Update on Shane Morrison and the UW Team (I'm their 1st trans phallo patient)
So I've posted here before about a pretty horrific experience I had with UW and Morrison's team. There's been some progression on my journey and I just wanted to update ya'll on it. I won't go into what happened to me (see previous posts).
After two months of back and forth with Morrison and the director of the UW Gender affirming program I was finally told by an investigation and resolution specialist with UW that the program failed me and that they were going to do their best to make sure what happened to me never happens to anyone else. There's a few things that have come to light...
- The program completely dropped the ball on providing adequate training beforehand. Seattle Children's Hospital has a VERY organized program with everything in place including protocols, programming, and training. They did not provide that to Harborview hospital before my surgery took place. Although I still hold Dr. Morrison responsible for several things including his lack of transparency, I can't hold him totally liable for something he didn't even know to check. It wasn't his responsibility to make sure the program he works for had done their most basic job. He was thrown under the bus in that regard, and the director of the program also threw him under the bus in a separate phone conversation which shows me how unprofessional and disorganized things really are. I do know that Morrison is doing his best to make sure that never happens again.
- Dr. Morrison I believe is a good person who is HIGHLY skilled with his surgical practice. I mostly trust him on that level, and am excited to complete my last two stages with him. I think the main thing that he is lacking with my situation is accountability. It took him two months to sit down with me and discuss what went wrong. He did apologize, but still doesn't seem to understand exactly what he did wrong. He made several excuses, and alluded to the fact that having that particular convo before now would've meant taking time out of his personal life to tend to me. What I thought was going to be my consult for glansplasty turned into a patient/physician relationship conversation.. He has a bad habit of calling and talking to me about things unannounced which makes it hard for me to prepare for those convos. Hopefully he can grow from this experience, but the main area I find him lacking is the patient/physician relationship. What happens when something goes wrong? How do you as a physician to fix the problem as WELL as tend to your patients well being?
- One very large detail that is coming into play is that these surgeries are being done at a low income trauma hospital. The nursing staff and physician teams are still trying to wrap their heads around that when it comes to patient care (which is very unfortunate that you would receive different care between a low income trauma hospital and a private hospital but thats the reality we live in). Tending to someone that has severe injuries in the burns unit is NOT going to be the same as tending to a trans person that happens to be staying in the burns unit. Trans people need specific care, safety, and discretion when staying in a hospital for these procedures. We also need better care with follow up and making sure things aren't given minimal attention. There is a difference between care from a physical trauma perspective and care that we need to make our body parts look the best we can and feel a part of us. This means more follow up visits, attention to scar management, and a long term plan to help us along our journey.
- This leads me to my last thoughts. As I've been going to hand therapy (i believe I've had 3 so far) it's very clear they do not know what they're doing. Other programs around the country give you a timeline as well as follow up appointments with a hand therapist. I've had to struggle with getting these appointments and getting a clear path of what I should be doing. There is no clear program set up for that which is deeply important to people..especially with RFF phallo. As of now I was told I do not need more appointments although I STILL have an open wound on my forearm graft. I was also told there is no scar management (laser, etc) outside of just wearing my silicone sleeve after my wound heals. It's kind of like hoping for the best when it comes to the hand therapy department.
Okay, that's my two cents. I have a hysto and glans surgery combo on 4/10 with Dr. Morrison and another doctor. Morrison and me have agreed to move forward with the past aside, but the closure from what I went through will need some time on my end. I am excited to finish my stages with him though. Dr. Skokan will be in my scroto surgery, and then he is the only surgeon involved with the implant (not morrison). Dr. Skokan has proven to be absolutely amazing in my last consult a couple weeks ago. Very transparent, empathetic, caring, seems to genuinely understand gender stuff. I'm stoked about him as well.
And for those of you out there awaiting consult appointment dates, they are very backed up. I believe they're saying to expect a phone call between 12-24 months. It will more than likely happen sooner than that from what I've heard but prepare for a long wait time.. They also are doing a lot of work to get more organized at the moment and they definitely need that time before they start performing all the surgeries.
