Gay Man Sues Physician Network after South Bay Doctor Labels His Orientation a 'Chronic Condition'

A Los Angeles-area man has sued a South Bay medical group after a Manhattan Beach-based doctor diagnosed him with the “chronic” condition of being gay.

Matthew Moore’s lawsuit, filed in July, says he started seeing Dr. Elaine Jones for routine medical checkups in April 2013. In May 2013, he learned that “homosexual behavior” was listed as a chronic condition in his charts.

NBC Los Angeles reports that he wrote to Torrance Memorial Physician Network in July 2013, and the group apologized profusely, saying, “We would like to unequivocally state that the Torrance Memorial Physician Network does not view homosexuality as a disease or a chronic condition.”

But nearly a year later, the 46-year-old learned that while an archaic medical code used to describe homosexuality as a disorder had been dropped from his charts, his sexual orientation is still listed as a chronic condition.

Moore told NBC he doesn’t have a problem with doctors noting his orientation, it’s just not right to list it as a disease.

His lawsuit calls the classification defamation and accuses all those involved with keeping his medical records at Torrance Memorial Physician Network of engaging in a pattern of deceit and medical record “doctoring.”

As a result, Moore claims he has suffered anxiety, humiliation and emotional stress that should be compensated at a dollar amount to be determined at the time of trial.

NBC reports the case will have its first court hearing in January.