This response to an article raises some concerns related to how the attribute "sex" is used within the NHS:
Healthcare providers and the NHS should hold accurate, reliable information about patient's sex as a basic minimum.
At the moment they do not. There is no single data attribute that records that I am female (and not in fact a male person who identifies as female and has asked to have their record changed).
This is very important because it might lead to malpraxis:
The patient is given the wrong treatment as a result of a failure to match the patient correctly with their artefacts (samples, letters, specimens, X-rays, and so on).
This Psychology & Neuroscience answer provides a quick way to understand the difference between sex and gender:
Sex is a biological construct, what is real:. Attributes that characterize biological maleness and femaleness include:
- Chromosomes
- Hormones
- Anatomy
Gender is a social construct, or 'man-made':. Attitudes and feelings that a given culture associates with a person's biological sex such as:
- Gender expression
- Gender roles and behaviors
- Gender identity
If I understand correctly, a medical system should be concerned about storing both values and especially the first one which is an input for what is "normal" medical results values, treatment decisions, etc.
Considering the importance of both concepts, is there any public health system that registers both biological sex and gender in the medical records?