Discrimination In Healthcare Access

Author: LawSphereX

Category: General Law

Published: 2026-08-23T19:28:19.326Z

Updated: 2026-08-30T07:07:03.618Z

DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTHCARE ACCESS

Garima Jain, Geeta Institute of Law - Kurukshetra University Introduction The right to health or the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health was first introduced in the 1946 constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO). 1 International conventions and treaties all over the world aim to provide equitable access to healthcare to every human in every country, this means that healthcare organizations and personnel are not to discriminate between patients on grounds of gender, sex, religion, race, sexual preference, economic status, and the like. However, the reality when compared to textbook statutes is quite appalling. Pre-existent stereotypes in the medical industry prove to be dreadful to the ones already at a disadvantage in society.

This paper aims to understand the stereotypes prevalent against various communities and how this stereotype proves fatal in them receiving medical treatment. Further, the paper ends by providing some possible solutions to combat stereotypes in access to healthcare facilities. Stereotypes against women Stereotypes are understood as generalized preconceptions that define individuals into group categories. Stereotypes can be oppressive, unethical, and immoral when they prescribe what individuals must be permitted to do or not to do. The purpose of identifying stereotypes is so they can be dismantled and eliminated. To illustrate the same with an example, women have come to be stereotyped as homemakers and mothers which precludes them from prioritizing other roles and functions. Another stereotype in society is regarding chastity in women, especially in unmarried young girls.

History shows that some stereotypes are so tenacious and can survive in society despite their accuracy. In some countries, the suspicion of sexual impropriety in young adolescent women embodying “family honor” has resulted in “honor 1 Da Luz Scherf, Erick and Alves Lima Zanatta, Maria de Lourdes and da Silva, Marcos Vinicius Viana and da Silva, José Everton, Health care access by transgender persons in South Africa: gender-based discrimination, human rights violations, and the role of the African human rights system (September 23, 2021). Journal Health and Technology - JHT, 1(4), e1425. https://doi. org/10. 47820/jht. v1i4. 25, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn. com/abstract=3969424 or http://dx. doi. org/10. 2139/ssrn. 3969424. killings”2 by the male members of the family.

3 In the context of health care, distinctions are drawn between ‘doctors’ and ‘women doctors’ and ‘nurses’ and ‘male nurses’, as doctoring was perceived to be a masculine occupation whereas nursing was a feminine occupation. Practices that confine women to femininegendered roles exclude women from the sphere of masculine-gendered roles. Such preconceptions of assumed vulnerability, and association of women with being the ‘weaker sex’ still affect them as recipients of reproductive and sexual healthcare access. 4 Policies and practices continue to stereotype female patients. One such instance is the infantilization of women by ensuring that requests for health care be accepted by their husbands or fathers in the absence of a husband, thereby diminishing their reproductive autonomy and regarding her as unable to form rational decisions for themselves.

A childless female requesting contraception prescription or sterilization to pursue her career is stigmatized and looked down on as denying support to the state and the common good of society. Similarly, single mothers requesting the same to enter or return to their jobs may well be accused of child neglect. 5 There has been a history of physicians and nurses giving tenacious looks of disapproval and providing moral or religious values to female patients seeking abortion procedures. This conduct by healthcare professionals is unethical, unprofessional, and discriminatory. Men and women are biologically different sexes but they are not so much different in their moral responsibility or their right to self-determination.

Men and women are similar in their capability to distinguish between reproductive choices and medical care that serves legitimate goals against those that are contrary to their interests. Accordingly, when men can access healthcare services without state or governmental intervention then why are women made to satisfy stereotypical legislated, customary, or other criteria inapplicable to men? 6 Healthcare professionals in reproductive and sexual health care need to recognize the patient’s human right to dignity, respect, and self-determination. The first step towards this would be to 2 Acts of violence, most often murder, carried out by male family members against primarily female family members who are believed to have degraded the family’s honour, Human Rights Watch.

3 Cook, Rebecca J. and Cusack, Simone A. and Dickens, Bernard, Unethical Female Stereotyping in

Reproductive Health (2010). International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Vol. 109, pp. 255-258, 2010, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1600859.

4 Supra note 3, at 1.

5 Id.

6 Id.

let go of the initial presumption or negative stereotype that women are incompetent to make decisions about their bodies and lives and to regard them as capable of accepting moral responsibility for making appropriately informed reproductive choices. Such choices shall not have to be ratified by men, or disclosed to others without the prior opinion of the female patient. 7 Stereotypes against the LGBTQ community The LGBT community, more specifically the trans people have unique health risks and they face additional human rights violations, public shaming, and institutional violence while trying to navigate through a cisgender healthcare system. They face greater barriers when accessing healthcare mainly due to the lack of transgender patients and the inability of the healthcare personnel to provide adequate treatment to this community.

