From: Sarah Marr (sarah.marr@dial.pipex.com)
Date: Thu Jul 17 1997 - 02:09:34 MDT
Kathryn Aegis wrote:
>... these operations are denied to persons who have not obtained
>a psychological/medical diagnosis of gender mismatch...
>[this] is presently a bone of contention among those, including myself, who
>would like to make temporary or permanent body modifications that would
>reflect our evolving identities and lifestyles.
Which may be all very well for certain people, and for temporary
modifications, but given the severity and irreversibility of the operation
we are discussing, and the fact that many people asking for it have other
psychological problems, it doesn't seem inappropriate for the medical
profession to act as 'gatekeepers'. Perhaps this a moral issue which will
have to be faced in an individual basis for each possible modification as
the technology we so-often discuss becomes available; but right now I think
it important that somebody take responsibility for making sure that this
particular, major, and undeniably medical, decision is not taken
mistakenly: and who better than the medical profession to do that? The
answer may come back, 'The individual concerned', but many such people are
not be in a suitable mental state to take such a decision: why should the
medical profession throw out its duty of patient care in these cases?
Sarah
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