NHS sued by transgender male over surgery

MOnica that’s a sad and sorry tale. However it beggars to me that the poor man’s managers were aware of his shortcomings but “sent him anyway”. They must surely take most of the blame for allowing him to go. Just as the NHS counsellors and surgeons facilitated this young man’s desires. Sometimes surely those in command need to exercise leadership, acknowledge the red flags and just say ‘NO’.

On the face if it I am tempted to think he is a grown man and must take responsibility for his decision. Incidentally I am not sure he should sueing the NHS. However I do have sympathy for him. Yes , he was adult when surgery was suggested and carried out , but nevertheless he was still very young but clearly very disturbed too. There does seem to be a flood of transgender surgery and I am not convinced that potential patients are given appropriate counselling and that their motives for wanting transgender surgery are thoroughly investigated. Showing a lack of sympathy for this man is not a kind thing , he is where he is and is clearly in great distress physically, emotionally and mentally. Please! some compassion would not go amiss. Those who think ' his decision, his fault' Should stop and consider how they would be feeling now if a member of their family were in this devastating situation.

I hope my DGD has read this and is thinking twice about her strong desire for a double mastectomy. It is such a worry.

Well said Urnstongran !!

Shelflife I think, mostly of us are deeply sympathetic for this man, but see no reason why he should sue the NHS.

He was a grown man in his mid-20s who had been having counselling for years, yet persisted in wanting this operation. At sometime, the doctors need to accept his decision.

Another difficulty nowadays, is that doctors, like everybody else are under strong and violent pressure from transgender activists - and that statement alone could be considered by this group as a sign of transgender hate. Look what has happened to J K Rowling.

However, there are doctors who accept this movement too readily and are inclined to accept those wanting this operation too readily in cases where caution should be exercised.

Lucy girl 3 . I have sent you a PM .

Monica, I do agree with all you say. However , I can't help feeling so very sorry for this young man.

Having read the whole article ( and trusting that he’s telling the truth) I feel he’s been badly advised/ let down by multiple agencies.

I can’t feel sorry for this chap he wanted something, free of charge to change him from what was given to him
If it had been a motorbike, car or a fall accident something beyond his control I would feel great sympathy for him but he chose it and it didn’t work out as he wanted or expected that Is not the NHS s fault

I strongly feel the NHS should not be doing gender realignment operations everyone who wants to change something that is already working well, can do so of course they can but not under the NHS which should be about making people better and I know you will argue back that mental health is a need to be ‘made better’ and I agree but that should be helped with counselling, support but not extreme surgery. Anything more is done at your own expense especially if there is a chance of it not coming up to expectations

I think the NHS is in trouble because their remit is so wide now it’s not what it was set up for at all

I feel very sorry for this young man too, it would seem he was ill prepared for the possible outcomes of this type of surgery.
There comes a point though when we all have to accept the consequences of our actions and not blame others.

He had decided that gender assignment was the answer to his problems so he only 'listened' to those who shared his views.

Perhaps there should have been more listening to this young man, and exploration of his thinking and expectations.

He was a grown man in his mid-20s who had been having counselling for years, yet persisted in wanting this operation. At sometime, the doctors need to accept his decision.

M0nica , doctors really don't have to do that, and the reasons that you gave for them doing so are very bad ones.

I hope this case shows that doctors should not be accepting people for "gender-affirming" surgery as easily as they seem to be doing.

But FarNorth if they do not they are in danger of becoming the victims of the transgender activists. It is easy say that is a wrong justification for their decisions, and in principle it is.

But so many people have suffered from vile abuse, death threats, not just to them, but their families. People have been 'cancelled'. It takes a very brave doctor not to feel the prssure. And unfortunately, some of the doctors can themselves be classed among the zealots.

It is a very sad situation. It is the whole of society that is to blame. The setting up of transgender clinics, teaching very young children about gender dysphoria, letting youngsters think all their mental problems relate to being in the wrong body and that medical science can fix it, parents who would rather their child was trans than gay set vulnerable young people up with a certain mindset. All too often it goes tragically wrong and worse still is irreversible. This young man woke up and thought what have I done, but society is complicit.

