Brazilian Transsexuals Allowed To Have SRS Legally
By The Associated Press
Contributed By Elizabeth Parker and Rachelle Stephanie Austin
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP)
Brazil's Federal Medical Council approved a
resolution allowing sex change operations to be performed in public
hospitals, it said Wednesday.
Under the new guidelines, certain patients over the age of 21 who have
been in consultation with a team of doctors, including psychotherapists and
social workers, for at least two years may be approved for the operation. It
will be performed free of charge at university or public hospitals.
Council President Waldir Mesquita said the surgery will benefit those who
find psychotherapy or other recommended treatments unhelpful.
The resolution removes a legal obstacle for surgeons who had wanted to
perform the operations but could not under guidelines that deemed sex change
operations mutilation, a crime punishable by imprisonment.
"With this decision we are saying that transsexuality is not against the
law. Today techniques are sufficiently developed to demonstrate that the
surgery is not mutilation," Mesquita told reporters.
According to the resolution's author, Dr. Julio Cesar Gomes, the
screening of prospective candidates for sex changes will be rigorous and the
operations "will not be performed simply because of a homosexual's aesthetic
considerations."
The operations will not be conducted in private hospitals because "we have
to perfect the techniques and we want to avoid commercial exploitation," said
Gomes.
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