A transgender woman took her own life after a backyard genital removal surgery procedure left her mutilated.
Knewz.com has learned that the 24-year-old’s operation was canceled due to an excessive loss of blood and the victim - although she survived - sustained “assault-like injuries.”
According to the Australian news outlet, theHerald Sun, the procedure occurred in October 2019. It was conducted on a tarp-covered bed by an unlicensed non-professional in a residential setting.
The unnamed victim shared her ordeal with her friend, Cecilia Jones, who confirmed the woman’s experience, saying: “She [her late friend] said she was on a tarp on a bed and there was blood everywhere.”
“She felt desperate and this guy she found online. The way I saw it, a vet was better (qualified),” Jones told the Herald Sun.
The operation was abandoned due to excessive bleeding and the unnamed patient was rushed to the Monash Health facility.
The victim’s mother, known only as Ms Byrne, lashed out at the perpetrator of her daughter’s wounds, saying: “The exploitation of an extremely vulnerable person is something I cannot understand. How could a human being do this to another and have no consequences?”
She went on to criticize the hospital for not reporting the incident to the police even after its staff had been told how the 24-year-old sustained these injuries.
She said: “I cannot believe that following my daughter’s hospitalization and disclosure that this had occurred, no one at Monash Health thought to follow this up or inform the police (to) help identify this criminal and ensure this doesn’t keep happening.”
“It is a shameless situation that when someone tries to get help from our medical profession, they are not given the support they need. No one cared about my child—that is unforgivable.”
The hospital, in its defense, claimed that it was obligated “to protect patient privacy and confidentiality” and declined further comment.
Eighteen months after the botched surgical procedure the 24-year-old took her life using an unnamed drug from a local chemical vendor.
According to the Herald Sun, the substance used in the suicide is currently under investigation by a coroner.
Aside from the post-mortem investigation, an inquest was launched, and heard that there are steep challenges facing transgenders wishing to have gender surgery in the Australian state of Victoria.
One of the impediments cited was expense. According to the report submitted via the Herald Sun, male-to-female surgery could cost just over $13,000. In addition to the latter, there are long waiting lists, approval processes, and a severe shortage of qualified professionals.
An advocate for the cause, Transgender Victoria, also claimed “Female genital surgery can be difficult or impossible to obtain in Victoria or Australia.”
It went on to note that due to this reason “a trans or gender-diverse person will often delay affirming their gender until living in their birth gender becomes intolerable. This often manifests in a strong feeling that their options are to affirm their gender or suicide.”
The investigation into circumstances surrounding the death of Ms Byrne’s daughter comes in the wake of a similar inquest in 2023.
According to ABC News, five women between the ages of 18 and 33 took their lives when COVID-19 was at its peak. At the time the court heard that there was “evidence of experiences of discrimination, stigma and exclusion from the transgender and gender diverse community.”
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