"Flipped Examination Room": Ascriptions of Vulnerability Between Trans Patients and Their Healthcare Providers

The history of pathologisation has left traces in trans healthcare contexts, especially barriers to receiving healthcare. These can be explained with theories of biopower—the disciplining of non-normative bodies, which often results in breached boundaries and repudiation of agency. Embedded in frameworks of Institutional Ethnography and Community-Based Participatory Research, we analysed recordings from one trans Community Team discussion (N = three) and one training session for healthcare providers (HCPs; N = eight) with Charmaz’ Grounded Theory. In this exploratory phase of an ongoing research project, we investigated current practices and underlying beliefs about “trans-sensitive healthcare” in Austria. By depicting trans patients as vulnerable, some HCPs practice benevolent pathologisation. Yet, negotiations of intimacy and responsibility along with power imbalances can render both parties vulnerable. HCPs’ own vulnerability frequently stems from knowledge gaps and expectations concerning expertise and authority. We conclude that a caring and transparent approach to contextual vulnerabilities in interactions between trans patients and HPCs is paramount. The notion of caring encounters, where being uncertain is not a flaw but a mere fact of human existence, is a transformative perspective. By offering their support to HCPs, trans people extend their circle of care and imagine a society built on compassion.