Surgical Transition: Underlying Issues, Ethics & Regret (Dutch Documentary - English Narration)

Transgender people are becoming more widely seen and accepted. There are many positive and celebratory stories about medical and surgical transition in the media. What is less commonly seen are the stories of individuals who transition and then realize that it was not the right choice for them after major and irreversible changes have been made to their body.

In many cases, these regretters originally presented with multiple complex underlying psychological issues - however the affirmation-only model of treating these individuals leads to their gender issues becoming the priority, rather than first addressing such co-morbid conditions as depression, PTSD, anxiety or body dysmorphic disorder among other considerations.

Stories of regret and detransition should provide important information to doctors and institutions about the ethics of these interventions and the criteria for recommending patients to surgery without first addressing underlying issues. This type of reflection and revision of clinical criteria, protocols and policies does not appear to be happening, however, possibly due to strong pressures made by activist forces both inside and outside of the medical profession.

In 2018 a Dutch documentary aired which looked into one such story of regret and examined the medical institutions and clinical culture which led to the tragic outcome for this individual. Also examined are the influences of social media and the phenomena of regretters who disappear from the view of clinics and the public due to the irreversible harm they experienced as well as ethical considerations in selecting patients for surgery and even the ethics of allowing euthanasia for patients harmed by this therapeutic pathway.

The documentary is presented here with english voiceover based on the original captions.

Originally aired in December 2018
Original Source: https://www.bnnvara.nl/zembla/artikelen/transgender-met-spijt