choosing a residency in gynaecology are now female. in several places in sweden, to comply with discrimination laws, patients may not choose a doctor—regardless of specialty—based on factors such as ethnicity or gender and declining to see a doctor solely because of preference regarding e.g. the practitioner's skin color or gender may legally be viewed as refusing care. in turkey, due to patient preference to be seen by another female, there are now few male gynaecologists working in the field. there have been a number of legal challenges in the us against healthcare providers who have started hiring based on the gender of physicians. mircea veleanu argued, in part, that his former employers discriminated against him by accommodating the wishes of female patients who had requested female doctors for intimate exams. a male nurse complained about an advert for an all-female obstetrics and gynaecology practice in columbia, maryland, claiming this was a form of sexual discrimination. david garfinkel, a new jersey-based ob-gyn, sued his former employer after being fired due to, as he claimed, "because i was male, i wasn't drawing as many patients as they'd expected".