Ontario detransitioner who had breasts and womb removed to change gender sues doctors for not considering alternate treatments during her mental health crisis
Michelle Zacchigna, 34, of Orillia, Ont., north of Toronto, names eight health professionals, including doctors, psychologists, a psychotherapist and a counsellor in a lawsuit filed in Ottawa.Sign up to receive the daily top stories from the National Post, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
When she was 20, she tried to kill herself and she was referred by her family doctor for psychotherapy, where she was treated for social anxiety and clinical depression.Article contentShe remained unhappy and depressed, and her mental health decline led to her dropping out of university, according to her claim.“Michelle came to believe that her biological sex of female did not match her true gender identity of male,” her claim says.
Zacchigna started attending a support group in Toronto for people considering gender transition. A counsellor there told her of opportunities to proceed through a medical transition, her claim says.The counsellor wrote a recommendation letter outlining a medical history that didn’t fully match her real past, the claim says. The counsellor didn’t recommend any alternatives, or seek confirmation of Zacchigna’s own diagnosis of gender dysphoria.
The claim said neither her mental health nor counselling records were consulted and there was no screening “for any other mental health diagnoses or developmental disabilities,” her claim says.In 2012, Zacchigna paid to have her breasts removed by a surgeon in Florida, on the recommendation by her doctor, according to the claim.
“Michelle received these formal diagnoses for the first time nine years after she was formally referred to the following her suicide attempt in 2008, and eight years after she first ‘came out’ as transgender in 2009,” her claim says.Article content “On or about Nov. 20, 2020, Michelle began to question whether she had ever been transgender, or if she had ever met the criteria for gender dysphoria,” her claim says.Zacchigna claims the defendants moved into delivering transgender therapy without adequately considering other factors.Article content
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