SRS death

[~RoadToTrista~]

A few months ago, a certain past member on here, whom I won't name, gave her opinion about SRS. She said that no one should get it if they don't "have" to, as in people who want the surgery but don't have it as their priority shouldn't get it, and she said that people have died from it. I want the surgery but since she said that, I'm nervous about it, and I keep thinking of worse case senarios. I mean yeah, I know every surgery has it's risks, blah blah blah, and I knew that before, but something about her saying that just got to me.....

[Jamie D]

A few months ago, a certain past member on here, whom I won't name, gave her opinion about SRS. She said that no one should get it if they don't "have" to, as in people who want the surgery but don't have it as their priority shouldn't get it, and she said that people have died from it. I want the surgery but since she said that, I'm nervous about it, and I keep thinking of worse case senarios. I mean yeah, I know every surgery has it's risks, blah blah blah, and I knew that before, but something about her saying that just got to me.....

There are risks to not having surgery as well.

That has to be part of the equation.

[V M]

A few months ago, a certain past member on here, whom I won't name, gave her opinion about SRS. She said that no one should get it if they don't "have" to, as in people who want the surgery but don't have it as their priority shouldn't get it, and she said that people have died from it. I want the surgery but since she said that, I'm nervous about it, and I keep thinking of worse case senarios. I mean yeah, I know every surgery has it's risks, blah blah blah, and I knew that before, but something about her saying that just got to me.....

Did this person give any resources and/or statistics? I am yet to find any stats of any reported deaths during the actual surgery

Here is what I have found regarding the subject:

http://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/Pa-St/Sex-Reassignment-Surgery.html#b


Morbidity and mortality rates

The risks that are associated with any surgical procedure are present in gender reassignment surgery. These include infection, postoperative pain, and dissatisfaction with anticipated results. Accurate statistics are extremely difficult to find. Intraoperative death has not been reported.

The most common complication of male to female surgery is narrowing of the new vagina. This can be corrected by dilation or using a portion of colon to form a vagina.

A relatively common complication of female to male surgery is dysfunction of the penis. Implanting a penile prosthesis is technically difficult and does not have uniformly acceptable results.

Psychiatric care may be required for many years after sex-reassignment surgery.

The number of deaths in male-to-female transsexuals was five times the number expected, due to increased numbers of suicide and death from unknown cause.

[A]

The only reason I would see for a death during a SRS (except infection if someone didn't do their job) is a reaction to anaesthesia (however it's spelled). In that case, the person would have died from just any full anaesthesia surgery.

[Michelle.]

How many patients die during a knee replacement surgery each year?

When the pain gets to be too much a less than 1/10000 chance of dying becomes trivial.

[Cindy]

 Any medical intervention carries risk, they are explained in detail prior to surgery or intervention. You need to have a very detailed talk with your surgical team and bring up any concerns. That said SRS is considered (MtF) a low risk procedure given that it occurs in a good hospital by qualified staff and appropriate after care. I think FtM including top and bottom surgery is a higher risk because of the potential blood loss, but hysterectomies are performed very routinely.

[lilacwoman]

I can't remember ever reading of any death during srs surgery.
it is possible it happens just as often as other surgery deaths but the medical ethics, confidentiality and relative's wishes may keep it out of the press?

then I look on Wiki and find this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ronald_Brown

as he wasn't doing the surgery in a proper theatre setting it doesn't prove anything about srs being dangerous.

what is interesting about that article is that Johns Hopkins only passed 24 out of 2000 for surgery?   I find that an incredible low number and must be due to JH staffs having an agenda against TS as just turning up at the place and undergoing assessmnet must prove the person has a good degree of TSism?

[Joandelynn]

I know of a few lethal cases.

Dr. Eugene Schrang lost a patient due to Pulmonary Embolism, but it should be noted that the patient already had a long history of Thrombophlebitis and Pulmonary Emboli, stopped taking her medicines for that, and then took a long-distance flight before getting surgery. (source)

There was also a patient in Sweden who died due to complications after SRS. I don't know the details. (source)

[Cindy]

To be pedantic (sorry) those deaths are not due to SRS they are due to any surgical event or even anaesthetic event. Once your number is up, it's up. I think the OP was interested in SRS related deaths. As we know any surgical event is major, even if I classified them as low or medium risk, they are a higher than no event at all.

I have had people go into shock after putting a needle into an arm vein to take 10 mls of blood.

[Kitty_Babe]

Where I live, a guy recently died, from an operation he had on his bowels, or some part down there. Every operation you go into has a degree of risk, they will explain these things to you anyway, because they need to make sure that its right for you, and you understand what's going to happen during the procedure. I think what the original poster is concerned about, should not in any sort of way let it influence any decisions she needs to make about her own life, and only accept any assessment of risk, from a qualified medical practitioner, and how it will affect 'her' health.

[lilacwoman]

if the original post meant death due to the changing of genitals from one to the other somehow bringing on a condition that caused the body to die from lack of something then I have to say I've never heard of it and considering all the battlefield injuries over several thousand years we have to assume that the body can get along quite well without major bits of itself.
In fcat there is a youtube of he Chinese man who lost the entire lower half of his body to prove the point.

Does anyone know if today's male soldiers who lose their testicles or female ones who lose their ovaries are able to get hormones prescribed to ensure they still feel the same as before the wounding?

[Cindy]

Yes they do. It is common for (war injured or traumatic injured)  castrated males to have both surgical reconstruction of their testicles and given on going hormonal therapy so the can perform as males in a sexual way with their partners.  Obviously if their penis has been remove or damaged it is different.  It has been reported as one of the greatest  fears of male soldiers is to be castrated as an injury, or torture.

