...Ethical Considerations and Implications for Transgender Medicine In Western society gender and sexuality are believed to be binary and there is little room for variance. As the decades progress, more and more sociologists, scientists, and therapists are acknowledging that gender and sexuality are largely a social construct. With this new understanding, physicians are forced to grapple with how to treat gender-variant patients both physically and emotionally. As many patients seek to match their bodies with their minds, at times risky surgical and hormonal treatments must be prescribed. The physician is forced to weigh the risks and benefits to the patient and oftentimes it is the physician's decision that will determine if the transgender patient will complete the medical part of his, her, or hirtransition, allowing the individual to continue living his or her life in a body congruent with his or her gender expression. The psychiatrist’s recommendation for SRS and hormonal treatment is imperative in the process and this paper will examine the ethical implications of the essential causal diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and the recommendation of surgical treatment in order for patients to fit into the Western gender binary. A brief examination of co-morbidity of mental disorders and their affect on consent and provider views on competence and capacity are also warranted. Adolescent transgendered patients under the age of eighteen experience more difficulties with the...
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...HIV/AIDS & HOMELESSNESS Recommendations for Clinical Practice and Public Policy Developed for The Bureau of Primary Health Care and The HIV/AIDS Bureau Health Resources and Services Administration by John Song, M.D., M.P.H., M.A.T. November 1999 Financial and other support for the development and distribution of this paper were provided by the Bureau of Primary Health Care and the HIV/AIDS Bureau, Health Resources Services Administration, United States Department of Health and Human Services, to the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Inc., and its subsidiary, the Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians’ Network. The views presented in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the United States government or of the National Health Care for the Homeless Council. Nothing in this paper should be construed as providing authoritative guidelines for the practice of medicine or for treatment of medical conditions. This paper may be reproduced in whole or in part with appropriate recognition to the author, John Y. Song, MD, and the publisher, the Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians’ Network, National Health Care for the Homeless Council, Inc. Second Printing February, 2000 National Health Care for the Homeless Council Health Care for the Homeless Clinicians’ Network Post Office Box 60427 Nashville TN 37206-0427 Phone 615/226-2292 Fax 615/226-1656 council@nhchc.org or network@nhchc.org http://www.nhchc.org i PREFACE HIV/AIDS...
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