Self-Castration in a Transsexual Woman

GW Medical Student and Professors Examine the Financial and Psychological Costs

WASHINGTON (Feb. 14, 2012)— Michael S. Irwig, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine,  Anton Trinidad, M.D., PhD., associate professor of Psychiatry, and Matthew St. Peter, a fourth year medical student at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, co-authored an article in the Journal of Sexual Medicine entitled, “Self-Castration by a Transsexual Woman: Financial and Psychological Costs: A Case Report.” Dr. Irwig and his co-authors discuss the case of a transsexual woman who presented to the emergency room after undertaking self-castration.

The researchers concluded that the health care costs associated with treating a patient after self-castration were almost four times greater than having an elective outpatient surgical castration and that further research in this area of medicine needs to be conducted.

“Patients who choose to perform self-castrations often face significant financial barriers as elective castration is typically not covered under health insurance plans in the United States” said Dr. Irwig. “They are often frustrated at the slow pace of their male-to-female transition.”

In order to reduce the number of self-castrations, urologists who are willing to perform surgery on transsexuals must be identified and more pressure needs to be put on health care insurance companies to cover the procedure. These tactics are a few measures that can reduce the financial costs to patients and to the health care system.

Latest News

Community leaders, health professionals, and local residents joined members of the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences to celebrate the official ribbon-cutting of the new GW Cancer Prevention and Wellness Center, located on the historic St. Elizabeths campus in…
The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and the GW Cancer Center recently received a $600,000 S10 grant from the NIH to purchase a state-of-the-art BD FACSDiscover™ S8 CellView spectral flow cytometer and live cell sorter. The investment significantly enhances the…
Anton N. Sidawy, MD, MPH ’99, FACS, DFSVS, MAMSE, Lewis B. Saltz Chair of the Department of Surgery and professor of surgery at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., was installed as the 106th President of the American College of Surgeons (ACS…