haven’t heard an apology yet.
What are some ideas in light of recent developments would you attempt to bring order to your community page?
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