Home / Thoughts / They won’t come to the party
They won’t come to the party
Written by Sean on Thursday, December 6, 2007
I had told my GP a few weeks back about BIID. It went better than expected, and hoped for. He was downright gleeful about learning about something he didn’t know about. He was cool. It was good. I obviously was not asking him anything then, just basically giving him another part of the (my) puzzle. The other day, I mentionned it to him again, telling him how angry and frustrated at the medical community I am. Still, I was not asking him anything, because I didn’t want to put him in the situation of actually having to say no. I was just saying how tough I was having it lately. He said that he could certainly understand my point of view, but he added that no doctor in their right mind would provide surgery.
I admit, I was somewhat disapointed at that. I expected some negativism, but not "no one in their right mind". That cut deep.
So, why not? Seriously. We’ve mentionned all the objections several times over. But let’s have a quick overview here…
- It’s not ethical, they say. But then, several writers, including Bayne & Levy, have debunked that argument.
- There’s no proof surgery works, they say. But then they refuse to run studies to proof (or disprove) it works.
- There’s less invasive ways than surgery, they say. But then, why are they unable to help 99.9% of transabled individuals using these "less invasive" methods?
- It’s against the law, they say. But then, is it really? Which law? Where?
- It’s against the Hippocratic Oath, they say. But then, they cannot see that by refusing the only treatment that works, they are in fact condemning us to pain, hurt and suffering.
- The list could go on, but we’re not talking about objections from non-medicos here…
I think for many, there is this perception that an impairment is a faith worse than death, that it has to be cured, which is a very "medical model" view of things.
But what I think it is, is fear of consequences. And that’s a fair enough fear. We just have to look at what happened to Dr. Robert Smith to see the very real impact it can have on a medical professional. But I wish that they stopped hiding behind arguments that wouldn’t hold water because they are so full of holes.
[tags]Surgery, BIID, Medical Professional, Hippocratic Oath, Pain, Suffering, Transabled, Consequences, Ethical[/tags]This entry appears in Sean's Thoughts, Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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7 Comments
“No Doctor in their right mind”……
Of course not. Your GP had never heard of BIID, of course he would not provide the necessary surgery. He would have no idea if what he was about to perform was the proper course of treatment. Who would blame him?
His argument was not meant to be condescending. Just his own gut reaction to what he did not understand. Had you demanded the GP to perform root canal surgery, you would likely get a similar result.
Basically all objections from doctors are based on an assumption that life in a wheelchair is inferior and with no end of suffering. That´s why they see it as doing you major harm and no good.
Wasn´t there a study where almost 90% of ABs thought so, but only less than 20% of wheelers agreed?
4 On 14 December, 2007, Sean said:
@Kraut and @Ronald, I had told my GP a while back about BIID and he had taken it rather well, quite intrigued and was going to investigate, as well as speak to Dr. First about it. He has said that he does work with transsexuals, so he has a modicum of understanding. I didn’t expect him to provide the surgery, especially not there and then. However, the “in their right mind” did hurt. *shrug*
@jay, I think you’re referring to this: Medical and societal bias against BIID. FWIW, I’m not sure that my GP is that biased against disabilities as much as “doesn’t get it”. We’ll never know.
Its stupid to think anyone here is going to get a real surgon to give you elective spinal cord surgey;buy telling the physician in charge how angry you are at the medical community for not recognizing your dire metal problems ?
Whats supposed to happen ..should your GP say ”Oh poor man ” I’ll help and find someone who will operate on you !
Dream on fools !
I mean who is going to do this ? If any complications occur during surgey..and you are injured ..the first question of liablity will be ..why was this person getting his spinal cord cut in the first place ?
If you pass this test ..
The second difficulity is what licensed Docotor will risk his career on doing a surgey that is ‘medically’ unecessry ?
Sooo’oh if you want to be paralyzed so much ..you have to do it yourself !
Stick youreslf in the lower back with a nice sharp knife..in your spine .
Now as you collapse to the floor ..and start bleeding ..how much time do you have to live ?
6 On 29 December, 2007, Sean said:
ka’put’ske, that’s the question at play, actually: “what is ‘medically necessary’”? Many people would argue that medicine is not just about the physical body, but about the whole of health, including mental health. In those terms, such a surgery could in fact be deemed necessary.
Then of course you have to consider plastic surgery, which is in the vast majority of cases unecessary: breast implants, tummy tucks, face lifts, etc. Al these things were really badly perceived only 50 years ago, but are now so common place that teenage girls routinely receive breast augmentations as 18th birthday gift.
I have no intention to die, even though I feel suicidal on occasion. That is why I won’t be stabbing myself in the back, I don’t want to bleed out.
“what licensed Docotor will risk his career on doing a surgey that is ‘medically’ unecessry”
i remember from another story how unecessry is the siamese twins that have no complications but still have life threatning surgery to be seperated and so on.
And this “no one in their right mind” was Robert Smith not in his right mind? if so why does he still practise medicine?
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1 On 8 December, 2007, kraut said:
Sean, your points 1 to 5 are so true! But, what did you expect from your GP? A GP is not a person I would put in much hope regarding BIID…
How much psychological, not to mention psychiatric expertise has the average GP…? You see. Nevertheless, it was brave talking to your GP and it only shows how despaired you are and your GP surely was not aware how much damage he causes with his answer and this shows what I asked above, how much psychological expertise has the average GP? You just saw it.