Don't get hysterical
August 3, 2011 10:29 AM Subscribe
Indian man has hysterectomy after doctors find uterus. The 35 year-old farmer and father of two had a full female reproductive system, which was removed from his stomach at a Chhindwara district hospital. Joan Rivers is probably not surprised.
A disproportionate number of these "medical oddity" stories seem to come from India. Is it just observation bias, or is there something I haven't accounted for?
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:39 AM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:39 AM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
Well, they do have 1.2 billion inhabitants.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:40 AM on August 3, 2011 [13 favorites]
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 10:40 AM on August 3, 2011 [13 favorites]
This is a good place to link to something that someone else linked to recently here on the blue: Kudzu and the Marriage Amendment. Discussion of the many different intersex conditions.
posted by adamrice at 10:41 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by adamrice at 10:41 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
A disproportionate number of these "medical oddity" stories seem to come from India. Is it just observation bias, or is there something I haven't accounted for?
I suspect it's part observation bias, part "there are a hell of a lot of people in India." I suspect that due to privacy laws in most Western countries that things like this go unreported.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 10:43 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
I suspect it's part observation bias, part "there are a hell of a lot of people in India." I suspect that due to privacy laws in most Western countries that things like this go unreported.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 10:43 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, poverty. People who are very poor stand something to gain from hoping to sell interview time or whatever. People who are less poor than that are more likely to think, well, I could do that, or I could keep my privacy--I think my privacy is more important.
And among the poor in the US, for example, well. India has universal healthcare. We don't.
posted by gracedissolved at 11:06 AM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
And among the poor in the US, for example, well. India has universal healthcare. We don't.
posted by gracedissolved at 11:06 AM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
Also, some of these deformities confer divine status; also, the bearers, or their parents, sometimes seek media attention in order to receive needed treatment--doctors in India wishing to do charitable work, or solve a novel problem, don't have far to look.
posted by oneironaut at 11:09 AM on August 3, 2011
posted by oneironaut at 11:09 AM on August 3, 2011
People in industrialized countries are born with medical oddities just as often as Indians, but they're usually born in nice modern hospitals where they find stuff like this upon birth, fix it, and then nobody talks about it again. I'm guessing this guy wasn't.
posted by theodolite at 11:12 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by theodolite at 11:12 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Riki Wilchins' Queer Theory, Gender Theory has this fascinating chapter about babies (in the US) born with ambiguous genitalia. I believe, at least when the book was published in 2004, surgeries to make infants and kids the "correct" sex were much more common than we'd think. Unfortunately, I don't have the book at my office, so I can't make citations.
On preview: what theodolite said.
posted by giraffe at 11:14 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
On preview: what theodolite said.
posted by giraffe at 11:14 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sounds like chimerism. This case ended up a lot better than some do. Vis the woman who posted here about it a few years back: She was assumed to be pregnant in her early teens, and the growing, fully-formed chimera in her belly nearly killed her before a sympathetic ultrasound tech performed an unauthorized scan. (can't lay my hands on the comment right just now.)
posted by lodurr at 11:17 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by lodurr at 11:17 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Just to be clear, if we're to believe the reports the man had fathered children, so this would be chimerism, not ambiguous genitalia. That's an interesting but different subject.
posted by lodurr at 11:18 AM on August 3, 2011
posted by lodurr at 11:18 AM on August 3, 2011
A disproportionate number of these "medical oddity" stories seem to come from India. Is it just observation bias, or is there something I haven't accounted for?
"Hoax" or "made-up tabloid nonsense" is always possible. The two sources in the FPP are the Telegraph and the Daily Mail, neither of which is exactly known for rigorous journalistic reporting or integrity.
posted by curious nu at 11:49 AM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
"Hoax" or "made-up tabloid nonsense" is always possible. The two sources in the FPP are the Telegraph and the Daily Mail, neither of which is exactly known for rigorous journalistic reporting or integrity.
posted by curious nu at 11:49 AM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
A disproportionate number of these "medical oddity" stories seem to come from India. Is it just observation bias, or is there something I haven't accounted for?