On going T implants allow normal erections and enjoyable sex life for these people and many can reach orgasm in a loving environment, obviously they cannot impregnate their partner. But it needs solid psychological treatment as well as the hormonal and plastic surgery.  I'm told that the psychological problems are more difficult to deal with than the physical. Pretty normal that

[Dana_H]

I have had people go into shock after putting a needle into an arm vein to take 10 mls of blood.

I've done this. I discovered the hard way it really is important to keep breathing during the process.   (Mild phobia about needles in my body.)

I have to agree that any surgery carries the risk of complications or death. That's the nature of the beast. As for deaths directly attributable to change of genitals rather than typical surgical risks, I've not heard of a single case.

As far as I am aware, SRS is no more risky than any other surgery of similar scope as long as you have a competent surgeon and staff, and a decent facility. Definitely discuss it with your doctor or, better yet, the surgeon you plan to have perform the procedure, but I wouldn't worry about it too much if you feel you really do need SRS to be complete and at peace.

Disclaimer: I'm pre-op, but I have been studying the subject for my own transition path and already decided that the benefits outweigh the risks in my own case. When the time comes, sign me up.

[lilacwoman]

suicide of post-ops who weren't really TS and shouldn't have volunteered to lose their male bits has been in the headlines at various times but thats not directly due to the surgery.

[dejan160]

In order to die on the operating table you must bleed to death, which of course is impossible with the modern way of performing surgeries and having an anesthesiologist next to you. Risk of anesthesia is associated with allergic reactions during the induction of general anesthesia. In worst case scenario that can be an anaphylaxis, but having an anesthesiologist next to you fully trained in resuscitation minimizes the risk of death in that case. The chances of severe allergy are very very little.  Other risk associated to the general anesthesia is respiratory depression after you wake up. Those things do happen sometimes but you are fully monitored and in case that happens it can be easily fixed. So chances that you die during the actual SRS are only theoretical. During the recovery you can die from complications, like infection, post operative bleeding, overlooked fistula i guess can lead to peritonitis and sepsis. But people at risk would be people with poor immune system and people with blood coagulation problems. Your general health is fully checked before the SRS and no reputable doctor will agree to do the surgery on you if you are not fit enough for it. So darling, not having an SRS can lead to suicide in a transgender person and is a real risk of death, and the actual surgery only has theoretical risks and it promotes peace of mind.

[ktc]

suicide of post-ops who weren't really TS and shouldn't have volunteered to lose their male bits has been in the headlines at various times but thats not directly due to the surgery.

Do you have any examples of these "headlines"? I've never seen one and a search on google news doesn't seem to turn up anything. There are a few stories of high profile regretters who are post-op, and pre-ops who commit suicide, but no suicides of post-ops that I've seen covered in the news.

[Hell_Girl]

You're more likely to have complications imeediatley post surgery than on the table. I started heamorraging badly the day after surgery which resulted in me needing 4 units of blood being pumped into me. Just before the blood arrived I was apparently as close to death as I've ever been...I don't remember everything was fuzzy and gray and I was so so tired I just wanted to sleep. However I was being monitored by an excellent team of nurses and the actual risk of me dying was minimal.

H

[Princess Rachel]

it's a worry, my therapist is arranging a consultation with a surgeon so that I can discuss my options, I haven't come this far because I'm afraid of dying (there's a risk from getting a clot from oestrogen) but because I want to live and be the me on the outside that I should be but for whatever reason am not, that's what I want to discuss with the surgeon, so we can work out what's best for me, not just what I want regardless of the risk (my family has histories of a lot of bad stuff, such as DVT, glaucoma, diabetes and other things although I seem to be free of them all)

[auburnAubrey]

A few months ago, a certain past member on here, whom I won't name, gave her opinion about SRS. She said that no one should get it if they don't "have" to, as in people who want the surgery but don't have it as their priority shouldn't get it, and she said that people have died from it. I want the surgery but since she said that, I'm nervous about it, and I keep thinking of worse case senarios. I mean yeah, I know every surgery has it's risks, blah blah blah, and I knew that before, but something about her saying that just got to me.....

Well, I don't know if this helps, but it's perspective.  People also die while walking, driving, eating, riding a bike, bathing (yep), etc.

I'll bet you do at least two of those things on a very consistant basis.

Every surgery has some risk to it.  But you're talking about a very small percentile.  If the surgery had, say, a 50% mortality rate, I'd question it.  But it doesn't.

If it's right for you, then go for it.  Don't worry about what "could" happen, because you probably have a better chance of dying by making toast... really..... look it up!  between 650-800 people a year!

Hope it made you smile.....  Stay positive, and don't not do things because of what "could" happen....... especially if it isn't common at all. 

[Miharu Barbie]

In 2004 my best friend dropped dead 10 days post-op.  She died of a sudden aneurysm.

That said, Karen smoked cigarettes, she drank too much alcohol, she ate the greasiest food from the scummiest dive restaurants and bars.  Most everyone in her family was already dead from heart disease.  She had a lot of risk factors going on, and she did absolutely nothing to improve her odds of living a long, healthy life.

As many others have said here (and said well), every surgery carries some risk.  Whether to have SRS or not is really a quality of life issue that every trans person must discern for themselves.  This much I know to be true, about SRS or any surgery: a healthy body, a healthy lifestyle, and a healthy attitude all go a very long way towards assuring an ideal outcome. 

If SRS is something that you simply cannot live without (and it is most assuredly a choice  that must not be taken lightly), then you are much better served putting your time, energy and resources into controlling those things that are within your control: your physical and mental health and well being.  Worrying about what ifs and what fors and things that are out of your control is a waste of time and a waste of life.

Trust your heart.  Listen to your intuition.  It is there to guide you, and it will never steer your wrong.

I hope that something in my ramblings helps.

Peace,
Miharu