The next morning, she called the emergency number she had been given and sent an email to Dr. Rumers office. Malpractice suits remain an expensive last resort, and can be difficult to litigate: the law and medicine havent yet found consensus on what constitutes malpractice in trans-affirming surgeries. Sinai. I'm not a doctor by any means. I have literally emailed and called Dr. Rumer's office over 100 times. I am completely unable to have sex, and it's driving me fucking crazy. Once she woke up from the anesthesia, she was told that the procedure had taken twice as long as normal because her genitalia had been difficult to dissect. Do not worry, direct action takes on many forms. According to a complaint submitted to the Pennsylvania State Medical Board and shared with Jezebel, Dr. Rumer allegedly claimed a 1 percent complication rate for fistula and stricture following urethral lengthening, one of the procedures commonly performed as part of phalloplasty, the surgery which creates a functional penis for transmasculine trans people. Returning home from the movie back in Louisiana, Carlie took a closer look at her new vulva. Rumer Willis Welcomes First Baby With Boyfriend Derek . The organization serves as an active gatekeeper, laying out strict guidelines for which patients are allowed access to transition-related surgical procedures, but it does not expressly oversee the practices that perform them. Jezebel spoke with several other patients of Dr. Dugi, who together ended up filing an official complaint with the hospital. Rose says theyre still angry about their surgery six years later, and theyre concerned about Dr. Rumer operating on trans people. According to her website, she is one of the few female board-certified plastic surgeons in the Philadelphia tri-state area, a fellow of the American College of Osteopathic Surgeons, and a site director for the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine (PCOM) Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Fellowship. Legal threats havent only been directed towards anonymous trolls and reporters: Dr. Bowers shared a 2018 email written by Dr. Rumer alleging written defamation and threatening a libel lawsuit after the surgeon commented on Dr. Rumer in a consultation with one of Rumers former patients. (855) R U A LOOKER. Blasdel notes that while several medical facilities have recently begun calling themselves transgender centers of excellence, there are no current criteria the surgeon or facility must meet in order to earn that designation. But running a training can be prohibitively expensive for an organization like WPATH, and attending the training remains optional and unpaid for surgeons who actually want to do the work. My dilators have 5 dots on them to measure depth. Her office is still open for business and she still performing surgeries for profit. Scan this QR code to download the app now. Spread the word. They graduated from PHILADELPHIA COLLEGE OF OSTEOPATHIC MEDICINE and is affiliated with Lankenau Medical Center, Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Delaware County Memorial Hospital. As a surgeon I can tell you every surgeon has bad outcomes, Dr. Ting tells Jezebel. And speaking out after a traumatic experience, in a moment when so few are able to access care, can either be weaponized by anti-trans activists or interpreted by advocates as a step back. He was expected to testify that even after three surgical revisions, Dr. Rumers work left the plaintiff unable to achieve orgasm or sexual satisfaction without pain, among other significant issues including an oversized clitoris without clitoral hood and hair that hadnt been properly removed. A revision procedure with a different surgeon was unsuccessful in repairing Dr. Rumers initial work, even causing additional issues, and Simpson was left without a clitoris. A 2018 study by researchers at Harvard University and Johns Hopkins indicated that the number of trans-affirming surgeries showed significant growth between 2000 and 2014, with an increasing number of them paid for through private insurance or Medicaid. Write to: The Honorable Jamie Raskin, Chairman, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties 2242 Rayburn HOB, Washington, D.C 20515. According to several studies, the industry average for those complications range between 10 percent and 64 percent. With no central database for reviews or information of trans-related surgical providers, trans people often depend on word of mouth between friends, social media, or trans-related message boards for feedback. This story has been updated to more accurately reflect the outcome of Hannah Simpsons surgery. Though she says her visual and sensorial results were good, Danielles experience in the hospital left much to be desired. It seems likely Dr. Rumer would say, as she writes on her website and argued in court, that these complications are the result of poor adherence to her offices postoperative directions, or are part of the reasonable risk of any surgery of this kind. https://jezebel.com/when-surgeons-fail-their-trans-patients-1844774990?rev=1597854733082. Dr. Kathy Rumer has 2 locations. According to the report, surgeons offering gender-affirming surgeries should undergo extensive training, including seminar, office, practical, and aftercare sessions, as well as ongoing continuing education. (855) 782-5665. I don't have a fucking vagina. The Newsletter Bringing the Legal System to Light. 