I recently wrote a letter to Dr. New asking her to help stop the practice of clitoral surgery on patients without their informed consent.

She wrote me back and I would like to share these words from her letter.

"Things have changed considerably since your birth - not only in the way surgery is performed. Clitorectomy is now never done. New ways to save the clitoral innervation have been developed, but it is not yet determined if this effective in preserving clitoral sensation"

She closed by asking if I would agree to meet her for lunch for an "open and honest discussion."

I called her and we set up a lunch date on February 13.

I decided to make up a list of things I wanted to be sure to ask her. Some of it pertains to my own treatment but I also had some questions I wanted to ask her concerning surgery and the issue of informed consent. Here they are:

What is on the consent form that parents sign?

Is there a standard form?

Does the form mention the fact that there are no long, term large scale follow up studies and that it has not been determined whether this (planned procedure) is effective in preserving clitoral enervation?

What other kinds of cosmetic surgery that carry an unknown risk of nerve damage are performed on patients without their consent?

If anyone has any questions of a similar nature for her let me know by posting or email.

Joan