erm, my area is bioethics/biomedical ethics..sounds philosophical huh?yes, it is..(i was trying so hard not to involve myself in lab's things anymore, and therefore, i change my research's area..but, sometimes, i really miss those chemicals and lab's environment..but, xpelah..later, i will come back to d lab and read pure biomedical again..huhu..forget about that..for now, i'm going to conduct a research on Intersexed individuals..dont get me wrong ya, it won't involve those transvestite, (so called maknyah or whatsoever). intersexed in malay is known as"khunsa" (this is arabic word). intersex individuals are those that are born with biological features simultaneously typically male or female. For instance they might have one ovary and one testes and one testes or gonads that contain features of both ovarian and testicular tissue, they can have chromosomes of XXY, XO and other configurations (source:
Diamond M. and Sigmundson H.K (1997). Sex Reassignment at Birth: Long-Term Review and Clinical Implications, Archieves of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 15:298-304)
this is my abstract (my master dissertation):
As a standard operation procedure, sex assignment surgery is a well-known surgical procedure adopted by physicians in cases concerning children who are born with an ambiguous appearance of genitalia. It generates a string of issues which cause a great debate in the medical field as to how decision-making process is made before such surgery is conducted. This project will review the approach of managing gender disorder that has evolved since 1950s and critically examine how such ethical decision can be made. In fact, it has been a standard pediatric practice to recommend a surgery for infants with ambiguous genitalia. Of importance is the aspect of psychological development, quality of life and Islamic viewpoints in such surgery. The research methodology is a qualitative analysis to address the complexities behind the problems. Two issues are identified as central to current shifts that are occurring in sex assignment surgery: (a) questions regarding the status of irreversible cosmetic genital surgeries (sex assignment surgery) in terms of timing, ethical and legal consequences, effectiveness of the surgery, and who should decide what is the “correct” sex assignment, and who evaluates whether the assignment is appropriate and (b) ethical issues pertaining to the role of informed consent doctrine, particularly with respect to parental decision making responsibilities for surgical gender assignment in infancy. The findings of the study show that the decision making of sex assignment surgery must be constructed by weighing the risks, benefits, burdens, and effectiveness of the treatment. In addition thereto, the implementation of ethical principles and religious doctrine must be considered in the ethical decision making.
