‘Half man, half woman’ transsexual wins legal aid to sue over boob op

A TRANSSEXUAL who was left “half man, half woman” sparked fury yesterday after being awarded thousands of pounds in taxpayers’ cash to fight for breast implants.

Miranda Lee has already had 60 000 surgery on NHS Miranda Lee has already had £60,000 surgery on NHS

Miranda Lee, 40, was granted legal aid to sue health chiefs after being “left in limbo” during the gender realignment process.

She has already had £60,000 of surgery last year – all funded by the taxpayer – but was refused the additional £8,000 breast implants to complete her “transformation”.

The South East Essex Primary Care Trust says it has no cash available for the operation, which is not a healthcare priority.

But Miranda, formerly Raymond Harwood, said: “They should do top and bottom not just half.

“It will cost the NHS more money if they don’t settle out of court.

“I just want my operation. If they give me that they will avoid court, but if they don’t I will fight all the way to the High Court and demand compensation for all the grief.

“They were aware of the high number of suicides among people who haven’t had their gender operations completed, but they still turned me down. I am not going to stop until I have my op.”

But critics rounded on the ­decision to grant legal aid.

A spokesman for the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “This is not a ­question of discrimination, it’s a simple fact that the NHS has to carefully prioritise its spending.

“With people being turned down for life-saving treatments because of a lack of funds, it is understandable why the trust chose not to fund a boob job. Suing the NHS simply harms other patients and punishes taxpayers for something which is not their fault.”

Miss Lee, unemployed, from Southend in Essex, claims the stress of the situation has left her having to take anti-depressants.

She has lived as a woman for two years and underwent the £60,000 surgery at Charing Cross Hospital, London, last July.

It was paid for from a shared ­primary care trust budget set aside for specialist commissions.

Miss Lee, who has previously been married, said she is using hormone treatment to try to boost the size of her bust.

But she would still like South East Essex ­Primary Care Trust to pay for the further enhancement.She said: “I was born with a female brain and have suffered abuse throughout my life.

“In my determination to become a woman I’ve lost almost everything.

“My brother and sister don’t want to know me, employers don’t want to know, and now the health trust has left me half-man and half-woman.”

South East Essex Primary Care Trust spokeswoman Claire Routh said: “Our policy states that all applications for breast augmentation will only be performed for reconstructive purposes following malignancy, and will not be carried out for small but normal breasts or for breast tissue involution.”

She added the Trust had to target limited resources on ­health care needs deemed to be a priority.

Comments Unavailable

Sorry, we are unable to accept comments about this article at the moment. However, you will find some great articles which you can comment on right now in our Comment section.

Would you like to receive news notifications from Daily Express?