Posted on 01/29/2007 4:11:27 PM PST by Fawn
VIENNA, Austria, January 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A boy of 12 began receiving radical hormone treatment to stop the natural development of male puberty and prepare his body for a sex-change operation, after doctors and psychiatrists diagnosed him as transsexual.
The boy, now 14--called Kim instead of his original name of Tim--convinced his parents and medical professionals that he was “in the wrong body” and needed to receive treatment to prevent him from developing into an adult male, the UK Telegraph reported earlier today. His parents said they initially assumed their son’s desire to be a girl was a temporary phase, but after psychiatrists supported the child’s request for therapy, they accepted the decision to pursue physical treatment for a desire they said had been expressed by their son since he was a toddler.
Dr. Bern Meyenburg, head of a clinic for child and adolescent identity problems at Frankfurt University, diagnosed the boy as genuinely transsexual, writing, “Kim is a mentally well-developed child who appears happy and balanced. There is no doubt of the determined wish, that was already detectable since early childhood. It would have been very wrong to let Kim grow up to be a man. It is rare to have such a clear-cut case.”
Dr. Achim Wuesthof, the doctor in charge of the boy’s hormone therapy at a clinic in Hamburg, said he and his colleagues, who evaluated the boy, thought it was best to start treatment as soon as possible, even though it is illegal to perform sex-change therapy on children under 16 in most European countries.
“To the best of my knowledge, Kim is the youngest sex change patient in the world. According to German law, two independent psychiatrists must confirm that the child is indeed transsexual and approve the sex change. Once that has been done, it is best to start as early as possible…[transsexuals] are not freaks, nor do they suffer mental illness. They are simply trapped in the wrong bodies. That is why it is best to help them as early as possible and reduce the trauma for them and their families."
The doctors acknowledged that it is extremely difficult to distinguish a “genuine” transsexual personality from a gender identity crisis deemed temporary. Dr. Meyenburg referred to a previous case where a 15-year-old girl requested a sex-change operation, but during counseling revealed that her desire to become a male stemmed from the brutal sexual abuse she had suffered from her father.
A leading US psychiatrist who conducted an in-depth investigation into the results of sex-change therapy concluded that the psychiatric community was cooperating with mental illness by diagnosing transsexualism as a legitimate physical condition. “We psychiatrists… would do better to concentrate on trying to fix their minds and not their genitalia,” Dr. Paul McHugh, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University wrote in First Things, 2004.
“I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex-reassignment,” wrote Dr. McHugh, in an article titled ‘Surgical Sex. “The children transformed from their male constitution into female roles suffered prolonged distress and misery as they sensed their natural attitudes. Their parents usually lived with guilt over their decisions—second-guessing themselves and somewhat ashamed of the fabrication, both surgical and social, they had imposed on their sons.”
“As for the adults who came to us claiming to have discovered their ‘true’ sexual identity and to have heard about sex-change operations, we psychiatrists have been distracted from studying the causes and natures of their mental misdirections by preparing them for surgery and for a life in the other sex. We have wasted scientific and technical resources and damaged our professional credibility by collaborating with madness rather than trying to study, cure, and ultimately prevent it.”
Legally, the final stage of the procedure to remove the male genitalia using cosmetic surgery cannot take place until the boy turns 18. If he should change his mind prior to the surgery, the effects of the hormone treatment could still be reversed, although the risks involved--both in treatment and reversal--are not well know for such a young patient.
And if he said he felt like a rooster and was "in the wrong body"......or said he felt like Humphrey Bogart......or his brother. What then? Why would THOSE claims earn him a trip to the booby hatch, but this doesn't?
And why oh why didn't they give him MALE hormones to put him back to normal? Why do they rush to the side of deviancy instead of attempting to keep him what he IS?
Has any genetic testing been done to prove that the child's problems are physiological? I doubt it, because they would have been discovered at birth or shortly thereafter.
This is wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels.....
The two shrinks in the picture need to be taken out behind the barn and shot through the head.
That's what his public school teacher taught him, any way. He believed him.
Just another Satanic attempt to dethrone God ... God musta' screwed up, doncha'know.
Their medical license should be revoked immediately
How can any doctor in good conscience say a 12 year old boy is a transsexual.
Hey fellas. You don't wanna date this guy...er.....girl.....er.......krymie! What is it?
There are some who call me....Tim?
Here ya go......
He's a little young to decide he doesn't want children someday.
Man, is this kid going to be messed up when he turns 16.
That's the big thing for me: he's so young to be making this decision... I mean, geez, we don't let 12 year olds get tattoos but they can chop off a body part??
Dr. Achim Wuesthof, the doctor in charge of the boy’s hormone therapy at a clinic in Hamburg, said he and his colleagues, who evaluated the boy, thought it was best to start treatment as soon as possible, even though it is illegal to perform sex-change therapy on children under 16 in most European countries.
Shouldn't that have been Wusthof, given the eventual outcome?
http://www.wusthof.com/
Could some kindly soul tell me how I can get back to the planet Earth? I don't think this is it.
No way this kid made the decision on his own. Many boys at his age wonder about their sexuality. If allowed and encouraged to assume his natural gender identification, this stage of uncertainty would pass and he would, in most likelihood, grow up to be an average boy (man).
Now, with the consent and obvious backing of his parents, he is doing this to stand out, receive adulation from his parents and put him in a “cool” status (perceived praise of peers) by those around him.
At about the age of 24, when all the notoriety and adulation is gone he/she will probably say to his/herself “What the heck was I thinking?).
Would like to meet his father and shake his (limp wrested) hand and congratulate him on his STRONG male influence over his child.
If the psychiatrists involved were really interested in the well being of this child and not just a chance to experiment and push their perverse ideas, they would suggest that (mayhap force) the kid to wait until he was 18 before even beginning this process. Of course, if his parents are as wimpy and permissive as I think they might be, it wouldn’t make any difference.
Just feel bad for the child.
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