âąÂ LINK: Sexchange at Pattaya is a new section of their commercial site. http://www.pattaya-inter-hospital.co.th/service_sexchg.html
Ellie Zara Ley (born ~1973) is a Mexican-American surgeon. She performs gender surgeries with the Gender Confirmation Center in California.
Background
Ley was born in San Luis, Sonora. She received treatment as a child in the US for a medical condition. She earned bachelor’s degrees in Spanish literature and biochemistry from University of Arizona in 1995. She earned her medical degree from the medical school of Universidad AutĂłnoma de Guadalajara in 2000, then returned to the United States to work at New York Medical College and at University of Arizona. Following her fellowship in pediatric craniofacial plastic surgery at Primary Childrenâs Medical Center in Utah, she trained at UCLA in hand and microsurgery. She then returned to the University of Utah for a fellowship in plastic and reconstructive surgery.
She founded the LEY Institute of Plastic & Hand Surgery before joining Toby R. Meltzer at The Meltzer Clinic in Arizona. In 2022 she joined the Gender Confirmation Center with Scott Mosser. She is licensed to practice in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Utah.
Milton Thomas “Milt” Edgerton, Jr. was an American plastic surgeon who served our community. Edgerton is widely considered one of the most important American plastic surgeons of the 20th century.
Background
Edgerton was born in Atlanta on July 14, 1921 and earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Emory University in 1941. Edgerton earned a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1944. Following a surgical residency, Edgerton joined the United States Army and operated on injured World War II veterans.
Edgerton joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1951 and got tenure in 1962. In 1970 Edgerton was recruited to the University of Virginia to found the Department of Plastic Surgery, working and teaching there until retiring in 1994.
Edgerton had many students and colleagues who served our community as well, including Howard W. Jones, Jr. and John Gale Kenney. Edgerton was author of four books and over 500 scientific papers on plastic surgery. As shown in the selected bibliography below, Edgerton’s articles when read from earliest to latest read like an unfolding of the history of our community.
Edgerton died at age 96 on March 17, 2018. The Milton T. Edgerton, M.D. Professorship in Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Johns Hopkins is named in Edgerton’s honor.
This paper reviews the senior author’s long-term experience with the surgical-psychiatric treatment of 100 aesthetic surgery patients with significant psychological disturbances. Patients with psychological disturbances of a magnitude generally considered an “absolute contraindication” for surgery were operated on and later assessed to determine the psychological impact of surgery. Patient follow-up averaged 6.2 years (maximum follow-up 25.7 years). Of the 87 patients who underwent operation (7 patients were refused surgery and 6 voluntarily deferred surgery), 82.8 percent had a positive psychological outcome, 13.8 percent experienced “minimal” improvement from surgery, and 3.4 percent were negatively affected by surgery. There were no lawsuits, suicides, or psychotic decompensations. Patients with severe psychological disturbances frequently benefited from combined surgical-psychiatric treatment designed to address the patient’s profound sense of deformity. This study suggests that plastic surgeons are “passing up” a significant number of patients who may be helped by combined surgical-psychological intervention. Comment in: * Plast Reconstr Surg. 1992 Aug;90(2):333-5.* Plast Reconstr Surg. 1992 Jun;89(6):1173-5.
This article describes plastic surgery patients who sought symmetrical recontouring of the width of the face and skull. The basic demographic and personality characteristics of these facial width deformity (FWD) patients and the surgical procedures performed on them are discussed. Details of the surgical and psychological management of three representative cases are given. Speculative conclusions regarding the general characteristics of the FWD population are offered. Suggestions are proposed for a combined surgical-medical psychotherapeutic collaboration in managing these patients.Comment in: * Aesthetic Plast Surg. 1990 Fall;14(4):299-300.
The evaluation and treatment of individuals with gender identity problems has resulted in an interesting and productive collaboration between several specialties of medicine. In particular, the psychiatrist and surgeon have joined hands in the management of these fascinating patients who feel they are trapped in the wrong body and insist upon correcting this cruel mistake of nature by undergoing sex reassignment surgery. Over the last two decades, some 40 centers have emerged in which interdisciplinary teams cooperate in the evaluation and treatment of these gender dysphoric patients. The model for this collaboration began at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where the Gender Identity Clinic began its operation in 1965 (Edgerton, 1983; Pauly, 1983). This “gender identity movement” has brought together such unlikely collaborators as surgeons, endocrinologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, gynecologists, and research specialists into a mutually rewarding arena. This paper deals with the background and modern era of research into gender identity disorders and their evaluation and treatment. Finally, some data are presented on the outcome of sex reassignment surgery. This interdisciplinary collaboration has resulted in the birth of a new medical subspecialty, which deals with the study of gender identification and its disorders.
