A pair of doctors have been suspended after removing a trans man’s vagina without his consent
The man, who was transitioning from a woman, was left in floods of tears after the irreversible gender reassignment surgery, a tribunal heard.
Dr Marco Capece altered a form to say consent had been given, and Dr Giulio Garaffa, a renowned penis consultant, mistakenly carried out the procedure, a disciplinary panel was told.
The patient had consented to two other forms of surgery as part of the transitioning process, but only discovered his vagina had been removed a week later.
Before the operation the patient repeatedly said he did not want his vagina removed, the tribunal heard.
The patient, identified only as Patient A, described to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) how the ‘unwanted surgery’ had a ‘profound impact in all aspects of his life including his mental well-being’.
The disciplinary hearing was told Dr Garaffa, from Italy, worked at St Peter’s Andrology Centre (SPA) in Harley Street, an independent penis surgery specialising in gender reassignment surgery.
The patient had agreed to have a hysterectomy and a metoidioplasty, which would have given him a penis, but had refused the third procedure.
Dr Garaffa’s colleague, Dr Capece, also from Italy, failed to obtain consent for the extra surgery at Highgate Private Hospital in October 2016, the panel was told.
Following the operation, he then added the words ‘vaginectomy’ on to Patient A’s consent form to give the impression it had been planned from the outset.
The tribunal was told the patient began formal gender transition in 2013.
He changed his name by Deed Poll in September of that year and began living as a man in March 2014.
He has since undergone hormone therapy and reconstructive chest surgery.
Dr Garaffa is a ‘penis consultant’ who is renowned across Europe for penis enlargement and reconstruction surgery.
The tribunal heard he is one of only two doctors in the world capable of performing specific procedures.
He was criticised by the panel for failing to check the patient had consented to the vaginectomy.
Speaking at the tribunal, MPTS Chair Tim Bradbury said: ‘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.’
Mr Bradbury said Dr Capece maintained a ‘false narrative’ by not admitting his wrongdoing and insisting that he had not altering the document.
He said: ‘It is significant that having amended the consent form, Dr Capece did not admit his wrongdoing despite numerous opportunities to do so either subsequent to Patient A’s complaint, during the investigation or in the course of this hearing, and he has maintained what the Tribunal has found to be a false narrative.’
Dr Garaffa was found guilty of four charges of misconduct and was handed a five month suspension, while Dr Capece was found guilty of three misconduct charges and suspended for 12 months.
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