Manitoba Health ordered to cover cost of facial feminization surgery for trans woman: Appeal Board
CTV
The province will be covering the cost of a facial feminization surgery for a transgender woman, after the Manitoba Health Appeal Board unanimously decided the surgery is key for her to tackle gender dysphoria.
The province will be covering the cost of a facial feminization surgery for a transgender woman, after the Manitoba Health Appeal Board unanimously decided the surgery is key for her to tackle gender dysphoria.
The decision from the Manitoba Health Appeal Board was delivered in August 2021.
Public Interest Law Centre Staff Attorney Allison Fenske, who represented the woman in the case, said this is the first time Manitoba Health and Seniors Care will be required to cover a facial feminization surgery.
"This has been a really long road for her. She has been working towards this moment for about five years now," Fenske told CTV News.
"This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and determination on her part, and a really, really important step forward for the trans community here."
The unnamed woman in the case has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria – a condition where a person's expressed or experienced gender does not match their gender at birth, the decision said.
The decision said the woman testified to the board that she can only see a man's face when she looks in the mirror, though inside she feels fully female.
