A consultant psychiatrist at a London gender disorder clinic told the High Court yesterday that he had never encountered a single patient who regretted undergoing sex change surgery.
Dr David Dalrymple, who is also head clinician at the gender identity clinic at Charing Cross Hospital, was giving evidence on the third day of the action in which a transsexual dentist is seeking to have her birth certificate altered to record her as being female rather than male.
Ms Lydia Annice Foy (54) is recorded on her birth certificate as being Donal Mark Foy. She married in 1977 and has two daughters. The marriage ended in the early 1990s and she changed her name by deed poll to Lydia Annice Foy in 1993. She has taken proceedings against the chief registrar of births, deaths and marriages and the State.
Dr Dalrymple, who treated Ms Foy in 1992, said that gender unease was a recognised medical condition. The most compelling feature of patients who presented at the clinic was a history of feeling uncomfortable in their biological gender role, often from very early in life.
Dr Dalrymple agreed with Mr Bill Shipsey SC, for Ms Foy, that the decision on a patient's part to undergo surgery was not something which was taken lightly. The irreversible nature of the surgery was emphasised at a very early stage. Patients were made familiar with what was going to happen surgically and the risks were carefully explained.
The hearing, before Mr Justice McKechnie, continues today.