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Trans woman once tried for murder pleads for NHS help amid botched gender surgery claim

A trans woman has appealed for help amid claims her NHS gender reassignment surgery was botched.

Lisa Docherty, who was once tried for murder during her life as a gangster, says she suffered a series of infections following the operation at Glasgow's Sandyford Clinic.

The 52-year-old claims she's been written off by medics, and is now desperate to become a "complete person", the Daily Record reports.

READ MORE: Serial killer Peter Tobin's cause of death confirmed in new prison documents

Lisa claims she was left "like a child's doll" in 2007 after multiple infections ruined the gender reassignment operation she'd had five years earlier.

She was given genital surgery in 2002, but explained that none of the work that would make it easier to be accepted as a woman has been done.

She added: "Nothing was ever done about the fact that, like many male-to-female transsexuals, I have male features.

"That was the root of my gender dysphoria and that's what still makes me uncomfortable when I look in the mirror.

"I had the surgery and took the hormones to transform my body, but I still look in the mirror and see a man's face, with facial hair and body hair also a massive problem."

Lisa was charged over the murder of Francis McMillan in 1995, even though she was cleared of any involvement and a man was convicted.

She made headlines 20 years ago when she fathered a child with her female partner but continued with plans for full gender reassignment.

Later the relationship fell apart and Lisa no longer sees her daughter.

Her early life as a woman was troubled with infections, which she says were caused by the failure to give her electrolysis to remove hair follicles in her genital area before surgery.

Lisa says she was bullied at school. This hindered her academically, despite a high IQ. In recent years, she has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD.

She said: "I was beaten up throughout childhood for being different and, as an adult, was attacked weekly because of the way I looked.

"The minute I said enough was enough and fought back, always as a last resort in self-defence, I was a gangster."

Lisa Docherty had surgery in 2002 (Daily Record)

She added: "What everyone ignored was that I had saved people's lives, created jobs when I ran my own company, did unpaid work in the community but the gangster label is hard to shake even if it's not deserved."

Describing the hell of the reassignment aftermath she said: "Before my operation I was given gel and a razor and told I had to have a really close shave, there should be no hairs left at all.

"The operation involves male parts being inverted to create female parts, so the area where hair grew that had been external became internal, and the hair follicles were left intact and hair continued to grow.

"Anyone who has suffered an ingrowing hair after a bad shave knows how painful it can be, and often a pus-filled boil results. Imagine having 100,000 hairs growing through your flesh inside you, and that's what my life was like.

"I was constantly on antibiotics but the symptoms were always there, so I didn't get better and the reconstruction just broke down completely. From 2007, I've had no male or female parts.

"I've had no intimacy for 16 years and that's no way to live. I want to be able to live life like most people my age."

Lisa added: "People object to public money being used to fund 'cosmetic' surgery. I can understand that but when the NHS has already used public funds to, in my case, mutilate healthy organs and then refuse to address the failings, I take issue.

"They sent me for surgery to make me better and actually made me worse, and now refuse to do anything about it."

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC), who run Sandyford, said: "While the Sandyford service can make the diagnosis of gender dysphoria and refer patients on for surgical opinion, gender reassignment surgery is not a service offered through NHSGGC or the Sandyford.

"As such, any advice in relation to specific surgery would come from the surgical team involved and this would include pre and post-operative care plans."

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