Southern Comfort: Film Analysis

Not enough is known about the history of Robert Eads before his diagnosis of ovarian cancer in 1996. What is well-known and documented within the 2001 independent film “Southern Comfort” is that over the next year, more than a dozen medical providers refused him treatment due to the fear of reputation harm caused by taking on the care of a transgender male. By the time the Medical College of Georgia Hospital accepted Eads for treatment in 1997, the cancer had metastasized to the uterus, cervix and other abdominal organs (Southern Comfort, 2001). Robert Eads died January 17, 1999 at the age of 53.
Medical discrimination against treatment of transgender males is still pervasive today. A 2011 transgender discrimination study (N = 6434) conducted by the National Center of Transgender Equality (NCTE) and the National LGBTQ Task Force (previously named the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force) found 20% of the female to male respondents (FtM, n = 1,687) experienced over
The NCTE study found 55% of transgender men reported postponing any care due to the inability to afford it although they did report high rates of insurance coverage. [I need to dig more for more support of this, I’m sure this due to insurance and coding, see note below] Sixty-eight percent (68%) of FtM’s reported having private insurance and 13% had public insurance. Only 19% of the men reported being uninsured.
Additionally, respondents reported that medical providers, including doctors, displayed ignorance about basic aspects of transgender health and they found themselves required to “teach their provider” to obtain appropriate care. Fifty percent (50%) of the overall study respondents reported having to teach providers about some aspect of their health needs but those who reported “teaching” most often were transgender men (62%), as well as those who had transitioned (61%) and those on public insurance