I've heard of people who got sick of the extensive requirements to undergo surgery in North America and opted to go directly overseas to get assignment. Is this worth mentioning?
Hide / Show Replies
It does happen, yes; the most popular destination is Thailand, where reputable doctors will perform the correct surgical procedures without needing "real life test" evidence etc.
As far as mentioning it in the trope... I'd say it doesn't really fit, as this trope is about fictional depictions of badly researched gender reassignment operations or related transsexual experiences. Travelling to Thailand or elsewhere does happen and can indeed be faster than going through official channels in Western countries, but that doesn't make it any easier.
The major Thai surgeons still require RLE and HRT (usually a year of both). People who go out of country do it because they prefer the surgical technique used there (it's newer) or for price reasons (US healthcare is expensive, and insurance doesn't cover SRS).
There may be countries from which people go to Thailand to avoid jumping through the local hoops, but the US is no longer one of them.
This doesn't fit the trope. The Voyager doctor is a flipping hologram (with AI) -his appearance is a matter of computer code.
Edited by Candi Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving. -Terry Pratchett