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A Florida law halted treatment for many trans adults. One clinic is trying to carry on.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/04/07/florida-transgender-clinics-nurses-law/A Florida law halted treatment for many trans adults. One clinic is trying to carry on.
By Casey Parks
April 7, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
ORLANDO — Any day now, Joey Knoll told himself, he’d grab the bullhorn he kept at the edge of his desk, and he’d tell everyone at Spektrum Health that their year-long nightmare was over.
All of Knoll’s patients had been on edge since the Florida legislature banned nurse practitioners like him from prescribing hormones to trans people. Florida doesn’t have nearly enough doctors to take up the slack, and so, for many patients, the care simply disappeared when the law took effect last May. A judge had the power to change that.
Knoll booted up his computer, and he listened as Lizzo’s “2 B Loved (Am I Ready)” played in the hallways. Spektrum had always been a fun clinic. People brought their pets to work, and Knoll, a 39-year-old gay man, sports a dyed blonde mohawk. But the pop song echoed down empty hallways now, and Knoll knew his inbox would once again be filled with messages from desperate patients.
Nearly 150 were out of medicine, and others were nearing the end of their supply. Even Spektrum’s chief operating officer, a trans woman, had just one refill left.
[...]
By Casey Parks
April 7, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
ORLANDO — Any day now, Joey Knoll told himself, he’d grab the bullhorn he kept at the edge of his desk, and he’d tell everyone at Spektrum Health that their year-long nightmare was over.
All of Knoll’s patients had been on edge since the Florida legislature banned nurse practitioners like him from prescribing hormones to trans people. Florida doesn’t have nearly enough doctors to take up the slack, and so, for many patients, the care simply disappeared when the law took effect last May. A judge had the power to change that.
Knoll booted up his computer, and he listened as Lizzo’s “2 B Loved (Am I Ready)” played in the hallways. Spektrum had always been a fun clinic. People brought their pets to work, and Knoll, a 39-year-old gay man, sports a dyed blonde mohawk. But the pop song echoed down empty hallways now, and Knoll knew his inbox would once again be filled with messages from desperate patients.
Nearly 150 were out of medicine, and others were nearing the end of their supply. Even Spektrum’s chief operating officer, a trans woman, had just one refill left.
[...]