A transsexual from Reading who wanted the NHS to pay for him to have larger breasts has lost his High Court case.
The man, known only as C for legal reasons, wanted West Berkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) to pay £2,300 for the surgery.
But today Mr Justice Bean dismissed the case.
Claim
Justice Bean said he had found “that there was no duty in either public law or discrimination law to classify all treatment and procedures sought by transsexuals as high priority or core procedures”.
C claimed he was in physical and psychological “limbo” following hormone treatment he had received to make him look like a woman.
The treatment had not developed his breasts as much as he wanted but the PCT refused to fund an operation to increase his breast size.
Denied
The man’s lawyers claimed, in his recent three-day hearing, that the PCT’s refusal was a violation of human rights and was unlawful sex discrimination.
C had wanted a judicial review but the judge denied that option and also refused him leave to appeal.
The transsexual man still has male genitalia and began hormone therapy in 1996.
Conflicts
Critics of sex-change surgery warn that gender dysphoria is a psychological problem, not a physical one.
In 2002 doctors from the NHS Portman Clinic – an internationally acclaimed centre – stated that after surgery, “what many patients find is that they are left with a mutilated body, but the internal conflicts remain”.
Many transsexuals regret their decision to live in the opposite sex. A Home Office report on transsexualism, released in April 2000, said: “Many people revert to their biological sex after living for some time in the opposite sex”.
Pension
In a separate case in March it was revealed that a transsexual man wanted to be recognised as a man in the marriage system and a woman in the pension system.
Christopher Timbrell, who changed his name to Christine, went to the Court of Appeal with a case against the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
Mr Timbrell said he should have the same pension benefits as a woman and receive backdated funds but still be allowed to be married to his wife.
