Doctors suspended for botching trans operation

TWO Harley Street doctors have been suspended after mistakenly removing the vagina of a transgender patient without consent.

In what is believed to be the first case of its kind in Britain, the man, who was transitioning from a woman, was left “distraught” after the irreversible gender reassignment procedure.

A disciplinary tribunal heard Giulio Garaffa, a gender reassignment consultant, mistakenly carried out the procedure. His colleague Dr Marco Capece then altered a form to show consent had been given, in what was described as “a moment of panic”.

It was not until a week later that the patient, who consented to two other forms of surgery as part of the transitioning process, discovered the vagina had been removed. The tribunal heard that before the operation he repeatedly said he did not want it removed.

The patient told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service the “unwanted surgery” had a “profound impact” on his life.

Mr Garaffa, from Trieste, Italy, performed the surgery in 2016 for the Harley Street-based St Peter’s Andrology Centre, which specialises in gender reassignment. The patient had agreed to a hysterectomy and metoidioplasty, which would have given him a penis, but refused a third procedure.

Mr Garaffa’s colleague, Dr Capece, also from Italy, failed to obtain consent for the extra surgery, the panel heard. But following the operation, he added the word “vaginectomy” to the 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, changing his name by deed poll and starting life as a man in March 2014. He has since undergone hormone therapy and reconstructive chest surgery.

Dr Garaffa, who performed the surgery at Highgate Private Hospital in north London, was described at the tribunal as one of the few doctors in the world capable of performing such complex procedures.

But he was criticised by the panel for failing to check that the patient had consented to the vaginectomy.

Tim Bradbury, chairman of the tribunal, said: “His failures were serious and numerous. The consequences were grave, the patient underwent lifechanging and irreversible surgery which (they) did not want.”

Dr Garaffa was found guilty on four counts of misconduct and was suspended for five months. Dr Capece was found guilty of three misconduct charges and suspended for 12 months.