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February 9, 2010
Court rules insurance must pay for ex-soldier's breast surgery
Published: 22 Oct 09 09:09 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20091022-22739.html
A transsexual has won a lawsuit against her German health insurance, which will now have to pay for the former British soldier's re-constructive breast surgery, news magazine Der Spiegel reported late on Wednesday.
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She suffered so greatly from forcing her breasts into corsets and bras that Smith applied to have a corrective operation with the DAK health insurer, with which she has been insured since 1998.
But DAK refused to pay for the €6,000-operation.
Smith took the case to court, and the judge ruled on Wednesday that DAK would have to pay for the surgery.
According to a DAK spokesperson Jörg Bodanowitz, German insurance oversight organisation MDK found that Smith fulfilled the same criteria as a born woman.
“And this examination showed that there is actually a case of malpositioned breasts,” Bodanowitz said, adding that the DAK would follow the recommendation to operate.
According to Der Spiegel Smith discovered her will to be a woman at an early age, and after marrying a German woman used every opportunity alone to dress in female clothing. She divorced in 2003.
The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
When people say that these people should have psychotherapy rather than hormones and surgeries, guess what, if they are getting the hormones and surgeries in the first place, they would have already had the psychotherapy and it didn't work.
As for it being a medical necessity or not, many of those people are very depressed and dysfunctional so choosing not to fix them means they'll cost you instead with their depression while if they get their hormones and surgeries, most of them seem to cope pretty well.
As for figuring this out at age 50, that's maybe a bit late in the day but don't forget that this person would have grown up in a time when it was not ok for boys to dress up like girls and probably tried to hide it and managed really well hiding it for some decades. Had society been more tolerant then, she might have come out much earlier.
true statement.
"This poor soul needs counseling -- this is a mental disorder."
agreed.
If you want to ban all medical procedures based on what people choose to do in order to lower your insurance premiums then you have to do it for everyone, that means anyone with cancer who smoked, sorry, you've no longer covered, you CHOSE to smoke. Anyone with kidney problems who drinks alocohol, sorry, you're no longer covered as you CHOSE to drink. Anyone getting pregnant who CHOSE to get pregnant, sorry, but you CHOSE to get pregnant.