Tyra Hunter dies after being denied emergency care
Tyra Hunter dies because she is denied medical help on account of her trans identity.
On 7 August 1995, 24-year-old Tyra Hunter dies in Washington, D.C., after being denied the medical help she needs following a car accident, because she is trans. Hunter, an African American hairdresser, is sitting in the passenger seat of her friend Tedessa Rankin's car that morning when a stolen vehicle running a red light rams them at the junction of 50th Street SE and C Street SE in the Marshall Heights neighbourhood.
Fire department paramedics at first begin treating her. When they cut open her clothing and realise that Hunter is trans, they back away, hurl racist and transphobic insults and stop treatment for several minutes. Only after protests from bystanders and the arrival of a supervisor is she treated further and taken to D.C. General Hospital. There the doctors responsible fail to diagnose her injuries correctly and to give her a blood transfusion that was clearly indicated, even though blood supplies are available.
Around two hours after the accident, Hunter dies in hospital of internal bleeding. Expert opinions in the later trial establish that with proper treatment she would have had an 86 per cent chance of survival. None of the paramedics involved is ever disciplined.
In December 1998, a jury awards Hunter's mother Margie damages running into millions and finds that the city is responsible for Hunter's death both under the D.C. Human Rights Act and through negligence and medical malpractice. After appeal proceedings, the parties settle in 2000 on a payment of 1.75 million dollars.
The case sparks nationwide protests, has since been regarded as one of the defining moments of the US trans rights movement and led to awareness training for emergency services.