78 year old sex change.

[flip_flop]

Is this a good use of our money?

http://www.theargus.c...hange_patient/?ref=mr

[DTCwordfan]

There's a 75 year old down here who has had it done fairly recently, and has just got engaged.

[237SJ]

Good for her. I expect she feels it`s a shame she didn`t do it years ago.

[sunny-dave]

The NHS has very strict criteria for funding this type of operation. As usual, we know very little of the full story of this individual case.

If this person has satisfied the criteria then there is absolutely no reason not to go ahead.

[Sqad]

Well done NHS.

Sex change at 80 years of age?

Sounds good value to me..................

[wolf63]

Part of me thinks that it is great that she will now be able to live the rest of her life being true to who she really is.

But it is a lot of money to spend on anyone for an operation that is not essential.

Good luck to her.

[daffy654]

She has had all her life to save and pay for this herself, why didn't she?
I do not agree that gender reassignment should EVER be paid for by the NHS, neither should cosmetic surgery for non reconstructive reasons.

[flip_flop]

She?

[naomi24]

No, it isn't a good use of our money.

[emmie]

no it isn't, why wait till now.

[China Doll]

Thing is daffy, you do get in to areas where the best thing for a pateints mental health starts coming in to it. Plus we're so much more aware of it now we even have paediatric gender clinics in the endocrine department. Then you've got the patients who've been raised whatever gender but at chromosone leve they're acutaly the other sex (like that athlete from a few years ago).

I'm pretty neutral on it really. Certainly when I worked in andrology I had a lot of transgender cases, but the sad thing to me seemed like only a handful of them would truly benefit from the op, most of the others seemed to me to be wanting to run away from themselves. Pretty tough crowd all in all.

[sunny-dave]

Everything is 'essential' to the person who wants/needs it ... and as I said earlier we know naff all about the true history of this case. CD has made some very valid points.

I could give you a list of 'non essential' procedures routinely funded by the NHS ... shall we start with fertility treatment - the people involved are not ill and (by an extension of daffy's argument) anyone who can afford the many thousands of pounds to bring up a child should have no difficulty in paying for IVF ???

< this is, for the avoidance of doubt, me developing an argument not saying that NHS IVF is wrong >

[emmie]

The NHS is cutting mental health units by the bucketload, cutting care for the elderly and so forth, so let's start getting our priorities right.

[Sqad]

sunnydave/China Doll.............points well taken.... genetic abnormalities, transgender...........but at 80 years old?

[Bambiagain]

One can't know the full details, but it does seem extraordinary to me that the NHS should fund such an operation on someone of that age who has obviously lived a long time without having pushed for the op before. He/she (trying not to be contentious) is not looking for a relationship, so surely surgery isn't really necessary? It's a lot of money that could be spent on saving lives, and elective surgery carries risks (as does any surgery) that at that age surely should be taken into consideration.

[China Doll]

I'd query it Sqad but in fairness we don't know the whole story. If the PCT has okayed it then I would assume there's something compelling about the case as it is quite difficult to get funding for. Plus there's all the drugs before hand and the living as your chosen sex for a set number of years to prove it's what you want and blah, blah, blah.... On the face of it then I would say not a partcularly good use of money but we don't know the full story. I'm still pretty neutral about it. Whereas fertility treatment on the NHS I am completely against unless it's because of a previous illness that has led to infertility or you're a very young person about to be treated fr a serious illness that will leave you infertile, basically a really strict criterior. (And this is an opinion from someone who may well be infertile before I get people jumping down my throat!) The point I'm trying to make (probably badly), is that we would all differ on what constitutes a waste of money based on our own subjective knowledge rather than looking at things on a case by case basis.

[sunny-dave]

Thanks CD - you've said pretty much what I was thinking - now please stop reading my mind :+)

[pdq1]

///she did not want a sex life, just to look more like a woman///

He doesn't need a sex change, just cross dress!

[joko]

is there not a massive risk of them not surviving the surgery at that age?

i have to agree that i dont think it should be paid for on our already cash strapped NHS... no problem with them having the op, butas someone said why wait til now?
i wonder if there is a frivolousness toit... as in what have they got to lose...and itsanexperience very few people have - being both sexes in their lives...

[DTCwordfan]

she should see my ex; she threatened me enough in wanting to take off my jib and tackle and turn me into a woman. If there was a hundred grand involved, she probably would have.....thank God I am out!

[sp1814]

Hang on - there's an underlying problem with some of the responses here, and it's to do with her age.

Age should not be a barrier here...in the same way that we shouldn't cap the age at which someone should be eligible for a transplant, we shouldn't discriminate against the elderly if they elect to undergo gender reassignment. If they they meet the criteria then they should have the op.

Besides - at 75, she may well have paid a lot more in NI contributions than the rest of us, so why not 'cash in' (terribly put, but I hope you get my drift).