London Doctors Are Accused of Removing a Transgender Man's Vagina Without His Consent

Two doctors in London have been suspended after performing an irreversible vaginectomy on a transgender man without his consent.

Metro UK reports that the nonconsensual procedure was performed by Drs. Marco Capece and Giulo Garaffa in 2016, at Highgate Private Hospital. The patient, who had begun transitioning in 2013, reportedly consented to a hysterectomy and a metoidioplasty, but did not want his vagina removed. Garaffa reportedly did not check the patient’s medical notes and performed the vaginectomy anyway. Capece is accused of later altering the patient’s consent form to make it look like he wanted the procedure.

A tribunal service launched an investigation into the surgery, and found both Garaffa and Capece guilty of misconduct. The patient told the tribunal that the vaginectomy had a “profound impact in all aspects of his life including his mental well-being.”

The tribunal chair, Tim Bradbury, said Garaffa “relinquished his responsibility as the operating surgeon to ensure that his patient had consented to the operation he intended to perform.”

Bradbury added, according to The Scottish Sun:

His failures were serious and numerous… The consequences of these failures were grave, Patient A underwent life changing and irreversible surgery which (they) did not want.

Garaffa’s license has been suspended for five months; Capece has been suspended for a full year.