24 Sep 2022 18:58:25 PHILADELPHIA A patient is suing Dr. Kathy Rumer and Delaware Valley Aesthetics PLLC, which does business as Rumer Cosmetic Surgery, citing alleged medical negligence. Also feel free to ask Rumers staff why she fraternizes with registered Republicans to silence her own patients. TALK TO A REALSELF ADVISOR. So who is responsible for allowing a monster like Rumer to continue? Infections occur, tissue necrosis, dehiscences, those things occur with any surgery, he says. Like. ), filed by NICOLE COLEY. And pursuing formal action against the surgeon isnt going to do anything to make up for what happened., I should have done more, she says, but I just had to move on with my life.. But when Jezebel reached out to Dr. Rumer with a detailed list of questions and patient allegations, we heard back from a lawyer instead. In fact, that was the only time Kathy ever emailed me. This was my first Reddit post from what was really intended to be an anonymous account. (610) 557-0493 during business hours, or just leave a message on their google reviews. A week after the conversation with Dr. Rumer, Carlie says she visited a local gynecologist, who was alarmed and brought Carlie to Oschner Baptist Hospital in New Orleans for emergency surgery. In 2018, Dr. Rumer appeared in an NBC documentary about the transformation of a college student. : Rumer has resorted to taking out of state medicaid as a result of her dwindling reputation in PA. Rumer Cosmetic Surgery. She told me that it's very rare for someone to develop granulation tissue like this a year after bottom surgery. Even beyond trans rights, denying a patients right to free speech is reprehensible. Intersex people who have related surgical interests may post. This years Trans Health Conference in Philly should also be a priority. This is not going to be easy for me to write, and it's really personal and gross. Cookie Notice Dr. Rumer is an experienced surgeon: she has operated her own practice since 2007 and since 2016 has focused exclusively on trans patients, performing as many as 400 gender-affirming surgeries a year, including facial feminization surgery, breast augmentation, and GRS. While any surgery, especially one performed on the bodys most sensitive bits, carries risk theres nothing inherently dangerous about GRS for trans women. I had to have my health insurance company call her office. If you have an article you like, or a worry to talk about, or you just want to vent a bit about trans life, then we're here! There is a larger concern that is poised to swell as demand for GRS grows: that without a specific reporting mechanism for patients who feel wronged or an institutional body tasked with regulating the specifics of trans-affirmative care, patients who seek these surgeries are locked in a devils bargain, unable to be assured of the quality of care when they sign on and unclear how to move forward when theyre unhappy with the results. Part of Carlies vagina had been affected by necrotizing fasciitis, an infection thats a risk in any surgery. But Danielle says this whole thing just sabotaged a whole year of work within the Portland trans community, adding that while things didnt turn out ideally, she doesnt regret her surgery. Can't keep records straight. Patients of Rumer often have to undergo stressful and costly revision surgeries with other doctors. Kathy Hochul has called it quits after being blamed for driving her political . According to Carlie and her mother, Dr. Rumer snapped at them in a phone call with Carlies mother: I remember hearing it clear as day, says Carlie, who could overhear the conversation. Visually, if I knew I was going to be butchered to have a botched up look, I should have went to a general plastic surgeon instead of totally wasting my money for a "cosmetic" procedure when what she gave was anything but. The timing, content, and nature of your emails suggest you are likely working with this individual (either knowingly or unknowingly) in carrying out this defamatory campaign, wrote Dr. Rumers attorney in an email on January 31. I hope you can appreciate that from our perspective, these facts understandably lead to questions about the integrity of your inquiry and article. (By the time I reached out to Rumer for comment, we had been working on versions of this story intermittently for over a year, and the we was clearly meant to refer to the reporter and Jezebel together, as is common practice.). Here is Mazzonis number, call them up and ask them why they wont denounce Rumer and continue to refer patients to her further endangering the community they claim to provide safe gender affirming care to. What is wrong with this staff?! A subreddit devoted to transgender issues pertaining to male-to-female or AMAB people. Adam Sullivan, 42, runs a small and little-known political . Dr. Rumers attorney, Lance Rogers, wrote in a status report on July 31 that his office had additionally subpoenaed Google, CloudFlarean internet service providerand an unnamed domain registration site to gain access to the identity of the anonymous blogger, as well as retain the services of an expert in advanced investigative computer techniques. The case remains pending. It's been too long. At that time, I also told her that I was bleeding almost every time I dilate for a month. Audrina Minto, also known as Arturo Minto, filed a complaint July 2 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 1. Carlie chose a surgeon, Dr. Kathy Rumer, who was based in the Philadelphia area and specialized in gender-affirming procedures. If you think you can do better, why dont you just give her a vagina?. I couldn't have just pulled "twilight sedation" out of my ass. (THANK YOU!) The subpoena demanded I turn over all notes, emails, documents and research referencing Dr. Rumer or her