Zabala Clinic accused of harassing a trans patient
A sex reassignment surgery turned into a nightmare of abuse.
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By Rosario Marina
Paula Gisel Ayelén Accorinti had dreamed of gender reassignment surgery for years. But her reality was much more like a nightmare. On Monday, February 18, she underwent surgery at the Zabala Clinic in Buenos Aires, and two days later, still hospitalized, she recorded a video that she posted on her social media. Weeping, she recounted the degrading treatment she was being subjected to.
“I want them to get me out of here, because if I die, I want to die in my own home. I can’t take it anymore. They are degrading me, they are mistreating me,” Paula says in the video she filmed out of fear.
Agencia Presentes contacted Clínica Zabala, but authorities declined to comment. Paula's lawyer, Marcelina Lidia Monzón, filed a complaint against the clinic for harassment with the Public Prosecutor's Office.
On Monday the 18th, she had her surgery scheduled for 1 p.m. She arrived an hour and a half early, with two friends. When she started filling out the form, the staff began addressing her with male pronouns, even though she had already changed her ID. Her blood pressure spiked, and the clinic asked if she wanted to cancel the surgery. She refused.
"Sir" treatment and security personnel
The six hours of surgery passed. And that night she began to have a fever. The next day, when the nurses appeared, they treated her in a neutral way or as a man. The doctor from the OSDE health insurance company did the same, Paula told Agencia Presentes.
“On Wednesday afternoon, a nurse came to change my IV. Before he sent his friends out, he treated me like royalty. But when I was alone with him, he treated me like a man. I burst into tears; I couldn't believe it,” Paula said.
On Thursday, every nurse who came in addressed her as "sir." That was the day she recorded the video for social media and called 911. According to her, the police arrived, calmed her down, and spoke with the clinic staff.
On Friday afternoon, the doctor from OSDE told her she was fine and could go home. They gave her an hour to leave. When she went downstairs, she encountered a security guard who pointed at her and told her she had to open her backpack.
“The guy treated me like a man and made me open my backpack. I told him, ‘I’m a woman, you can’t touch me.’ A woman came and made me open my backpack. I had to kneel down and show everything. It was degrading treatment in front of everyone. They didn’t even help me out in a wheelchair,” Paula explained.
A girl who was with her filmed a video of the moment they made her open her backpack and Paula, kneeling on the floor, took out all her belongings.
When she got home, she started doing dilation exercises and became unwell. Her friends called an ambulance, but the Zabala clinic, Paula says, refused to admit her. After a half-hour wait, she was transferred to the Los Arcos Clinic, where she remains hospitalized.
“I wasn’t treated with dignity, neither before nor after the operation. This emotionally devastates you. I’m incredibly depressed. I thought it was something that was over: having your identity, they should already be recognizing you. The gender identity law has been in place since 2012. I never thought this would happen,” Paula said yesterday from the clinic.
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