The letter below is an open letter to all medical professionals to highlight my medical experiences and it’s objective is to get the ball rolling in starting an open dialogue moving forward:
Dear medical professional,
First of all, please do not take this open letter as a form of personal attack. The purpose of writing this ’open letter’ is exactly the opposite; it has been written to inform and hopefully highlight areas for improvements to services provided to young patients under your care.
Within the first year of my life I had 2 gonadectomy operations to remove both of my gonads and one cosmetic surgery; a Clitoridectomy.
Having all of these done in my first year of life is a big deal - at the time, and considering this was 30+ years ago, my mum as a single parent was not given the support she needed to educate her and thus educate me about what has been done to my body.
My paediatric care has left me with both physical and mental scars. As pre-teen going to see the specialist it was always disconcerting especially when a significant number of trainee registrars were invited in to the room to watch the specialist poke, prod and measure the most intimate parts of my anatomy - this was extremely traumatising and to this day I have flashbacks of this happening.
Not only this but when the patient does not have a clue or a reasonable understanding of why this is happening to them - or why they are like they are, is also harmful and causes them to self-doubt and question themselves.
This is not ok. Patients under your care should be informed about any treatment they are having and the reasons why they are having any procedure or taking any medication to enable them to comprehend what is happening to them and why.
Informed consent is crucial. An infant less than a year old is not able to provide you with their consent to procedures that are not considered life-threatening, but that can have long-lasting psychological impact. Plus, performing surgery on a pre-teen without fully making them aware of all the facts prior to the operation is a sure-fire way to generate anxiety and fear, alleviate this by making sure they are aware of what’s happening to them and why.
I implore you to think about the practices you use and see when dealing with young people and make sure you and your colleagues make sure they are fully aware of their medical condition; nobody other than the individual can give consent to any medical procedures done to them - no one else.
Additionally, if you have any intersex patients who have had to deal with the traumatic stresses associated with any past treatment, that could have been avoided; offer them support, show understanding and make sure they are armed with the information needed to enable them to be their true and full selves.
Since discovering all this new information about my past, at the age of 25, one doctor has informed me that the cosmetic procedures I have had done are now considered unethical, which is good to hear.
Unnecessary treatment and surgeries on intersex individuals needs to stop and the first step to making this happen is to have honest and open dialogue about how we can protect future generations and providing care and support for those who have been traumatised and seriously effected by their medical past.
Lets act now - tomorrow is too late.
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