Charing Cross gets it wrong again
Yesterday I got a copy of a letter from Dr Lenihan at Charing Cross to my GP about my last appointment. This is the most pertinent section:
"Mr [lastname] had a private bilateral mastectomy carried out in San Francisco by Dr Brownstein on 28th March 2006. There was no psychiatric/psychological endorsement for this surgery... This surgery would not have been endorsed from Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic because it is not in accordance with the Harry Benjamin guidelines for transgender care, which specify a minimum of one year's 'Real Life Experience' prior to any gender reassignment surgery. 'Real Life Experience' at Charing Cross GIC is two years, but we do consider bilateral mastectomy after one year. Your patient had only been 5 months into his reassigned gender role and was only 3 months into his 'Real Life Experience' when he had the bilateral mastectomy.
"It was discussed with your patient that there is a conflict in care from him having sought private treatment whilst in an NHS programme for gender reassignment, without an endorsement or discussion with his NHS consultants. What is particularly a concern in your patient's case is how quickly the surgery was carried out following the start of the 'Real Life Experience', in breach of clinical guidelines."
There is so much wrong in the whole letter, never mind that excerpt, that it's untrue. Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I'm aware the current version of the SOC does not specify any Real Life Experience at all. The previous version (1996? 1998?) did but obviously, that's been superseded by the current version. Apparently Dr Lenihan/Charing Cross are not aware of this. I'd love to know where they got figures from about how long I've been in my reassigned gender role and my Real Life Experience. I've been living as male since the end of September 2004 which by my reckoning was 18 months by March this year.
Apparently they're going to discharge me after I've got my T sorted out with the endocrinologist. I'm a little concerned because they seem to be under the impression that I don't want a hysto (another thing they've got wrong) and I don't know how I'll go about getting that if they discharge me. Is it worth my while writing to ask about that and to correct all the errors they've made? I'm really not surprised about this but I want to know if this is going to cause any problems in the future, especially with my hysto and management of my T.
"Mr [lastname] had a private bilateral mastectomy carried out in San Francisco by Dr Brownstein on 28th March 2006. There was no psychiatric/psychological endorsement for this surgery... This surgery would not have been endorsed from Charing Cross Gender Identity Clinic because it is not in accordance with the Harry Benjamin guidelines for transgender care, which specify a minimum of one year's 'Real Life Experience' prior to any gender reassignment surgery. 'Real Life Experience' at Charing Cross GIC is two years, but we do consider bilateral mastectomy after one year. Your patient had only been 5 months into his reassigned gender role and was only 3 months into his 'Real Life Experience' when he had the bilateral mastectomy.
"It was discussed with your patient that there is a conflict in care from him having sought private treatment whilst in an NHS programme for gender reassignment, without an endorsement or discussion with his NHS consultants. What is particularly a concern in your patient's case is how quickly the surgery was carried out following the start of the 'Real Life Experience', in breach of clinical guidelines."
There is so much wrong in the whole letter, never mind that excerpt, that it's untrue. Correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I'm aware the current version of the SOC does not specify any Real Life Experience at all. The previous version (1996? 1998?) did but obviously, that's been superseded by the current version. Apparently Dr Lenihan/Charing Cross are not aware of this. I'd love to know where they got figures from about how long I've been in my reassigned gender role and my Real Life Experience. I've been living as male since the end of September 2004 which by my reckoning was 18 months by March this year.
Apparently they're going to discharge me after I've got my T sorted out with the endocrinologist. I'm a little concerned because they seem to be under the impression that I don't want a hysto (another thing they've got wrong) and I don't know how I'll go about getting that if they discharge me. Is it worth my while writing to ask about that and to correct all the errors they've made? I'm really not surprised about this but I want to know if this is going to cause any problems in the future, especially with my hysto and management of my T.