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Originally Posted by Gilda
It's a quality of life issue, not quantity, but it is very often necessary to the patient's psychological well being. If she's in good health, one particular Thai surgeon, Dr. Preecha, has quite a bit of experience at performing the surgery on elderly patients safely and effectively. Most SRS surgeries are performed between the ages of 30 and 50, but younger and older do occur.
Gilda
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given, but how far do we take the surgery-for-psychological-wellbeing bit?
Body Integrity Identity Disorder is a condition in which the patient does not feel complete until a (perfectly healthy) limb has been amputated. They'll do just about anything to get rid of that limb - and some doctors are oblidging them. Once the limb is gone, they feel great.
So the question is, should doctors amputate just because someone feels their current body layout is wrong? And by the same token, should doctors operate in a sex change on a high-risk patient? There are some very disturbing medical ethics questions that arise when you turn to surgery to correct a psychological condition.