Couple sues over adopted son's sex-assignment surgery

[Wolf-Pup (imported)]

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05 ... 2-couple-s...

Couple sues over adopted son's sex-assignment surgery

By Colleen Jenkins

Reuters

A South Carolina couple sued doctors and state social workers on Tuesday for subjecting a 16-month-old child born with both male and female genitalia to what they say was medically unnecessary and irreversible sex-assignment surgery while the toddler was in foster care.

The state and federal lawsuits - believed by the couple's lawyers to be the first of their kind in the United States - argue that doctors should not have performed surgery to make the child's body appear to be female when they knew they could not predict how gender would develop.

The child, now 8, has shown strong signs of identifying as male and recently began living as a boy, according to Pam and Mark Crawford, who adopted him after the surgery.

The couple, a psychiatrist and stay-at-home dad, said they are taking legal action in the hopes of helping other children who face similar medical conditions.

"We feel very strongly that these decisions to permanently alter somebody's genitalia and their reproductive ability for no medical reason whatsoever is an abhorrent practice and can't be continued," Pam Crawford said in a phone interview.

"It is too late for our son," she added. "The damage has been done to him."

The lawsuit filed in state court in Columbia names the South Carolina Department of Social Services, Greenville Hospital System and Medical University of South Carolina as defendants.

Spokeswomen for the state department and the hospital system said they could not comment on the pending litigation, which alleges gross negligence and medical malpractice based on a lack of informed consent.

A spokeswoman for the Medical University of South Carolina - where the surgery took place - said the suit would be reviewed by the hospital's leadership and general counsel.

The child, identified only as M.C., was born in South Carolina in November 2004 and entered the state's foster care system in February 2005 after being removed from the custody of his biological parents.

Shortly after he was born, doctors noted that he had "ambiguous genitals" and both male and female reproductive organs, the lawsuits said.

Though doctors determined that he could be raised as either a boy or a girl, they opted for genital surgery that made the child's body look female - a decision the Crawfords say was premature because his dominant gender identity had not yet emerged.

"The surgery eliminated M.C.'s potential to procreate as a male and caused a significant and permanent impairment of sexual function," according to the filings in state court.

"The doctors knew that sex assignment surgeries on infants with conditions like M.C.'s poses a significant risk of imposing a gender that is ultimately rejected by the patient," the lawsuit says.

The federal lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Charleston, South Carolina, says the surgery violated the child's constitutional rights.

Risks not fully explained

Sex-assignment surgeries on infants with intersex conditions, previously called hermaphroditism, have been performed since the 1950s, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Informed Choice, which are helping represent the Crawfords and their child.

The medical procedures often are performed without the risks being fully explained, the groups said.

"Doctors often assume they have to do surgery to make their bodies fit the stereotypes," said Anne Tamar-Mattis, executive director of Advocates for Informed Choice, a legal advocacy group for children born with variations of reproductive or sexual anatomy. In the case of the Crawfords' child, "the doctors knew from the beginning that there was a strong probability that this child would be a boy."

The Crawfords, who live in Columbia, said they initially raised M.C. as a girl after gaining custody when the toddler was about 20 months old.

But they said they soon noticed M.C. tended toward interests typically associated with males and preferred boys' clothing. As he grew older, he asked for his hair to be cut short like his father's and wanted to join a gymnastics class as a boy, they said.

"He's always been able to amuse himself with a toolkit," Mark Crawford said. "He's more likely than any of our other children to be climbing trees, wanting to ride bikes, flying model airplanes."

A couple of months ago, in consultation with their pediatrician, the Crawfords said their son made the transition to live as a boy and has been accepted as one by his friends.

But they added that the long-term consequences of the surgery are heartbreaking to try to explain to him.

"It's really tough because he's now asking the questions about how he can be like everybody else," Pam Crawford said.

[speedvogel (imported)]

IMHO, it is good that this child's adoptive parents have filed this suit. There is ample precedent to suggest that sex assignment surgery before the child reaches an age where he/she has given indication how he/she is inclined is wrong. This sort of tampering with a child's makeup must be stopped. It is too late to save this youngster from a lifetime of torment and need for intensive therapy for the rest of his life, but it is perfectly right to force the nut-cases in the medical community to stop inflicting their beliefs on these innocent patients.

[Hash (imported)]

speed, couldn't agree with you more. This kind of surgery has to stop! I really thought it had, but no, unfortunately for this child it hadn't. Shame. I think some surgeons are so arrogant that they play God. It might not have been easy for this child initially, but any decision about genital surgery is this child's decision alone. Poor kid, sure reminds me of the Reimer case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer

[Mac (imported)]

As long as the parts allowed for normal functioning they should have been left alone. To what extent did he/she have intersex parts?

[janekane (imported)]

Intersex people are no more nor less normal than are other people. The sustainability of any species is critically dependent upon its biological diversity, for it is such diversity as allows species to survive environmental changes which would otherwise lead to a species becoming extinct for lack of sufficient biological diversity as is necessary for some members of a species to adapt to an environmental change that is lethal to other members of the species.

The belief in the middle of "the normal curve" being "normal," and the outer parts of "the normal curve" being abnormal is, for me, an indicator of serious psychosis among humans.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

This lawsuit is a good, even necessary, thing. It does not matter whether the suit is won or lost, it matters that the parents are taking steps to object to the injustice of the reassignment surgery. I think that the boy, in this case, has a better than usual chance of successfully adapting to his circumstances thanks to the care shown by his parents. I say we need to bring this out into the open so that a reasonable dialog can begin about some of the worst decisions made in the name of "the best interests" of a child. --FLO--

[A-1 (imported)]

As long as the parts allowed for normal functioning they should have been left alone. To what extent did he/she have intersex parts?

I disagree.

There ARE no conditions. They should have left the child alone, PERIOD!!!

[Cainanite (imported)]

I have been doing a lot of research into this phenomena, and it is disturbing. Doctors, institutions, and even parents are so blinded by the need for a child to fit a predetermined set of criteria, that they will stop at nothing to make it so. Drugs, surgeries, hormones, lies, and even physical and mental torture. Nothing is off limits, and no reprehensible action cannot be justified to one who wants to hammer that square peg into that round hole.

People really need to start thinking of children as people, and not just as a penis or a vagina. If the child is born healthy, it shouldn't matter what is between its legs. What should matter is what is between a person's ears.

If I ever accomplish one great thing in my life, I would very much like to change people's minds about altering a healthy child, just to make an adult feel better about it. I cannot think of one instance where I would agree with something like that. I cannot imagine what makes any adult think that they have that right.

[Mac (imported)]

As long as the parts allowed for normal functioning they should have been left alone. To what

extent did he/she have intersex parts?

I disagree.

There ARE no conditions. T

hey should have left the child alone, PERIOD!!!

By normal functioning I meant the ability to expel urine and menstral fluids (should the female components become active). If those functions are possible then any surgeries can be postponed to a future time. Thus, I think that you really agree with me.

[daifu-orchid (imported)]

There seem to be a good few health professionals here. Let's see if this strikes a chord with any:

A person, usually more senior, and obviously of sound mind declines surgery or other medical treatment. The health professionals claim that not only do they know best, but the decision not to agree de facto shows mental incompetence. A court order is applied for and often obtained... It seems to bring no credit to anyone. I suspect this might equally apply to those of more tender years. An abhorrence, IMHO.