Re: GEN: Man Raised As a Girl Commits Suicide
From: Anna Meenan, MD (annam@uic.edu)
Thu May 13 16:21:03 2004
I may be missing something here, but where does a guy who is living on
handouts and leftovers get $47,500 to blow on a golf shop investment?
Just wondering.
--
Anna Meenan, MD
At Thu, 13 May 2004, art fougner, md wrote:
>
>A cautionary tale.
>
>Man Raised As a Girl Commits Suicide
>
>Wed May 12, 1:27 PM ET
>
>TORONTO - David Reimer, a Canadian who was born as a boy but raised as a
>girl after a botched circumcision, has committed suicide after failed
>investments drove him into poverty. He was 38.
>
>Reimer died in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 4, according to Canadian media
>reports. The family has not released the cause of death.
>
>Friends said an anguished Reimer had told them he had lost at least
>$47,500 last year in a shady pro golf shop investment.
>
>Reimer gained fame in the mid-1990s when he went public with his ordeal.
>It was published in the book "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised
>a Girl" by John Colapinto.
>
>The boy's experiences prompted medical experts in recent years to
>rethink once accepted wisdom on treating sexual identity cases.
>
>When he was eight months old in 1965, a routine circumcision at a
>Winnipeg hospital went horribly wrong when a general practitioner filled
>in for the regular surgeon and seared the boy's penis with an electric
>cauterizing machine.
>
>His penis was so badly burnt that it eventually fell off. His parents
>sought advice from Dr. John Money, a sex researcher at Johns Hopkins
>University Hospital in Baltimore, Md.
>
>Attempting to prove that gender depends on how a child is raised rather
>than genetics, Money advocated removing the rest of the male genitalia
>and prescribing female hormones.
>
>Brenda, as he was known, was 15 when he found out about the mishap and
>rejected further treatment as a girl. He underwent surgery to remove
>his breasts and to construct a penis from muscle tissue and cartilage.
>
>Changing his name to David, he eventually married and led a quiet life
>working at low-paying jobs in Winnipeg.
>
>Colapinto's book brought in money but acquaintances said Reimer was
>always struggling to make ends meet. Members of the Transcona Golf Club
>where he had worked once collected several hundred dollars so he could
>feed his family and staff gave him leftovers from the club restaurant.
>
>The final misfortune was losing his savings last year in the golf shop
>deal, friends said.
>
>The Manitoba Securities Commission warned potential investors last
>November that "your money may be at risk" if it was placed with shop
>owner Gary Perch.
>
>Reimer is survived by his wife, Jane, and two adopted children.
>
>--
>art fougner, md
>ich bin ein New Yorker
>