The majority of trans people are unable to provide legal recognition for their gender which then blocks them from having proper legal documents necessary for obtaining access to healthcare, employment, and education. 8 LGBTQ community, especially gay men and trans people are at a magnified risk of HIV determination; however, the lack of adequate and efficient healthcare measures prevents such marginalized communities from getting proper treatment which leads to speedy spread and exacerbates the impact of the disease. 9 This is coupled with the lack of respect provided by the healthcare personnel when dealing with the cases of HIV and the stigma surrounding it. Trans people in general and patients with HIV are looked at with disapproval and fear, even after programs spreading awareness about the disease, patients face discrimination at the hands of physicians and nurses.

It is the primary duty of the state to provide equal access to the healthcare system to all communities without discriminating against them. The LGBT community is already marginalized and lives in fear and poverty due to the underdeveloped state healthcare facilities and other socio-economic inequalities, the additional stereotypes faced by them and the lowquality care they receive while accessing the healthcare system have contributed to poor health outcomes. 10

7 Id.

8 Supra note 1, at 1.

9 Supra note 1, at 1.

10 Id.

Stereotypes against undocumented migrants Undocumented migrants have been described as ‘formally excluded but physically present within the state’s territory’, the category includes those who have overstayed their visas, people who have crossed the border without the legal entitlement to do so and failed asylum seekers. The names of such people remain undocumented as it is difficult to track their movement. 11 In countries where the healthcare system operates on insurance systems sold by big private companies, which use the profits acquired legally to provide healthcare benefits to their insured clients. A basic insurance scheme covers pre- and post-natal care, primary and secondary care, psychotherapy, and reproductive care. The undocumented migrants, who are insufficiently aware of their rights, often fall out of the system.

It ought to be defined who is entitled to take out what insurance and what kind of care is to be provided to those who cannot afford it. As a result of ambiguous and varying healthcare policies, it can be difficult for undocumented migrants to know what kind of healthcare they are entitled to. 12 Suggestions Harmful and discriminatory stereotypes within the healthcare system can prove to be fatal to the health of patients, especially patients belonging to a community that is already marginalized. Society as a whole and the state ought to make collective efforts to rectify the human rights violations in the healthcare system. Certain avenues for accountability and redressal:

1 Advocacy

advocacy involves showing direct empathy, politeness, and humility for the victim and developing solutions together. Advocacy means to act on behalf of another person, a group of people, or a community to get a certain message across to certain stakeholders and to seek remedies for specific injuries. Advocacy in human rights violations may encompass various tactics like public education, media work, lobbying, political action, and so on.13

2 Judicialization

to judicialize means to make something judicial in nature or to treat it 11 Jossen, M. (2018). Undocumented Migrants, Healthcare and Health. In Undocumented Migrants, Healthcare and Health: Eight Stories from Switzerland (pp. 7–24). Open Book Publishers.

12 Id.

13 Supra note 1, at 1.

judicially (LEXICO Online Dictionary). It majorly entails bringing the (human) rights violation before a judicial body that will further analyze the claims and provide a decision.14

3 Naming and shaming

it is the process through which people, organizations, or a third country publicly denounces abusive practices and human rights violations. It is meant to coerce the government into stopping the human rights violations however, the track record of its efficiency is mixed. In the case of human rights violations, it involves publicization of the violation of rights and mobilizing public opinion to seek accountability. However, mere publicization of human rights violations might not translate into accountability for the state and redressal for the victim. 15 As seen above, equity, naming, and shaming healthcare providers or the government for their discriminatory behavior towards women, the LGBTQ community, or undocumented migrants might not be effective in a society that has no regard for the well-being of gender and sexual minorities.

The courts cannot change a nation, it is only through education that sensitivity to gender and human rights can be instilled within the society. Prejudice must be fought within the legal system as well but can only be eradicated when cultural and socio-political practices are contested and transformed. 16 Conclusion Healthcare professionals must be aware of the harmful and discriminatory stereotypes, particularly against the already subjugated section of society. Stereotypes are weakened when individuals are exposed to instances that show them to be false. Patients whose healthcare providers discount their individuality and treat them through demeaning, discriminatory stereotypes cannot be said to have received contributions to their mental or social health and in turn their physical health.

Accordingly, healthcare professionals ought to actively eliminate negative, harmful, and discriminatory stereotypes as such stereotypes are detrimental to health and health care. 17

14 Id.

15 Id.

16 Id.

17 Supra note 3, at 1.