The increasing use of surgery for sex reassignment in the treatment of transsexualism is described. The author’s early experience over a twenty-year period with the Gender Identity teams at The Johns Hopkins University and The University of Virginia is summarized. Many of the reasons for slow acceptance of this type of surgery by many members of the medical profession are analyzed. The satisfactory subjective results described by patients who have received sex reassignment continue to exceed the results obtained by other methods. The author concludes that further study of surgical treatment is justified, but that it should be limited to established multidisciplinary teams working in academic settings. Physicians are urged to withhold judgment on the role of surgery in gender disorders until they have had significant personal experience with these desperate and complex patients.
Transsexualism is a poorly understood, uncommon, and controversial entity of recent interest to the lay public and medical profession. Important features of the condition are discussed, surgical procedures for genital conversion in male transsexuals are compared, and our experience at the University of Virginia where 53 patients have been treated surgically is presented. All patients have made satisfactory postoperative psychosocial adjustment despite a surgical complication rate approaching 50 per cent. It is concluded that alternative (better) surgical procedures for male transsexuals should be explored.
A 49-year-old male-to-female transsexual was administered voice therapy following surgery. Tape recordings were made of her speech prior to and each week during therapy. Selected sentences from these reocrdings were analyzed. Results indicate that changes in both fundamental frequency and perceptual judgments of femininity were statistically significant and supportive to the client. The voice of the client was still discernible from that of a female speaker, although less so than before therapy. It is suggested that a composite treatment program combined with laryngeal modification through surgical intervention may be necessary.
Turner, Edlich & Edgerton, 1978 Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Plastic Surgery, University of Virginia Medical Center, Charlottville, VA, USA In structure and representation this publication is closely related to the one of Edgerton & Meyer (1973), that is, it is no follow-up study with reliable data. Related are mostly surgical techniques for MFTs and surgical complications. Under historical viewpoints it is an interesting statement that Edgerton was already in 1963 the director of the Johns Hopkins Gender Identity Clinic in Baltimore, MD, while everywhere else the founding of this institution is generally dated two years later. Also it is interesting that a psychologist is given a key role or a veto right to the indication to surgery. For the rest, the necessity for a successful one-year-long “Real-Life-Test” as it was already in Edgerton & Meyer (1973), the experimental surgical breast enlargement is recommended as a step if the patient and treatment provider are insecure regarding the stability of the female identity of the patient. In how far the statement: “The only justification for the ongoing evaluation of surgery as a definite treatment entity is that patients with this condition have proved resistant to psychotherapy and drug therapy” (p. 121) is a general postulate or if the corresponding possibility has been tested with those who underwent surgery is not to be discerned by the publication. It is reported about 53 gender reassignment surgeries of MFTs that Edgerton made after changing from Baltimore to Virginia. Forty seven females came to the follow-up study in the first year after surgery. Globally it is said that all were subjectively happy and self-secure and socially better adjusted. “Psychological testing has substantiated these subjective claims” (p. 128). Suicide attempts after surgery or desires to role re-reversal were not observed. Eighteen females had gotten married and six had adopted children. In the series of the first 20 surgically treated, 14 females required corrective surgery; in the series of the second 20, only eight. The most frequent complication was the stenosis of the vagina. Injuries of the urethra or rectum with corresponding fistulae did not occur.
Morgan RF, Morgan EA (2019). Milton T Edgerton, MD: A Pioneer of Surgery of the Hand. Journal of Craniofacial Surgery: March/April 2019 – Volume 30 – Issue 2 – p 303â305 https://doi.org/10.1097/SCS.0000000000005063
Resources
Archival contact information:
University of Virginia Medical Center, Gender Identity Clinic, P. O. Box 376 Charlottesville, VA 22908 USA
Phone: (434) 924-5068
Howard Wilbur Jones, Jr. (December 30, 1910 â July 31, 2015) was an American gynecologist and surgeon. He performed sex reassignment surgeries at Johns Hopkins University.
Background
Jones earned a bachelor’s degree from Amherst College in 1931 and a medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1935, then completed his surgery residency there. He led a U.S. Army Auxiliary Surgical Group during World War II, after which he completed a gynecology residency. Jones was a colleague of surgeon Milton Edgerton.
