‘NHS trans surgery damaged my body for ever — it’s not safe’

[Igneococcus]

In the Sunday Times today about Richie Herron's and another unnamed patient's lawsuit.

"At the seven NHS adult gender clinics in England and Wales, surgery and cross-sex hormones are offered after the age of 18. Patients have at least two assessment appointments with a specialist medical practitioner before hormone treatment is recommended, and those who are considering surgical treatment have two further meetings with separate clinical professionals before they are referred."

I had more appointments (over a period of 18 months) for my pre-cancerous thyroid nodules before I was referred to surgery.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cf857796-01ec-11ee-b730-2607a18701aa?shareToken=37ab04ab9cda65fdbba5187efb95be79

I don't know the specific details of the legal case, but it may be because people with autism are disproportionately represented on the surgery list that it's considered indirect discrimination?

There could also be a failure to consider the relevance and impact of his legal disability, and what reasonable adjustments might be appropriate.

...OCD is also legally considered a disability. Its relevance to the fixation that surgery will make everything ok is both obvious and highly likely - under affirmation-only by definition - to have been ignored.

Yes, although I had several patients with OCD who spent so long considering the risks of curative lung cancer surgery they’d become inoperable by the time they consented. Very very difficult to deal with as a health care professional.

It is also recognised that for OCD you do NOT accommodate obsessions and compulsions as this makes them worse.

Richie is amazing. Very smart, and very brave.

I can't imagine what it must be like to live with the body he has now, and to be in chronic pain.