VUmc Gender Team's Refutal Of The Accusations Made

A few months ago the VUmc hospital's gender team submitted their refutal to the disciplinary medical commission in Amsterdam in the case I started against four individuals of said gender team. I only recently read the whole document and to be honest it didn't surprise me a whole lot. Their whole stance can be summarized by them insisting that a) they made no errors in diagnosing me and b) that I am not intersex in any form or shape.

This is best illustrated in the conclusion attached to the refutal document, which I will put here in both Dutch (original) and English. See below.

--- Dutch original ---
"64. Alle verwijten die klaagster verweerders maakt zijn niet terecht en verweerders betwisten uitdrukkelijk zich aan enig tuchtrechtelijk verwijtbaar handelen jegens klaagster schuldig te hebben gemaakt.
Verweerders zijn zorgvuldig met de belangen van klaagster omgegaan, maar dat heeft klaagster niet gezien nu zij door verweerders vooral erkend wilde worden als interseksueel en verweerders aan die wens niet konden voldoen. Uit onderzoek was gebleken dat daarvan geen sprake was. Verweerders zijn in dat verband niet tot een lichtvaardige conclusie gekomen en behandelaars in andere (Nederlandse) ziekenhuizen tot wie klaagster zich had gewend, waren eveneens tot de conclusie gekomen dat klaagster alle kenmerken had van het mannelijk geslacht en geen kenmerken van het vrouwelijk geslacht (en dat klaagster daarmee niet interseksueel was). Dat prof. Seibel van en dr. Pottek in Duitsland kennelijk tot een andere conclusie zijn gekomen laat het zorgvuldig handelen van verweerders onverlet.

"65. Verweerders betreuren het dat klaagster ervoor gekozen heeft om de onderhavige tuchtklacht in te dienen. Zij hebben klaagster naar eer en geweten en volgens de professionele standaard begeleid en bijgestaan, maar kennelijk was dat voor klaagster niet voldoende."


--- English translation ---
"64. All complaints made by the plaintiff against the defendants are unjust and defendants deny explicitly to have performed any discipline-worthy actions against the plaintiff.
Defendants have carefully handled the interests of the plaintiff, but this was not seen by plaintiff now that she mostly wanted to be acknowledged as being intersex and defendants were unable to fulfill this wish. Based on examinations this was found to be absolutely not the case. Defendants in this case did not easily form their conclusion and medical personnel in other (Dutch) hospitals plaintiff asked, also came to the conclusion that the plaintiff has all of the characteristics of the male gender and no characteristics of the female gender (and that plaintiff wasn't intersex due to this). That Dr. Seibel and Dr. Pottek in Germany apparently came to another conclusion doesn't deny the careful approach of the defendants.

"65. Defendants regret that the plaintiff has chosen to file the current disciplinary complaint. They have treated and guided plaintiff to their best judgement and according to the professional standard, but apparently this wasn't sufficient for plaintiff."

---

I don't think that there's a whole lot more to add to this. They say that they were right, that I am biologically, genetically and in appearance a boy. That I supposedly had normally developed male genitalia, and a normal testosterone level for a male. As found out during the medical examinations in the Netherlands and Germany I never had functional testicles, and about 25% of the testosterone level of a male, a (closed off) vagina and a feminine skeleton.

This should hopefully mean that this will be an easy case, but my past experiences with the Dutch systems whether medical, political or otherwise have shown me that even the blindingly obvious sometimes isn't obvious enough. Whether through corruption or ignorance is left up for discussion. At any rate I'm very glad that I have pretty much the best lawyer for this area at my side. I wouldn't know what to do otherwise.

On February 12th the first closed hearing will take place in this case. After it the full investigation of this case should start, with hopefully a quick and positive conclusion. The public hearing(s) after this first closed one will hopefully be a popular destination for journalists, both foreign and national.


Maya