I live near Pittsburgh, and this is not the story I heard about the conviction of Tammy Feldbaum.

Both the Judge and the Prosecutor used two legal theories:

1) Tammy was not a qualified physician or surgeon and as such should not be performing surgery (even minor surgery) on anyone. That is why physicians and surgeons are licensed by the State. The immediate cause of death was an illegal surgery, i.e. the removal of his testicles.

2) She was negligent in her standard of care. If he had been taken to the hospital after the castration, he would still be alive. She bears the responsibility for this and is thus negligent in causing a death. If a doctor did this it would be malpractice.

Thus, the Judge and Prosecutor held Tammy Feldbaum to standards that the law requires of doctors - licensing and care.

This was said on the radio interviews shortly after the decision. I was driving and heard in in my car on KDKA radio. On a clear night most of you can hear KDKA broadcast clear channel acros the entire USA. But the printed news media also heard this explanation too and they chose to report the story as something else.

Both the Judge and the Prosecutor said that Tammy being a transexual and her husband wanting to be a eunuch did not matter. He can't consent to his own murder (think assisted suicide) and she was not licensed to perform the act. From those legal theories the guilty decision was reached.

It's a cold and sobering thought.

When you plan your castration, take time to invent the story for your trip to the emergency room to be sure you get proper medical care after your nuts are dead and gone. Or, better yet, get a legitimate surgeon to do the job. It's safer.

Remember, you have two nuts and one life!

Dave

Dave,

You are right, except that the husband died from choking on his own vomit due to the anesthesia. The surgery itself did not kill him (although infection might have set in later).

I forget what type of anesthesia they used, but I looked at it at the time of the original article, and apparently it is considered very dangerous for that reason (vomiting).

No one should use general anesthesia outside a hospital! If you're going to do any home genital modification, safest is topical (applied like cream on the skin), then local (injected but only affects region around injection).

I searched this out because it bears on the discussion from Michigan about the castration gone bad.

Please go to a real doctor or have the presence of mind to seek out a real Doctor when something is wrong. ANd if you can't get to a real Doctor, make sure that someone iis there to help you do it.

Better safe than sorry, and

like the boy scouts, be prepared.

Dave

I know there are people out there that want their castrations done by a cutter, as part of a scene, etc etc.

I can only say two things to them. The first is, please consider using Spector & Assoc (can't remember his name, although I'm sure someone will jump right in and provide it). The second is, if you insist on a cutter or a scene, be 100% prepared to dial 911 or get your ass to a hospital. Not only should you be preparing for the worst, but if you aren't willing to wind up in hospital, maybe you should reconsider your decision to be castrated.

IEunuch.

Dr. Kimmel (http://www.felixspector.com) now does the castrations instead of Dr. Spector (http://www.felixspector.com).

The cutter in that Michigan case was the one who insisted 911 be involved. He did realize that the internal bleeding was more than he could handle himself.