Jones made many important innovations in cancer and fertility research, first at Johns Hopkins and later at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
Genital surgeries
Jones performed “normalizing” surgeries on infants with differences of sex development on the recommendation of John Money, including vaginoplasty for David Reimer at age 22 months in 1967. Money fabricated the outcome of Reimer’s social adjustment, and Reimer eventually killed himself at age 38.
Jones also performed surgeries on adults. Confirmed patients include:
Phyllis Avon Wilson (~1965)
Dawn Langley Hall (1968)
Transgender hoaxer Kiira Triea/Denise Magner also claimed to have surgery from Jones at age 14, but there is no evidence that this is true.
Christine McGinn is an American plastic surgeon based in Pennsylvania.
Background
Christine Noelle McGinn was born May 31, 1969 and grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. McGinn earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Moravian College in 1991, followed by a medical degree from Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1995. McGinn then joined the United States Navy, Naval Aerospace Medicine Institute US Naval Flight Surgery Training.
McGinn made a gender transition starting in 2000.
McGinn was a consultand on the 2015 film The Danish Girl and has appeared on Dr. Oz, CNN with Anderson Cooper, IAm Jazz, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Memberships:
American Medical Association
American Osteopathic Association
American College of Osteopathic Surgeons
Society of United States Naval Flight Surgeons
Aerospace Medical Association
World Professional Association for Transgender Health
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association
Society for the Scientific Study of Sex
Association of Sex Educators, Counselors and Therapists
Marci Bowers is an American gynecologist, surgeon, media personality, and activist. Bowers is one of the transgender community’s most notable surgeons.
Background
Marci Lee Bowers was born January 18, 1958 in Wisconsin.
After earning a bachelor’s degree from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1980, Bowers earned a medical degree from University of Minnesota Medical School in 1986. Bowers completed an OB/GYN residency at the University of Washington in 1990, then worked at Swedish Medical Center. Bowers has licensure in Washington, California, New York, and Colorado.
Bowers was chosen by Stanley Biber to take over Biber’s Colorado practice in 2003. In 2010, Bowers relocated to Burlingame, California.
Bowers has completed many medical missions to Africa to make surgical revisions to the organs of women subjected to traditional genital cutting. Bowers is an elected board member of WPATH and has served on the board of directors for both GLAAD and the Transgender Law Center.
Media appearances
Bowers has appeared frequently in the media, including TransGeneration, Sex Change Hospital, Trinidad, The Tyra Banks Show, I Am Cait, and I Am Jazz.
2021 60 Minutes interview
Bowers was a source for a 60 Minutes piece on “detransition” by Lesley Stahl, Alexandra Poolos, and Collette Richards titled “Transgender Healthcare” on May 23, 2021. That report was described by GLAAD thus:
Tonight 60 Minutes / Lesley Stahl aired a shameful segment fearmongering about trans youth. Parents of trans youth could walk away with the false belief that young people are being rushed into medical transition. That is simply untrue. As the piece noted, every major medical association supports affirming, age-appropriate care for trans youth and the guidelines for that care are safe and well-established. And yet, the majority of the story was devoted to âraising concernsâ about youth accessing that care. [60 Minutes] heard concerns from several trans leaders and, after spending months on the segment, they delivered a piece which still promulgates the same anti-trans dog whistles that we hear from anti-LGBTQ activists and in state legislatures like Arkansas.
Bowers’ appearance has been cited in reporting critical of the transgender rights movement, including Fox News, The Daily Signal, and The Federalist.
In October 2021, Bowers and USPATH officer Erica Anderson chose to express their concerns about healthcare for gender diverse minors to Abigail Shrier, one of the most prominent anti-transgender activists.
When asked whether children in the early stages of puberty should be put on blockers, Bowers said: âIâm not a fan.â
When I asked Bowers if she still thought puberty blockers were a good idea, from a surgical perspective, she said: âThis is typical of medicine. We zig and then we zag, and I think maybe we zigged a little too far to the left in some cases.â She added âI think there was naivete on the part of pediatric endocrinologists who were proponents of early [puberty] blockade thinking that just this magic can happen, that surgeons can do anything.â
I asked Bowers whether she believed WPATH had been welcoming to a wide variety of doctorsâ viewpoints â including those concerned about risks, skeptical of puberty blockers, and maybe even critical of some of the surgical procedures?