He made the choice,therefore he should live with the consequences.
As for suing the NHS,thats a joke.
If he wins the flood gates will be wide open.

wants to blame someone for his own poor decisions. Nhs should not be doing gender reassignment surgery

I wonder if he thought the surgery would be the answer to all his prayers and his life would suddenly improve beyond all measure. Too often we think it’s one single thing that will make all the difference to our lives, whereas it’s never as simple as that. Rather than the grass being greener, he’s realised it’s still the same shade of brown.

Slightly off topic I know, but it occurs to me that many women are left with continence problems after difficult births. This happened to me after 2 mismanaged deliveries. the NHS response was to offer pads and exercises. It never occurred to me to sue the NHS or demand reconstructive surgery. I just got on with it and did the exercises religiously for the rest of my life.

My other thought on this situation is that leaving such life changing surgery to only the profit driven private sector is a very bad idea, as it will be in their financial interest to offer surgery to anyone who requests it. At least via the NHS there will be no pressure to proceed and the long wait for surgery will give the patient time to consider and reconsider if they still want to take this drastic step.

M0nica, doctors are usually very good at refusing to simply give patients what they say they want.
They hold out very well against young women who want to be sterilised, for instance, because those young women might change their minds.

It's appalling that doctors would fail people with severe psychological problems, because of bullying from transactivists.

I hope this case will at least show where the NHS is going wrong.

Poor tortured soul ?

I feel very sorry for everything he has been through.

Starting with his family who joked about and were disgusted by gay people. That is where things started to go very wrong for this young man and why he ended up looking for help in the wrong places. Support and acceptance by his family could have prevented this.

I agree his infertility should have been discussed and that his ability to have children in future could have been protected by suggesting freezing his sperm.

I think the fact that he has been left incontinent is not ok and that he has no feeling in that area shows that the surgery was not successful.

Again through at the base of this it seems to me that more acceptance towards gay and trans people in society could have prevented this personal tragedy and opened up many more avenues of support for this young man.

It seems to me that in the current climate, the NHS are damned if they do and damned if they don't when it comes to gender reassignment procedures.

Refusal can lead to accusations of transphobia even when there's genuine concerns from the medical team as to the patients ability to fully understand the consequences, as seems to be the case here.

It is tragic and hopefully lessons will be learned.

The NHS are indeed damned if they do and damned if they don't. A transgender women is suing the NHS because she wasn't seen early enough. Apparently transgender patients should have an appointment within 18 weeks and aren't getting referred soon enough www.birminghammail.co.uk/black-country/transgender-woman-rowley-regis-sue-21817673
Strikes me they should be suing the government who have underfunded a system that is keeping everyone waiting.
Although I have sympathy for them I think they should appreciate that suing the NHS isn't like suing a profit making company. The time effort and perhaps costs of the case come out of public funds.

So is the consent form we sign before our NHS procedures just a piece of waste paper? Its pretty clear that we are stating we understand the outcome and accept the risks.
How can he sue?
(and yes, I do feel sorry for him)

Sadly I suspect a lot of people who are exploring gender reassignment are unhappy with their life and think that this will "heal" them. There is an enormous amount of pressure from their peer group at some Universities which is a time when big changes take place for a lot of people but not necessarily just about gender.
I know of two people who were convinced that this was what they wanted. Both men are living as men now, happily married with families and have dealt with the issues that were actually making them unhappy.
There would be risks for any surgery and having urinary problems afterwards would be a known risk after such surgery I would have thought. How on earth are the NHS expected to know when people are likely to change their mind after surgery, I don't know. I have always found that there is a transparent process about the risks of surgery (I have always had a leaflet putting things in stark terms) and I would be surprised if such drastic surgery didn't have that system in place.
Of course I feel sorry for him but he was fundamentally the one who gave consent. He needs to live with the consequences and no doubt the NHS will fund the therapy to learn how to do that.