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from Gender Identity Disorders
UK Physician Investigated Over
Rushed Sex Change Operations
October 23, 2006 -
British psychiatrist Russell Reid races charges by five individuals who allege he failed to follow minimum international standards of care for sex change operations. Reid is a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and is considered one of the world's leading experts on Gender Identity Disorders.
Richard Tyson, who is representing one transsexual patient and four psychiatrists, said: "The story that I will unfold will tell you how we state how Dr. Reid has consistently jeopardized the safety of his patients and in particular by prescribing to them irreversible hormones to help change their bender without appropriate assessments and physical checks."
In testimony before the General Medical Council, a male-to-female (MTF) transgender told the council that when he consulted with Reid about a sex change, Reid told him that he could fund his sex change by working as a prostitute. According to the MTF transsexual, Reid told him: "...there is always a market for effeminate young men such as yourself."
The MTF began having psychiatric problems after he was prescribed for hormone treatment by Reid in 1998. In 2001, the patient had a full sex change operation at the Charing Cross Hospital Gender Identity Clinic.
Another patient, a female-to-male (FTM) person consulted with Reid with her sister who asked for a second opinion before her sister underwent the operation. Reid ignored her concerns and prescribed hormone treatments.
The girl's father wrote a letter of concern to Reid. In it, he said: "From conversation with quite a few health professionals, it seems clear that accepted guidelines have been ignored and in view of the seriousness of treatment or an operation it is an understatement to say that your diagnosis has been rushed. After conversations with other members of the family it appears that you have almost encouraged my daughter in her belief that the latest solution is the correct one without first ensuring that she had general therapy to ensure that there are no other less extreme alternatives. Given the irreversible nature of the treatment, the risk of it all being in vain is horrifying."
The girl, however, was injected with hormones and became delusional, thinking she was Jesus. Six months later, she refused a double mastectomy but was later admitted to a psychiatric unit for manic depression. In 1996 she was found wandering naked through the streets, convinced that spirits were entering her and giving her messages.
Additional Reading: Gender Identity Disorders.
Updated: 8 February 2008
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