âThere are definitely people who are trying to keep out anyone who doesnât absolutely buy the party line that everything should be affirming, and that thereâs no room for dissent,â Bowers said. âI think thatâs a mistake.â
The problem for kids whose puberty has been blocked early isnât just a lack of tissue but of sexual development. Puberty not only stimulates growth of sex organs. It also endows them with erotic potential. âIf youâve never had an orgasm pre-surgery, and then your puberty’s blocked, it’s very difficult to achieve that afterwards,â Bowers said. âI consider that a big problem, actually. It’s kind of an overlooked problem that in our âinformed consentâ of children undergoing puberty blockers, weâve in some respects overlooked that a little bit.â
Nor is this a problem that can be corrected surgically. Bowers can build a labia, a vaginal canal and a clitoris, and the results look impressive. But, she said, if the kids are âorgasmically naiveâ because of puberty blockade, âthe clitoris down there might as well be a fingertip and brings them no particular joy and, therefore, theyâre not able to be responsive as a lover. And so how does that affect their long-term happiness?â
Shrier called the article “probably the most important piece of my career thus far.” Bowers’ views were once again widely reported in the conservative press, including the Daily Mail, the Christian Post, TheFederalist, and the Patriot Post.
In response to Bowers’ ill-informed decision, USPATH and WPATH released a joint statement:
The United States Professional Association for Transgender Health (USPATH) and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) stand behind the appropriate care of transgender and gender diverse youth, which includes, when indicated, the use of “puberty blockers” such as gonadotropin releasing hormone analogs and other medications to delay puberty, and, when indicated, the use of gender-affirming hormones such as estrogen or testosterone. Guidelines for the assessment of transgender and gender diverse youth, as well as for the use of pubertal delay and gender affirming hormone medications have been published by reputable professional bodies, including the Endocrine Society, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and the American Psychiatric Association.
USPATH and WPATH support scientific discussions on the use of pubertal delay and hormone therapy for transgender and gender diverse youth. We believe that such discussions should occur among experts and stakeholders in this area, based on scientific evidence, and in fora such as peer-reviewed journals or scientific conferences, and among colleagues and experts in the assessment and care of transgender and gender diverse youth. USPATH and WPATH oppose the use of the lay press, either impartial or of any political slant or viewpoint, as a forum for the scientific debate of these issues, or the politicization of these issues in any way. Furthermore, individual decisions about gender affirming interventions and treatments for transgender and gender diverse youth should be made only among the patient, their parent(s) or guardian(s), their medical and mental health provider(s), and any other identified stakeholders on a case-by-case basis, and opposes any attempts to dictate or restrict, by statute, judiciary, or otherwise, access to such treatment when recommended according to accepted standards and guidelines.
Anderson resigned from USPATH and WPATH, and Bowers posted a letter about the Shrier interview online in November 2021:
I remain disappointed by the tone and intent of the article. My comments were taken out of context and used to cast doubt upon trans care, particularly the use of puberty blockers. Worse, Jazz Jennings was disrespectfully and erroneously portrayed as a puberty blockade failure, based solely upon her television portrayal.
[…] What I hope for, most of all, is that my out-of-context comments will not be excerpted to weaponize ongoing attacks upon transgender persons.
In 2023, the New York Times published a piece by Bowers critical of the wave of anti-transgender legislation in America. Bowers touched on transgender youth medicine, low rates of regret and “detransition,” the history of WPATH and trans healthcare, then urged lawmakers not to interfere in medical decisions made by doctors with their patients.
To be sure, worthwhile questions about how best to address gender diversity, adolescent mental health and teensâ expectations about gender remain. But answers to them will not be found in legislation thatwillharm â not protect â children, families and their health care providers. We must ask ourselves: Why are legislators and politicians making medical decisions for patients and families instead of doctors?
[…]
Anti-treatment bills will not protect children, and they will not help the medical community provide better care for patients in need. We should instead take anti-transgender legislation for what it is: thinly veiled cruelty to a specific minority population of the country. These bills are symptoms of a larger problem, where belittlement and bullying are reminders of what many trans people endure as children, teenagers and young adults.