As mentioned above, the population of 1.2 billion has something to do with it; you could be one in a million in India and have 1200 other people with the same condition. Also, the quality of health care varies widely and things that would be treated without a lot of fanfare in other countries and among the Indians with access to state of the art health care may be handled very differently in rural areas. We have at least one patient who is a 46xx/46xy chimera treated at our hospital. Among other procedures this child has gone a lot of diagnostic procedures to determine exactly what the internal anatomy is; a case like the FPP would likely have been picked up and addressed in infancy in our institution.
posted by TedW at 11:58 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
As mentioned above, the population of 1.2 billion has something to do with it; you could be one in a million in India and have 1200 other people with the same condition. Also, the quality of health care varies widely and things that would be treated without a lot of fanfare in other countries and among the Indians with access to state of the art health care may be handled very differently in rural areas. We have at least one patient who is a 46xx/46xy chimera treated at our hospital. Among other procedures this child has gone a lot of diagnostic procedures to determine exactly what the internal anatomy is; a case like the FPP would likely have been picked up and addressed in infancy in our institution.
posted by TedW at 11:58 AM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Sadly, the best I can offer on this thread is the fact that lots of folks on Facebook will have to make an apology.
posted by FrankBlack at 12:02 PM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by FrankBlack at 12:02 PM on August 3, 2011 [4 favorites]
People in industrialized countries are born with medical oddities just as often as Indians, but they're usually born in nice modern hospitals where they find stuff like this upon birth, fix it, and then nobody talks about it again. I'm guessing this guy wasn't.
An american medical claims adjuster would probably tell him to go fuck himself.
posted by hal9k at 12:25 PM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
An american medical claims adjuster would probably tell him to go fuck himself.
posted by hal9k at 12:25 PM on August 3, 2011 [2 favorites]
An american medical claims adjuster would probably tell him to go fuck himself.
And if he'd managed to get himself pregnant, we'd really have a story-- even if his name wasn't Maari.
posted by jamjam at 12:48 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
India has universal healthcare. We don't.
India has universal healthcare? Hahaha, that was a good one. Technically, may be. But in reality, it is so far from what the term implies that it is just wrong to call it that.
posted by vidur at 12:50 PM on August 3, 2011 [3 favorites]
India has universal healthcare? Hahaha, that was a good one. Technically, may be. But in reality, it is so far from what the term implies that it is just wrong to call it that.
posted by vidur at 12:50 PM on August 3, 2011 [3 favorites]
Sadly, the best I can offer on this thread is the fact that lots of folks on Facebook will have to make an apology.
Even in the history of great WTF's, that was truly sublime, I thank you sir.
posted by uni verse at 1:10 PM on August 3, 2011
Even in the history of great WTF's, that was truly sublime, I thank you sir.
posted by uni verse at 1:10 PM on August 3, 2011
"There's a woman inside me, and only when she's finally out can I walk free of pain." --Dr Tobias Fünke.
posted by rusty at 1:25 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by rusty at 1:25 PM on August 3, 2011
You can follow the "related articles" links on the bottom of the Telegraph page straight into a vortex of unfortunate birth deformities, forever whirling around amongst the extra limbs.
Ok, maybe not forever. More like ten minutes.
posted by orme at 1:40 PM on August 3, 2011
Ok, maybe not forever. More like ten minutes.
posted by orme at 1:40 PM on August 3, 2011
I would imagine they removed the uterus from his abdomen or belly, not from his stomach. Unless he ate a set of sex organs.
posted by mikeh at 2:26 PM on August 3, 2011 [9 favorites]
posted by mikeh at 2:26 PM on August 3, 2011 [9 favorites]
This doesn't really surprise me. It's been over 20 years since my human embryology course, but I do recall that each human fetus has the potential to develop reproductive organs of both genders.
Also, chimerism is probably a lot more common than we think.
posted by neuron at 6:25 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also, chimerism is probably a lot more common than we think.
posted by neuron at 6:25 PM on August 3, 2011 [1 favorite]
First with the jokes, huh? I have a sense of wonder for the diversity of life. It didn't kill the person, so ...? Obligatory outrage at insensitivity for intersex folks. Shaking my head.
posted by MidSouthern Mouth at 9:07 PM on August 3, 2011
posted by MidSouthern Mouth at 9:07 PM on August 3, 2011
the woman who posted here about the growing, fully-formed chimera in her belly
posted by fragmede at 2:51 PM on August 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by fragmede at 2:51 PM on August 6, 2011 [2 favorites]
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