Litigation Degree: Second
Case No: 21/1988
Issuing Court: Court of Appeals 
Judgment: Acquittal of Doctors 
Subject: Criminal Liability of Doctors Providing Gender-affirming Healthcare
Judgment Date: 07/12/1988

Summary:

The Egyptian Public Prosecutor’s Office revoked the licenses of two doctors who had conducted the sex change surgery for transgender patient Sally and decided that they are to be subjected to a disciplinary board. However, the two doctors appealed against the decision of the Department of Public Prosecutions. In their favor, the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office was nullified, and their licenses were reinstated. The Medical Syndicate also banned sex changes once and for all.

Facts:

Both surgeon Ezzat Asham-Allah and the anesthetic doctor’s medical licenses were revoked for having performed a sex change surgery for Sally and charged by the Public Prosecutor’s Office with deforming a citizen and causing her permanent disability. However, the prosecutor’s office excluded criminal suspicion from the surgery and the investigation was closed after the two doctors appealed the decision.

Judgment:

The Court of Appeals overturned the Court of Appeals’ decision to discipline and acquit the doctors, which was attributed to them as charges, under No. 3 and 4/1988 of 7/12/1989. The Medical Syndicate subsequently prohibited doctors from performing sex changes once and for all and permitted sex corrections under certain conditions: the approval of the competent committee of the union and the conduct of the procedure only after conducting hormonal and chromosomal analyses, which are accompanied by psychiatric and hormonal treatment for at least two years, in accordance with article 43 of the Regulation on the Ethics of the Egyptian Medical Profession.