Chicago Hospital First to Apologize

Chicago Hospital First to Apologize for Cosmetic Genital Surgery on Intersex Infants

The Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago became the first hospital in the United States to apologize for performing unnecessary cosmetic genital surgery on intersex infants (McLaughlin, 2020). In a statement released by the hospital on July 28, they stated that irreversible genital procedures would only be performed once intersex patients were old enough to meaningfully participate in the decision for themselves (unless the procedure is deemed medically necessary) (Lurie, 2020). 

In our society, sex is typically viewed as dimorphic - you can be either male or female, with nothing in between - but in reality, it’s a spectrum. Intersex people have chromosomes, gonads, or internal or external genitalia that differ from what is expected in a dimorphic view of sex. According to the Human Rights Watch (HRW) and interACT (2017), 1.7% of babies are born with some form of intersex anatomy and 1 in 2,000 of these infants are recommended for cosmetic genital surgery by doctors, despite the fact that there is no research which shows that early surgery is helpful.

Before the 1960s, parents and doctors of intersex infants made their best guess and assigned the child a sex. The parents would then raise the child with the corresponding gender norms. This all changed dramatically in the 1960s, when cosmetic genital surgery became the standard based on the unproven recommendations of a single prominent psychologist. The irreversible procedures that doctors had defaulted to advising could cause numerous physical problems for the child, including pain, nerve damage, scarring, and being forced into a lifetime of hormone replacement therapy (HRW & interACT, 2017).

In recent years, cosmetic genital surgery has become highly controversial in the medical community, with most medical professionals recognizing that “in some cases parents may prefer to leave their child’s body intact as a way of preserving [their] health, sexual function, fertility options, autonomy, and dignity” (HRW & interACT, 2017). Lurie Children’s Hospital in their statement recognized that the historic approach to intersex infants and cosmetic genital surgery was harmful and wrong. They also stated that they “empathize with intersex individuals who were harmed by the treatment that they received … and [they] apologize and are truly sorry” for the role they played. Their statement also contained a pledge to search out, hire, and retain individual(s) who identify as intersex into decision-making roles at the Sex Development Clinic moving forward (Lurie, 2020).

With the release of this apology, and their accompanying decision to stop cosmetic genital surgery on infants, Lurie Children’s Hospital has become the first hospital in the United States to explicitly ban these medically unnecessary procedures. As it has become increasingly clear that early cosmetic genital surgery does not help, but in reality actually causes harm to intersex children, more medical professionals in the United States should follow the lead of Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago.

Find out what you can do to continue the fight for intersex children with The Intersex Justice Project and #4intersex.

 

References:

Human Rights Watch & interACT. (2017). “I want to be like nature made me”: Medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children in the US. Retrieved on August 6, 2020 from https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/07/25/i-want-be-nature-made-me/medically-unnecessary-surgeries-intersex-children-us#

McLaughlin, K. (2020, July 30). A Chicago children’s hospital became the first in the nation to apologize for performing cosmetic genital surgery on intersex infants. Insider. Retrieved on August 6, 2020 from https://www.insider.com/chicago-hospital-apologizes-cosmetic-genital-surgery-intersex-infants-2020-7

Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. (2020, July 28). Intersex care at Lurie Children’s and our Sex Development Clinic. Retrieved on August 6, 2020 from https://www.luriechildrens.org/en/blog/intersex-care-at-lurie-childrens-and-our-sex-development-clinic/

Coriann Dorgay