Bowers, Marci (November 2021). Dear colleagues, clients and friends. Marci L. Bowers, M.D. https://marcibowers.com/transfem/dear-colleagues-clients-and-friends/
WPATH (October 12, 2021). Joint Letter from USPATH and WPATH. (PDF) https://www.wpath.org/media/cms/Documents/Public%20Policies/2021/Joint%20WPATH%20USPATH%20Letter%20Dated%20Oct%2012%202021.pdf
Winters, Kelley (October 9, 2021). Transgender Affirmation in Retrograde. Trans Policy Reform. https://transpolicyreform.wordpress.com/2021/10/09/transgender-affirmation-in-retrograde/
Smith, Martin J. (2021). Going to Trinidad: A Doctor, a Colorado Town, and Stories from an Unlikely Gender Crossroads. ISBN 9781917895101
Publications
Bradley-Springer L (2010). Interview with Marci Bowers, MD. J Assoc Nurses AIDS Care. 2010 May-Jun;21(3):186-91. doi: 10.1016/j.jana.2010.02.008
Doo FX, Khorsandi A, Avanessian B, Bowers M, Somwaru AS. Gender Affirmation Surgery: A Primer on Imaging Correlates for the Radiologist. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2019 Dec;213(6):1194-1203. doi: 10.2214/AJR.19.21686
Kvach EJ, Hyer JS, Carey JC, Bowers M. Testicular Seminoma in a Transgender Woman: A Case Report. LGBT Health. 2019 Jan;6(1):40-42. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2018.0173
Atkinson HG, Bowers M, Mishori R, Ottenheimer D. Comments on “Female Genital Mutilation Reconstruction: A Preliminary Report”. Aesthet Surg J. 2017 Oct 1;37(9):NP111-NP112. doi: 10.1093/asj/sjx096
Gaither TW, Awad MA, Osterberg EC, Romero A, Bowers ML, Breyer BN. Impact of Sexual Orientation Identity on Medical Morbidities in Male-to-Female Transgender Patients. LGBT Health. 2017 Feb;4(1):11-16. doi: 10.1089/lgbt.2016.0097
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Sidhbh Gallagher is an Irish plastic surgeon practicing in the United States. Gallagher is known for performing masculinizing top surgery.
Background
Sidhbh Treasa Gallagher (pronounced “sive”) was born in ~1981 and grew up in Louth and Dundalk, Ireland. Gallagher earned an undergraduate degree from University College Dublin. In 2006 Gallagher studied at Emory University, then did a residency at Abington Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia from 2007 to 2012. Gallagher did plastic surgery training at Indiana University School of Medicine. In 2016 Gallagher took a surgical appointment at Eskenazi Health Transgender Health & Wellness Program in Indianapolis.
Gallagher relocated to Miami, Florida in 2019 and founded Gallagher Plastic Surgery and Gallagher Med Spa.
Gallagher is known for promoting on social media, particularly TikTok.
University Gender Affirmation Surgery (universitygenderaffirmationsurgery.com) [archive]
John Gale Kenney is an American plastic surgeon and artist who served the transgender community.
Background
John Gale Kenney was born on January 13, 1950.
Kenney practiced with Milton Edgerton and focused on surgery to repair burns and traumatic injuries. In 1984, they wrote the influential article “The bladder flap for urethral reconstruction in total phalloplasty.”
After retiring from medicine, Kenney moved to South Carolina and focused on painting.