practice. Regardless, restricting access to these procedures is not the answer when there are reforms that could be made to the existing system in order to improve it. In or around 2019, Dr. Rumer discovered a website known as "Kathy Rumer's Anonymous", a . Her follow-up appointment, a week after the surgery, was administered by a nurse. Our surgeons strive for perfection, but occasionally there are complications, he says. In addition to performing hundreds of gender-affirming procedures each year, Dr. Rumer also directs a 1-year . According to Brittanica, the Oak Park, Illinois native began her . Kathy Rumer can no longer call herself an "ally" of our community when she is working with right wing lawyers to silence and intimidate her own patients. The letter, which contained the corroborated accounts of several conference attendees, called into question the accuracy of Dr. Rumers miraculous claim. Do not post otherwise. Creepy. According to one source with knowledge of the groups discussions with the hospital, the group felt that the hospitals complication rates were much higher than other hospitals offering similar procedures. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. She holds degrees in mathematics, engineering and . It was mortifying, she says, noting that she never gave Heyer permission to publish her complaint. Then watch an all-new episode this Sunday, June 29 at 10/9c! This is a great one to share. But the people who are not satisfied with their surgeries, at the hands of Dr. Rumer or others, have found it difficult to have their complaints meaningfully addressed. Top and Bottom and no butchering. These patients experiences and their difficulty finding recourse arent about one doctor. Google Chad Kenney. Last time I saw her, she said she wanted to take some of my belly fat for a skin graft in my vagina, and it would take another year to heal. In April, Dr. Rumers counsel attempted to subpoena me in an unrelated libel case, demanding I hand over all notes, emails, documents and research related to this story. Generally, it results in a loss of tissue in the infected area. Marci however just so happens to have the power to drop Rumer from WPATH. Rule 5: This sub is by and for trans people. I'm trying to set up an appointment to see Dr. Jess Ting. So what can actually be done while our healthcare and legal system continuously fails to protect us from medical grifters like Dr. Rumer? I note that while you are a self-described freelance journalist, you utilize the pronoun the plural pronoun we (e.g. In 2018, Dr. Rumer was featured in an NBC documentary about a college students transition. Despite this, Rumer continues to dodge accountability for her actions, not only have a decades worth of complaints to medical boards, hospitals, and insurance companies fallen upon deaf ears, Dr. Rumer has had a total of four medical malpractice lawsuits against her, all of them resulting in a settlement. We need to stand up for her victims who are too traumatized and afraid to speak out against her. Dont feel comfortable putting public pressure on Rumer and her enablers and still want to help? and our By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. While most two-week-old post-op vulvas wont be pretty to look at, Carlie was alarmed when she found a large, thumb-sized piece of dead skin kind of floating out of it, she says. She told me I needed surgery under "twilight sedation" to fix much deeper granulation tissue. A team of doctors, none of whom had experience with a post-op vulva or vaginapost-op genitalia are slightly different from their cisgender counterpartsoperated on Carlie. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. (650) 570-2270. It's completely pointless. Dr. Rumer is a leading aesthetic & reconstructive plastic surgeon who specializes in Gender Reassignment Surgery. I'm basically winging it and referring back to old notes as I type it, but I'm not exactly the most mentally sound at the moment. Crozer Chester Medical Center 1 Medical Center Blvd Chester, PA 19013. Kathy Rumer did not reach this point of zero accountability without help. Kathy Rumer is an experienced plastic surgeon and surgical specialist who operates out of Ardmore, Pennsylvania. In late 2018, Heyer published the contents of the complaint he received in The Federalist, accusing the hospital of exploiting Medicaid patients to give Dr. Dugi early experience performing the procedure so he could move on to more lucrative patients. The letter did say the office had reminded Dr. Rumer about the duties and requirements under state law and her local medical board. On the trans-focused message board Susans Place, one of the only centralized repositories of reviews for surgeons, warnings against libel abound, particularly in the Facial Feminization Surgery sub-forum. Sinai, to the stand. If you have any questions, or would like to setup a phone, Skype or in-person consultation with Dr. Rumer, please send us a message using the form below. In 1979, Johns Hopkins stopped offering GRS for political reasons despite being one of the leading-edge American hospitals to develop the practice. This means no city is safe from her reach. While Danielles complaints centered on her experience with post-op care within the hospital, others found themselves struggling to deal with serious complications, including fistulas and incontinence after surgery. and our As coverage for these procedures increases, likely so will demand for qualified surgeons to perform them, the researchers concluded. You all don't know how many times I've had to call my insurance company and then start a 3-way conference