Posted on 06/16/2006 5:41:02 AM PDT by Living Free in NH
A beloved Somerville family doctor has dropped a bombshell on his patients by revealing he is transsexual and will begin seeing patients as a woman.
“After almost 18 years of practicing medicine in Davis Square, I am looking forward to many more years as your family physician. There will be only one major change that will occur in July - I will begin practicing medicine as a woman,” Dr. Roy Berkowitz-Shelton wrote in a letter to patients.
Berkowitz-Shelton, the married father of two, said in the letter that he will return from a hiatus “to live my life as I believe it was meant to be lived” and will change his name to Deborah Bershel.
Patient Amy Branger and her husband have been taking their 3 -year-old daughter to Berkowitz-Shelton since the baby’s birth and says they have no plans to change doctors, despite the shocking revelation.
“Of course I was surprised,” Branger said. “But I’m totally supportive. He has just been a wonderfully caring and compassionate doctor for all of us.”
Branger admitted their first visit after the doctor’s transformation will be “weird,” but said, “we’ll get over it.” Of their daughter, she said: “I’ll just tell her that Dr. Berkowitz used to be a boy and now he’s going to be a girl. And that’s it.”
Berkowitz-Shelton declined to be interviewed. His parents said they too were shocked but are standing behind their son.
“We support him and we want him to be happy,” said the doctor’s mother, Marilyn Shelton. “He hasn’t changed. He’s still the same warm-hearted person. He’s a wonderful doctor. He loves his patients.”
Added the doctor’s father, Saul Shelton: “I’m heartbroken, but he’s my son and I love him and support him.”
A graduate of Georgetown University, Berkowitz-Shelton has no disciplinary record and his looming gender swap violates no state laws or ethics rules, officials said.
Nancy Achin Audesse, executive director of the state Board of Registration in Medicine, said the agency has reviewed the issue and found that Berkowitz-Shelton is handling the situation “openly and honestly.”
“It had to be a very difficult and frightenting decision for this doctor to make, to be so public about an issue that is very personal and very controversial,” Achin Audesse said.
Transgendered advocates say there are 3 million cross-dressers and transsexuals in the United States and that Berkowitz-Shelton should be viewed no differently once he begins living as a woman.
“It takes a lot of soul-searching to sacrifice the things you have to be true to yourself,” said Denise Leclair, executive director of the Waltham-based International Foundation for Gender Education.
Seriously though, this freak is a family doctor. Would you want some who's so unstable that he's willing to have his johnson whacked off (no pun intended) praticing medicine on you or your kids?
Time for a new doctor.
This seriously sounds like something out of The Onion.
Can you imagine having you manhood removed?
Hell, I had a circumsision and could not walk for 10 months.
And forget about interviewing the doctor. I want to hear what Mrs. Berkowitz-Shelton has to say.
Got it.
Or the kids.
They are seriously going to have to revise their thinking.
May God help them.
Anyone with enough mental problems to undergo surgical mutilation is not someone I want working on me.
The AMA apparently has more worries than the sugar content of Coca Cola.
I am in receipt of your letter of June 1st, advising us of your mental and physical problems.
When you told us that you were determined to ... "get a hole in one", we assumed you were referring to your golf game.
Please be advised that neither I, or Mrs. Mason will be seeking medical help from you in the future.
Sincerely,
Mr. & Mrs. G. Mason
A surprisingly common affliction, as most people when circumsized are too young to walk, to begin with.
What I want to know is, will I be able to play the violin when it heals? 'Cause I never could play the violin before, and that would be kinda cool.
I'd be worried about any of the children he may have "treated" during all those years.
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"...and his looming gender swap violates no state laws or ethics rules, officials said."
Officials continued, "And those laws of God and Nature? We just ignore 'em!"
Yeesh.
How stupid is this guy - doesn't he know that Sunday is Fathers day no big meal and attention for him - idiot
That and he sure will be an ugly woman!
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