Publications
Kenney JG, DiMercurio S, Angel M. Tissue-expanded radial forearm free flap in neck burn contracture. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1990 Sep-Oct;11(5):443-5. PMID: 2246314
Stuart JD, Morgan RF, Kenney JG. Single-donor fibrin glue for hand burns. Ann Plast Surg. 1990 Jun;24(6):524-7. PMID: 2363566
Kenney JG, Fairbanks DW, Berman DE. The dartos musculocutaneous island flap in urethral reconstruction. Ann Plast Surg. 1990 Jan;24(1):63-7. PMID: 2301886
Stuart JD, Kenney JG, Lettieri J, Spotnitz W, Baker J. Application of single-donor fibrin glue to burns. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1988 Nov-Dec;9(6):619-22. PMID: 2464603
Bardakjian VB, Kenney JG, Edgerton MT, Morgan RF. Pulse oximetry for vascular monitoring in burned upper extremities. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1988 Jan-Feb;9(1):63-5. PMID: 2965708
Stuart JD, Kenney JG, Morgan RF. Pediatric burns. Am Fam Physician. 1987 Oct;36(4):139-46. PMID: 3673860
Silloway KA, Morgan RC, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. The arcuate skin staple: its influence on pain of staple penetration and removal. Am J Surg. 1985 Nov;150(5):612-4. PMID: 4061743
Silloway KA, Morgan RF, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Innovations in skin suture removal. Am J Surg. 1985 Jun;149(6):799-801. PMID: 4014557
Cardany CR, Rodeheaver GT, Horowitz JH, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Influence of hydrotherapy and antiseptic agents on burn wound bacterial contamination. J Burn Care Rehabil. 1985 May-Jun;6(3):230-2. PMID: 3855197
Morgan RF, Nichter LS, Haines PC, Kenney JG, Friedman HI, Edlich RF. Management of head and neck burns. JBurn Care Rehabil. 1985 Jan-Feb;6(1):20-38. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 3916420
Edgerton MT, Gillenwater JY, Kenney JG, Horowitz J. The bladder flap for urethral reconstruction in total phalloplasty. Plast Reconstr Surg. 1984 Aug;74(2):259-66. PMID: 6540460
Keenan KM, Rodeheaver GT, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Surgical cautery revisited. Am J Surg. 1984 Jun;147(6):818-21. PMID: 6731701
Bryant CA, Rodeheaver GT, Reem EM, Nichter LS, Kenney JG, Edlich RF. Search for a nontoxic surgical scrub solution for periorbital lacerations. Ann Emerg Med. 1984 May;13(5):317-21. PMID: 6711927
Edlich RF, Nichter LS, Morgan RF, Persing JA, Van Meter CH Jr, Kenney JG. Burns of the head and neck. Otolaryngol Clin North Am. 1984 May;17(2):361-88. Review. No abstract available. PMID: 6377194
McIntire MR, Morgan RF, Kenney JG, Edgerton MT. Postoperative protection for the external ear. Ann Plast Surg. 1983 Sep;11(3):261-2. PMID: 6638828
Archival contact information
Address: 914 E Jefferson St # 202 Charlottesville, VA 22902-5376
Phone: (434) 296-3622
University of Virginia Medical Center, Gender Identity Clinic, P. O. Box 376 Charlottesville, VA 22908 USA
John Ronald Brown was an American surgeon who served the trans and gender diverse community. Brown’s career was dogged by legal troubles related to poor patient outcomes and deaths. Nicknamed “Butcher Brown” by the trans community, Brown was imprisoned for continuing to practice medicine after losing medical licensure.
Background
John Ronald Brown was born on July 14, 1922 and died in prison on May 16, 2010.
In the 1970s, Brown and partner James Spence were offering genital surgeries in San Francisco and planned a full-service clinic for medical gender transition, but those plans fell apart in 1973.
Transgender healthcare
Brown was one of the earliest surgeons to use an informed consent model, and many of Brown’s patients had been rejected by gender clinics with strict gatekeeping for trans healthcare. Brown also performed surgeries on patients seeking other kinds of body modification that colleagues would not perform. Many of Brown’s patients were desperate or poor, and they felt Brown was their best available option or only option.
Among other procedures, Brown offered orchiectomy, a crude vaginoplasty, and illegal silicone injections. Brown’s prices were often one-tenth of the cost of going elsewhere, and patients did not have to wait two years or more as was common at the time.
The quality of Brown’s results was generally considered unacceptable, earning Brown the nickname “Butcher Brown” among our community. Community-wide warnings about Brown’s dangerous practice were one of the most organized and unified examples of trans and gender diverse consumer activism in the 20th century.
Sanctions and convictions
In 1977, Brown’s medical license was revoked following the death of a patient, citing “gross negligence, incompetence and practicing unprofessional medicine in a manner which involved moral turpitude.” Brown then began illegally operating on patients in Mexico.
In 1990 Brown was convicted and imprisoned for practicing medicine without a license. Brown began performing illegal surgeries again following release.
In 1998, Brown performed an elective leg amputation for a patient who wished to have one leg removed. After the patient died from complications, Brown was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Brown died in prison from complications of pneumonia on May 16, 2010.
Cowan, Zagria (May 19, 2017) John Ronald Brown: part II. https://zagria.blogspot.com/2017/05/john-ronald-brown-part-ii.html
Moore, Michelle. (2003, October). TG in history: Butcher John Ronald Brown. TG Community News, 19-24. http://dallasdenny.com/Writing/2013/11/01/butcher-john-ronald-brown-2002/
Ciotti, Paul (December 15, 1999). Why did he cut off that man’s leg?LA Weekly https://www.laweekly.com/why-did-he-cut-off-that-mans-leg/
