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In an Australian-first, a sex change patient who reverted to living as a man is suing the medical team who performed his gender reassignment surgery.
Melbourne man Alan Finch is suing the Southern Health hospital network and surgeons at the city's Monash Medical Centre's gender identity clinic for unspecified damages.
Mr Finch alleges the hospital was negligent because it mistakenly diagnosed him as a primary transsexual before his gender reassignment in 1988.
But the case still has a hurdle to overcome - a six-year time limit on negligence cases.
Mr Finch said he was suffering a now-resolved psychological problem and was misdiagnosed as a candidate for sex-change surgery in the 1980s.
He reverted to living as a man in 1997, but said he was offered no counselling or assistance from the clinic.
"There are moments when I could really sink or swim, and moments where it seems all too hard," Mr Finch said.
"I suppose you could say there are times I feel suicidal, but at the moment those moments are getting further apart."
Mr Finch, who now runs a support service, Gender Menders, wants to hear from others in the same situation.
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He had met two other men who also believed they had been given transgender surgery incorrectly and knew of four or five others, he said.
"There's not enough money in the Reserve Bank (to compensate for the damage done by the surgery)," Mr Finch said.
"As far as I'm concerned I have a point to prove here for other people so these doctors think twice."
A hearing in the Victorian County Court on October 22 will determine if the case can go ahead beyond the six-year limit.
The secretary of the Australian Transgender Support Association of Queensland, Kristine Johnson, who had a sex change at Monash Medical Centre in the 1980s after eight years of assessment, said the process was among the world's strictest but "not foolproof".
"Alan Finch is a rarity and he has not accepted responsibility for the decision he has made," she said.
In a brief statement, Southern Health chief medical officer Syd Allen said the service had empathy for people seeking help with gender issues.
"We understand that this is a complex area, but our expert internal psychiatric advice is that the service that we contribute to is appropriate," Dr Allen said.
A preliminary report from a Victorian government review of the service at Monash's gender identity clinic, issued last week, recommended changes in how surgery was approved, standardising diagnoses, clearer treatment plans and full recording of a patient's psychiatric history and mental state.
Dr Allen said the review identified issues Southern Health would discuss with the Department of Human Services.
Melbourne man Alan Finch is suing the Southern Health hospital network and surgeons at the city's Monash Medical Centre's gender identity clinic for unspecified damages.
Mr Finch alleges the hospital was negligent because it mistakenly diagnosed him as a primary transsexual before his gender reassignment in 1988.
But the case still has a hurdle to overcome - a six-year time limit on negligence cases.
Mr Finch said he was suffering a now-resolved psychological problem and was misdiagnosed as a candidate for sex-change surgery in the 1980s.
He reverted to living as a man in 1997, but said he was offered no counselling or assistance from the clinic.
"There are moments when I could really sink or swim, and moments where it seems all too hard," Mr Finch said.
"I suppose you could say there are times I feel suicidal, but at the moment those moments are getting further apart."
Mr Finch, who now runs a support service, Gender Menders, wants to hear from others in the same situation.
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He had met two other men who also believed they had been given transgender surgery incorrectly and knew of four or five others, he said.
"There's not enough money in the Reserve Bank (to compensate for the damage done by the surgery)," Mr Finch said.
"As far as I'm concerned I have a point to prove here for other people so these doctors think twice."
A hearing in the Victorian County Court on October 22 will determine if the case can go ahead beyond the six-year limit.
The secretary of the Australian Transgender Support Association of Queensland, Kristine Johnson, who had a sex change at Monash Medical Centre in the 1980s after eight years of assessment, said the process was among the world's strictest but "not foolproof".
"Alan Finch is a rarity and he has not accepted responsibility for the decision he has made," she said.
In a brief statement, Southern Health chief medical officer Syd Allen said the service had empathy for people seeking help with gender issues.
"We understand that this is a complex area, but our expert internal psychiatric advice is that the service that we contribute to is appropriate," Dr Allen said.
A preliminary report from a Victorian government review of the service at Monash's gender identity clinic, issued last week, recommended changes in how surgery was approved, standardising diagnoses, clearer treatment plans and full recording of a patient's psychiatric history and mental state.
Dr Allen said the review identified issues Southern Health would discuss with the Department of Human Services.
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