One woman from the Ontario area who has chosen to identify as transgender and has undergone hormone therapy, a bilateral mastectomy, and a hysterectomy has since officially filed what is the first legal suit in Canada targeting her healthcare providers for allowing such a transition to take place.
As a 34-year-old woman from Orillia, Ontario, Michelle Zacchigna recently announced the lawsuit that she filed which is targeting the eight doctors and mental health professionals that were responsible for her treatment over the past few years, alleging that they failed to deal with her specific mental health needs and instead let her self-diagnose as a transgender individual and take part in irreversible procedures that she now regrets.
“I’ve been holding this card close to my chest for a while, and I’m ready to show it,” stated Zacchinga this past Tuesday. “In November 2022, I commenced legal action against the Canadian health care providers that facilitated my medical transition in Ontario.”
Zacchigna’s story started back in 2009 when she first turned 21, after dealing with multiple years of depression, anxiety, self-harm, and even an attempt at suicide, prior to her discovering the idea of “gender identity” on the web. She ended up being convinced that every single one of her issues was stemming from just being transgender, a belief that was not challenged a single time by any of her healthcare providers.
In the spring of 2010, Zacchigna attended a support group in Toronto labeled “Gender Journeys,” where she met with a doctor who gave her a reference to seek out male hormone therapy after exactly one hour-long appointment. The regular therapist for Zacchigna also chose to recommend hormone therapy, despite being well aware of her longstanding history of severe issues with her mental health. After a total of three appointments with another doctor, Zacchigna was medically proscribed testosterone.
In 2012, a surgeon out of Florida agreed to remove Zacchigna’s breasts in the wake of getting a letter from her doctors in which it was recommended that Zacchigna undergo a bilateral mastectomy. In 2017, Zacchigna went under the knife for a hysterectomy after being referred by a different doctor. By 2019, Zacchigna made the choice to detransition after discovering that her mental health diagnoses and developmental disabilities explained the issues she was dealing with “much more succinctly than identifying as transgender ever had.” Now, however, she deeply regrets the large number of entirely irreversible procedures that her medical team let her go through with.
“I will live the rest of my life without breasts, with a deepened voice and male-pattern balding, and without the ability to get pregnant. Removing my completely healthy uterus is my greatest regret,” stated Zacchigna as part of a blog post on the Lighthouse Forum.
Zacchigna’s lawsuit made the claim that the healthcare providers who carried out her treatment overtly failed to deal with her serious mental health issues and developmental disabilities and instead chose to make her undergo numerous irreversible medical interventions.
“The Defendants permitted Michelle to self-diagnose as transgender and prescribe her own treatment without providing a differential diagnosis or proposing alternative treatments,” expressed the Statement of Claim which was filed within the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
“Through this action I am not only seeking justice for myself but also hoping to raise awareness about the reckless nature of ‘gender-affirming’ health care,” exclaimed Zacchigna.
