The Best of Both Worlds
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https://nationalpost.com/news/science/court-case-vaginoplasty-patient-keeping-penis
In a lengthy legal battle that could lead to more requests for individually customized and unorthodox gender-affirming surgeries, an Ontario resident is seeking publicly funded surgery to construct a vagina while preserving the penis.
The case, now before the courts, reflects a small but growing demand for niche surgeries for people who identify as non-binary, meaning neither exclusively female nor exclusively male.
To critics, the procedures are risky experiments that illustrate “how far off the rails” gender-affirming medicine has gone and the excesses of “consumer-driven gender embodiment.”
“Our public health-care system is at the breaking point and really needs to focus on procedures that are medically necessary,” Pamela Buffone, founder of the parents’ group Canadian Gender Report, said in an email to the National Post.
“Is this type of surgery health care? The patient will not be physically healthier because of the operation, which is likely to result in complications and the need for corrective surgeries and further demands on the health system.”
LGBTQ rights groups say such surgeries can profoundly improve a person’s quality of life and reduce the distress and deep sense of unease from gender dysphoria. Health-care providers shouldn’t make assumptions about what care may be medically necessary, Egale Canada argued in a written submission to the court.
“Ultimately OHIP’s interpretation (of a vaginoplasty) is exclusionary and discriminates against nonbinary people on the basis of their gender identity,” Egale said. If there is any ambiguity in what should be publicly covered, it should be resolved in favour of the claimant, they said.
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Should be out of pocket for the patient on a number of points. First being that it is cosmetic as opposed to routine reconstruction.
Most of all it is a rather stupid request. Would be like asking a dental surgeon to remove perfectly healthy and non impacted wisdom teeth and replace them with implants.
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Another thought as to why it should not be covered by the provincial health insurance plan: it would constitute “betterment”.
How many of us have been told that line from the insurance agent as an excuse to deny house or car insurance claims or portions of claims?
Another option is for the tranny to just request that the surgeon carefully remove the complete male apparatus - lock, stock and scrotum - so that the unit can be bronzed just like people did with baby’s first shoes back in the day. It would make quite the conversation piece in the curio cabinet at cocktail parties.
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But there’s no mental illness involved… Nope…
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But there’s no mental illness involved… Nope…
@LuFins-Dad said in The Best of Both Worlds:
It must be at least 10 years ago when I had a conversation with my friend Bill, a surgeon.
"We don't treat anorexia by encouraging diets, stomach stapling, etc. We treat it like the mental illness it is. Why should all this trans stuff be any different?"
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@LuFins-Dad said in The Best of Both Worlds:
It must be at least 10 years ago when I had a conversation with my friend Bill, a surgeon.
"We don't treat anorexia by encouraging diets, stomach stapling, etc. We treat it like the mental illness it is. Why should all this trans stuff be any different?"
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Ontario resident who wants both a vagina and penis wins public funding for unique surgery
The Ontario resident, identified in court documents as K.S., has been locked in a legal battle with the Ontario Health Insurance Plan since 2022, when OHIP denied a funding request to have a penile preserving vaginoplasty performed at a clinic in Austin, Texas.
The surgery, which is not available anywhere in Canada, involves creating a vaginal canal, or opening, without removing the penis.
K.S., 33, was born male but identifies as female dominant and uses a feminine name.
OHIP denied her request for funding, arguing that the procedure is not included on its list of sex-reassignment procedures, and is therefore not an insured service.
K.S. appealed OHIP’s decision to Ontario’s Health Services Appeal and Review Board, arguing that forcing her to have her penis removed would invalidate her identity and be akin to an illegal act of conversion therapy.
She also worried about the risk of complications and urinary incontinence from the urological rerouting, and the risk of orgasm dysfunction. She argued the procedure she is seeking abroad is like standard vaginoplasties performed in Ontario, but without the additional procedure, namely, the penectomy.
The appeal board overturned OHIP’s decision, ruling that a vaginoplasty is among the genital surgeries listed for public coverage and need not inherently include removal of the penis. The board therefore ruled the procedure eligible for public funding.
OHIP appealed the board’s decision to the Divisional Court, arguing the review board erred in finding a penis-sparing vaginoplasty is specifically listed as an insured service, and that it failed to consider that the unorthodox procedure is considered an experimental procedure in Ontario, and, therefore, not eligible for funding.
Just because vaginoplasty is listed as an insured service doesn’t mean any type of vaginoplasty qualifies, OHIP argued in court.
The court disagreed. Vaginoplasty and penectomy are listed as discrete, separate services on Ontario’s list of surgeries eligible for funding, the court said. “The fact that most people who have a vaginoplasty have it done in a way that also involves a penectomy” doesn’t change the provision. If the province had intended for only one type of vaginoplasty to be insured (vaginoplasty with penis removal) it should have drafted the list differently, the court said.
The court said the appeal board’s conclusion was also consistent with standards of care developed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) — an influential group whose guidelines for gender-affirming care for children and youth were found to lack “developmental rigour” in a sweeping review released this week.
Jordan Peterson:
"Given that there is an infinite number of genders
By definition
This is going to be a problem "
