Bungled sex-change operation highlights lack of regulation

A BUNGLED sex-change operation left a Hong Kong patient with abnormal genitalia, mental trauma and a bill for more than $100,000, according to a leading plastic surgeon.

The surgeon, who cannot be named for ethical reasons, is considering whether to report the incident to the Medical Council.

''It was a lousy operation . . . he's not a plastic surgeon, he's a general surgeon,'' the doctor said of the person who performed the operation.

The sex-change specialist said the 24-year-old Chinese patient came to his office in despair, asking for corrective surgery.

The Hong Kong office worker had checked into an undisclosed private hospital last May for a male-to-female transexual operation. But the operation, thought to be the doctor's first attempt at sex-change surgery, went seriously wrong.

''It was a failed operation. He didn't do the right thing,'' the specialist said.

The patient's life was not endangered, but the operation caused serious mental distress and trauma. Although the specialist wheeled the patient into surgery to correct the mistake and completed the male-to-female change about six weeks ago, the corrective operation bumped up the patient's medical costs to almost $200,000.

''It's very difficult to correct somebody's error . . . I had to make sure I didn't damage the blood vessels,'' the specialist said, adding there was nothing to stop the doctor operating on other patients.

''That was the first case in that particular hospital, of that particular surgeon.

''Only God knows whether there will be a second one in that hospital, and we don't know whether he has another patient in another hospital.'' The surgeon refused to name the private hospital where the operation was performed.

The botched sex-change was the second time the surgeon had corrected surgical errors on a transexual, he said.

''The (first) surgeon asked me for copy of a journal before operating,'' he added.

''A lot of surgeons are doing cosmetic operations without being properly trained.

''They just go to international seminars and workshops, visit other hospitals, peep over other people's shoulders to see how it should be done, then come back and start doing it.'' Doctors' legislative representative Dr Leong Che-hung said more and more Hong Kong people were opting for sex-change operations, but there was no way to bar a registered doctor from carrying out the surgery.

Dr Leong appealed to unqualified doctors to exercise restraint.

''It's complicated, sophisticated, high-tech plastic surgery. It's not plastic surgery only for appearance, but to mimic function.'' Acute embarrassment means few transexual patients come forward to lodge complaints.

''At this point in time, complications don't go public. I wouldn't be surprised at any operation that's gone wrong,'' he said.

Dr Leong urged the patient to report her case to the Medical Council, adding her identity would not be revealed.

''If the doctor is found guilty he will be punished and his name will appear in the gazette. She, herself, will not be revealed.'' Medical Council chairman Professor Rosie Yeung Tse-tse agreed any hearing could be held behind closed doors.

''If it's reported in the newspaper we have a responsibility to do a preliminary investigation,'' Professor Yeung said.

''But it's the same as rape cases - unless someone comes up to bear witness, it's very difficult.

''If somebody feels they have not been properly treated and they want justice done, they must be brave enough to come and tell us about it.''