call with Dr. Rumer's office. Despite all of this Marci has remained mostly silent. She spent two days in the intensive care unit and five days total at the hospital. They went to Dr. Rumer for bottom surgery in 2014 because the surgeon had the shortest wait time of all of the options presented by their parents insurance plan. Most of her patients including the defendants in an ongoing case are low income an In finding a doctor to perform a surgery prospective patients like Carlie are largely on their own. Currently, I barely have a fucking vagina. Our goal, of course, is to train more people so that at least in major areas people dont have to travel So theres also that lag time between getting people trained appropriately and getting institution centers [and] hospitals up and running., Cutting down on that lag time to meet the growing demand for gender-affirming surgeries can often mean cutting valuable training corners for hospitals and surgeons. Conservative scaremongering against transition-related surgeries have directly led to eight states introducing bills which would criminalize doctors who provide transition care to minors. Specifically, the hospital started a community advisory board comprising of local trans and gender non-conforming people who consult with staff and leaders from OHSUs Transgender Health Program, patient relations department, and other relevant parties. When she posted about her experience with Dr. Rumer on message boards in an attempt to warn other potential patients, Carlies words were reprinted on anti-trans forums. After learning of its existence, Carlie joked that shes a graphic designer by trade and if she had made the site it wouldnt look so shit.. I wasnt going to get any restitution on my bit, she says. This is really hard for me to talk about. Each of the plaintiffs described strictures and damages to their urethras, vaginal cavities, and labias along with bulges or misshapen clitoral hoods, issues characterized as permanent injury such that the plaintiffs would never have sexual function again.. Tell her staff how you feel. It's a baby-sized vagina/wound. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. This level of cruelty against a marginalized community is unbefitting of someone who performatively pretends to advocate for us. I need a new surgeon. 27 Mar 2023 05:58:12 Dr. Rumer told me originally that I needed surgery under twilight sedation, then she said she didn't say that, and then she later told me I needed major surgery under general anesthesia at Hahnnemen University Hospital (which I think actually closed now!). PS: To Kathy Rumer: Consider this your eviction notice. Dr. Kathy Rumer is a leading aesthetic and reconstructive plastic surgeon in the Philadelphia area who specializes in gender reassignment surgery. Recent attempts to quantify the learning curve for vaginoplasty have indicated that 40 procedures need to be performed to truly learn the technique. I've explained to them every moment my symptoms have gotten worse and worse. TRIGGER WARNINGS: BOTCHED MEDICAL PROBLEMS. Mazzoni organizes this conference every summer. Her team has prescribed medications which could have possibly killed their patient. Dr. Rumer has even blatantly admitted in court to her false advertising without consequence. Rumer and her allies rely upon silence and fear. Its who decides how the operating theater in the hospital is going to be used, what kind of surgeries they are going to do., They make those decisions and we have to just live with it, he said, and work around these things., None of that matters to Carlie, who has scuttled plans for other transition-related surgeries, like facial feminization, thanks to her experience with Dr. Rumer. I had no idea about this until a friend told me. Download PDF. People dont want to talk about complications in their marketing presentations.. Dr. Kathy L. Rumer is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon in the Philadelphia tri-state area who has deep experience with gender reassignment surgery and a practice that is geared exclusively toward transgender patients. Their entire staff was also emailed a dossier of Rumers non surface level atrocities and they remained completely quiet, theyre silence is violence. We got you, make a .txt file and copy and paste these. That seems like her go-to word for every check-up: "beautiful." In July 2018, I had minor surgery right in her office to remove some granulation tissue. I CAN NOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH. On March 11, the surgeons attorney attempted to subpoena me based on an unfounded assumption that I was coordinating with this John or Jane Doe. : Wed love for the hashtag #DropRumer to trend. Kathy Rumer is no ally of the trans community in a time when republicans are actively rolling back abortion and LGBTQ rights. Kathy Rumer is a top tier butcher i've heard horror stories of vaginas falling out of bodies and exploding due to her butchery . Call her office up, ask them why she is allowing an absolute despot like Rumer to continue to have the endorsement of WPATH. Now I can only get half-way to the first dot on my smallest purple dilator. Oct 2020 - 1-year update: Kathy (or someone from her staff) found this post and emailed me to complain about it only 20 days after it was posted (and after around 2 years of complications at that point). Each of those disciplines have separate boards responsible for certification. Dr. Dugi notes that staff concerns about the quality and outcome of care are elevated to a peer review process, which can be escalated further to an institutional peer review committee.