Monday, August 20, 2007

America's Future?

Sex changes a 'constitutional right' in Brazil

Brazil's public health care system will cover the cost of sex-change operations, the Government said after a federal court ruled the procedure was a constitutional right.

To qualify for health care, the operation will first have to be approved by a panel of doctors, after appropriate psychological and medical evaluations are made of the patient, the Health Ministry said in a statement.

The ruling issued late on Thursday by the Regional Federal Court of Porto Alegre, in the south, sided with the Public Ministry's argument that sexual reassignment surgery was a constitutional right, along with human dignity, equality, privacy and health care.

5 comments:

mamurd said...

I'm not a fan of socialized medicine, but if you're going to have it, I see no reason why sex-reassignment surgeries shouldn't be included. I'm not an expert on transgenderism, but from what I understand, the surgery could almost be thought of as fixing a birth defect.

Sotosoroto said...

Unless the Xs and Ys of the chromosomes don't agree with appearances, I find it difficult to consider it a birth defect. In fact, in that case, it's not the appearances that need to be corrected, but the emotions/brain-chemicals, since that's the part that doesn't agree with the reality of the chromosomes.

mamurd said...

But for now, there isn't any other way of helping transgendered people. Therapy doesn't work and there isn't a drug to cure them. What are they supposed to do? Live in confusion and misery? Kill themselves?

Sotosoroto said...

If someone is on the verge of suicide, they need help, of course, no matter the cause.

We might already have had a medical cure by now if the drug companies weren't pressured by PRIDE, et al to not treat it as a problem to be solved. I'd think a little extra dose of testosterone or estrogen might be a place to start, depending on the situation.

mamurd said...

You really think there's some big conspiracy preventing the drug companies from making drugs for this? My impression of the pharmaceutical companies is that they'll make anything that will make them money.

And if it was really as simple as a little estrogen/testosterone, I'm sure someone would have figured that out by now!