Quote:
Originally Posted by Golfingnut
If it is cosmetic, it should be disapproved. However, if the doctors declare it a mental disorder than cannot be corrected by medication, perhaps the surgery would be appropriate. I mean, don't we wish for everyone to enjoy a full and rich life?
|
I read that as of 2003 the Centers for Medicare/Medicaid Services determined this, quoted below. It is definitely not cosmetic, when you see the complexity and the dangers involved in the numerous anatomical and organ system restructurings done. I'd question whether the whole of surgical techniques, medical followup and outcomes have advanced all that much in ten years:
Transsexual surgery, also known as sex reassignment surgery or intersex surgery, is the culmination of a series of procedures designed to change the anatomy of transsexuals to conform to their gender identity. Transsexuals are persons with an overwhelming desire to change anatomic sex because of their fixed conviction that they are members of the opposite sex.
For the male-to-female, transsexual surgery entails castration, penectomy and vulva-vaginal construction. Surgery for the female-to-male transsexual consists of bilateral mammectomy, hysterectomy and salpingo-oophorectomy which may be followed by phalloplasty and the insertion of testicular prostheses. Transsexual surgery for sex reassignment of transsexuals is controversial.
Because of the lack of well controlled, long term studies of the safety and effectiveness of the surgical procedures and attendant therapies for transsexualism,
the treatment is considered experimental. Moreover, there is a high rate of serious complications for these surgical procedures. For these reasons, transsexual surgery is not covered.
http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-G...03c1_part2.pdf