Resubmission: Contemporary Media Case Assignment

Intro
Unless medically-required, ‘sex-normalisation’ surgeries are unnecessary, deferrable interventions that infringe
upon an individual’s right to consent. Autonomy, in the clinical setting, allows for self-determination; autonomy
can be de ned as “the capacity to think, decide, and act freely and independently on the basis of such thought
and decisions.” (Gillon R., 1985).

Ethical issue
An issue that continually resurfaced throughout this article, was the fact that none of the intersex individuals that
were mentioned had a choice in the matter. The parents, from Noah’s case for example, felt pressurised to go
through with the treatment; they later expressed regret in not nding out more. To add to this, the medical teams
responsible have made permanent alterations to the body of an un-consenting individual over an anatomical
difference; the changes made were not based on any medical grounds and are therefore not justi ed —
throughout the article, they insinuated how this is a modi cation that needs to take place. More importantly, an
alteration this signi cant needs the consent of the individual itself; for instance, imagine changing the gender of
a newborn male or female without its explicit consent … The treatment of a transgender child is subject to a
number of requirements, “generally, gender af rming surgeries are not available to people under the age of 18.”
(TransHub, 2022), so why is it not the same case with non-binary individuals? Noah, preferred to have been left
the way he was born; the procedures however are irreversible, “… the tissue or organs that are removed cannot
be replaced, nerves that are severed cannot be regrown, and scar tissue can limit options for future surgery.”
(Human Rights Watch, 2017). These alterations can also be associated with harmful risk factors such as
infertility, loss of bladder-control and sexual function — Tony Briffa, for example, was left worse off after her
treatments.

Issue in relation to the statement

Doctors, therefore cannot be deemed as competent or dependable if they in ict irreversible physical or
psychological harm to their patients over medically-unnecessary procedures; but then again, the medical
guidelines in regards to intersex treatments at present, are not consistent. They ought to have been informative,
in regards to the necessity and risks associate with the medical interventions; perhaps they never meant to be
untruthful, whilst consenting with the parents. Perhaps they were not well-informed enough as to what requires
surgery, or if it could be deferred. The doctors who have performed these surgeries may have done so, with the
best of intentions in mind; perhaps their judgment was primarily based on socio-cultural considerations — they
might have believed they were doing them a favour by allowing them to assimilate into the social norms; it
could be argued that they were simply aiming to prevent discrimination. However, the fact that they did not
abide by the ethical pillar of bodily-autonomy or respected their patients' future sense of self, displayed a failure
of both integrity and compassion.

Conclusion
To conclude, sex-normalisation surgeries should only be performed after obtaining the informed-consent of the
individual in question. “Surgery for intersex infants should be delayed until individuals are able to decide for
themselves, except where it is a medical necessity.” (Behrens KG., 2020). Not doing so would breach the ethical
pillar of bodily autonomy as it would undermine the individual’s right to consent; it would undermine Doctors’
integrity.

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References
Gillon R. Autonomy and the principle of respect for autonomy. Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1985 Jun
15;290(6484):1806-8. doi: 10.1136/bmj.290.6484.1806. PMID: 3924266; PMCID: PMC1415948.

Behrens KG. A principled ethical approach to intersex paediatric surgeries. BMC Med Ethics. 2020 Oct
29;21(1):108. doi: 10.1186/s12910-020-00550-x. PMID: 33121480; PMCID: PMC7597036.

TransHub. 2022. Under 18s — TransHub. [online] Available at: <https://www.transhub.org.au/under-18s> .

Human Rights Watch. 2022. “I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me”. [online] Available at: <https://www.hrw.org/
report/2017/07/25/i-want-be-nature-made-me/medically-unnecessary-surgeries-intersex-children-us>.