Harvard Medical School students are allowed to participate in transgender procedures in a course available in the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024, The College Fix reported.
The four-week elective course is called “Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery.” The course description states that the “heavy-case load” [sic] at BIDMC (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) gives students the “opportunity to participate in procedures that span the entire specialty including hand surgery, breast reconstruction, microsurgery, craniofacial surgery, lymphatic surgery, orthoplastic surgery, gender affirming surgery, and cosmetic surgery.” [emphasis added]
“The transgender content doesn’t appear in any sections starting before Aug. 28 in the fall catalog. The sections that include this instruction are taught at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard-affiliated facility in Boston. The College Fix could not access catalogs from previous academic years,” the report states.
In a statement to the outlet, Harvard’s press team said the school “teaches students the fundamental principles of plastic and reconstructive surgery for a variety of conditions” as “part of its mission to educate and train future physicians.”
The training includes “injuries sustained as a result of head and neck trauma, limb injuries, and cranio-facial and blood vessel abnormalities, among many others,” the school’s press team said.
Students walk through Harvard Yard, April 27, 2022, on the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. (Charles Krupa, File/AP)
“This training also includes teaching the basics of gender-affirming surgery for consenting adult patients seeking such procedures,” they continued. “This education is an essential part of the fundamental knowledge and expertise needed to deliver optimal care for patients who undergo various surgical procedures, including gender-affirming surgery for consenting adults who seek such care.”
The coursework is “in alignment” with “gender-affirming care” guidelines promulgated by pro-transgender organizations like the American Medical Association and the Endocrine Society, according to the report.
The outlet reportedly followed up with the school and asked when transgender surgeries were added to the course, but did not receive a response by time of publication. They also allegedly did not receive a response from BIDMC about what specific transgender procedures are being taught.
BIDMC does have an informational sheet listing its surgical “gender-affirming services.” Some of the procedures include hysterectomy, mastectomy, and phalloplasty.
“Male patients at Beth Israel may receive ‘penile inversion’ surgery for the creation of a fake vagina, ‘facial feminization,’ and an orchiectomy, or the removal of testicles,” the report states.
