Why are so many men pregnant? Data entry mistakes in the health industry

Re:Why are so many men pregnant? Data entry mistakes in the ... by jerf on Thursday May 17, 2012 @05:39AM (#3986193)

There is a non-zero subset of people out there who will look at any given fixed list of genders and insist they are not any of them, or be offended at being classed as "other" or any artfully disguised equivalent term. Data modelers have to draw the line at some point.

Besides, since we are in medical context, your chosen gender is less important than your physical sex (including all the known intermediates and nons), which is what is actually useful to the medical system. Your chosen gender might as well be a write-in slot for all it matters ("Jedi").

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Re:Why are so many men pregnant? Data entry mistakes in the ... by rmc on Thursday May 17, 2012 @05:48AM (#3986205)

Yes you will often get objections no matter what you say. However in the UK, under the Gender Recognition Act it's a criminal offence to reveal that someone is trans ( http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/advice-and-guidance/your-... ).

Designing a database system, and leaving a criminal liability open like that, is very unprofessional.

Not to mention that Data Protection Law in the EU requires you to store accurate personal data, and allows the person to have this data corrected (i.e. you have to change it if they tell you & can prove it). So you may think "We'll just lump you in the 'Transgendered' Category", however if the person says "I'm male, here's my birth cert showing male", you are legally required to change it.

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