Man claimed £18,500 disability benefits after willingly having healthy leg amputated

submitted by jet199 from theguardian.com

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[–]package 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Before chopping off an organ the possibility exists that a patient may come to accept the body they were born with and go on to live a normal life. Even if they don't, the blame for their unhappiness lies squarely on forces outside of their control. No harm has been done.

After chopping off an organ, however, a patient is now locked out of the possibility of accepting how they were born. They now must come to terms with the fact that they have done irreversible damage to themselves and that they themselves are to blame for their unhappiness.

I'm no psycologist but the latter outcome sounds far more unhealthy IMO, and that's not even considering the serious lifelong health implications of these sorts of surgeries.

[–]Hematomato 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I think it's strictly case-by-case. Of course the ideal outcome is that a patient gets over their dysmorphia and accepts their body.

And sometimes that can happen. Sometimes therapy can help it happen. But sometimes the ideal is just off the table. Sometimes we simply don't have any method or any tech that will make it happen.

And it's a doctor's job to know the difference. Not a politician's, not an Internet armchair philosopher's, a doctor's.