Each day decisions are made in medical settings that bring harm to the patient on the receiving end. While in many of those situations, occurring in Pennsylvania and beyond, the harm is minor, in the worst cases it can seriously impact the life and happiness of the patient involved. This appears to be the case in a medical malpractice lawsuit recently filed on behalf of a child.

The child was born with the reproductive organs of both males and females. By the time the child was 16 months old, the parents were out of the child's life and the child was made a ward of state. At that point, for some reason individuals at the Department of Social Services in the state the child resided, decided that the male genitals should be removed, which they were. The child, now with the genitals of a female only, was eventually adopted.

Now 8-years-old, despite having only female organs, the child now identifies and lives as a boy. The boy's adoptive mother said that he wants to "be a normal boy." As a result of the decision made by several individuals when he was a baby, what otherwise could have been a possibility, is now impossible.

The boy's parents filed the lawsuit against individuals working at the Department of social Services, along with three doctors involved in the matter. In it, they assert that the gender reassignment surgery was a violation of the 14th Amendment. It allegedly deprived their child of "life, liberty, or property without due process of law." They are hoping that no other children have to go through what their child is.

An undetermined amount of compensatory damages is being sought.

Source: CNN, "Parents sue South Carolina for surgically making child female," Holly Yan and Joe Sutton, May 15, 2013