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Saturday, May 18, 2013

SOUTH CAROLINA: Parents sue state over intersex child's assignment surgery

State sued over 'hermaphrodite' toddler's sex surgery

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) —A South Carolina couple is suing the state to
challenge its decision to perform sexual-reassignment surgery on a
toddler in its care who was born with both male and female internal
sexual genitals.

Mark and Pam Crawford, adoptive parents of the now 8-year-old child,
spoke to the media Tuesday morning about the lawsuits filed in
partnership with the Southern Poverty Law Center in federal and state
courts.

The Crawfords say the child was born with intersex condition, which means a person is born without sexual anatomy that fits the definition of a male or female.

The suit alleges the South Carolina Department of Social Services
decided to perform "dangerous and mutilating surgery" in April, 2006 on
the 16-month old to make the child a girl.

Named in the suit are the Department of Social Services, The Medical
University of South Carolina, Greenville Health System and several other
caregivers.

"Doctors decided to play God," said a SPLC representative Tuesday morning in front of the federal courthouse.

"It's too late for my son, but we want to put other doctors on
notice," said Mark Crawford who noted the action was "drastic and
permanent."

Pam Crawford said her son was operated on "simply to conform to society."

The Crawfords adopted the child, a few months after the surgery. They
say he identifies himself as a boy to his pediatrician. Recently he
asked for a boy's haircut and boy's clothing.

The lawsuit states doctors, acting as agents of defendant hospitals,
performed the surgery for the purpose of "assigning" the child the
female gender despite their own conclusion that the toddler "was a true
hermaphrodite but there was no compelling reason that she should either
be made male or female."

At birth, the child was identified as a male because of his
external genitalia, but shortly after that doctors discovered the baby
had "ambiguous genitals" and both male and female internal reproductive
structures, according to the lawsuit.

Defendants decided to remove the child's healthy genital tissue
and "radically restructure his reproductive organs in order to make his
body appear to be female," the lawsuit states.

The suit filed in federal court alleges the defendants violates
the child's right to privacy by deciding to go forward with the surgery.
The state suit alleges medical malpractice and gross negligence.

According to the Intersex Society of North America, the condition is seen in approximately one in every 2,000 births.

The couple is suing for damages, but left the dollar amount up to the courts.

Attorneys said this may be the first lawsuit of its kind in the nation.

WISTV asked DSS for comment on the lawsuit, but they have not yet replied.