Transsexual doctor who charges £240-an-hour investigated over sex-change treatments after complaint by woman who regretted having her breasts removed

• Dr Richard Curtis facing investigation for his treatment of sex swap patients
• Watchdog alleges he prescribed wrong drugs and ignored their restrictions
• He underwent a sex change operation in 2005

Dr Richard Curtis pictured before his sex change

Britain's first transsexual doctor is under investigation after one of his female  patients said she regretted the treatment she underwent to become a man.
The woman had her breasts removed and underwent gender-changing hormone treatment before changing her mind.
She is now one of three patients to complain about Dr Richard Curtis, a former woman, who is accused of allowing them to rush into sex-change procedures.
The doctor, who charges patients up to £240 an hour, is being investigated by the General Medical Council.
Dr Curtis, 46, became the first transsexual to be re-registered by the GMC and now runs the London Gender Clinic, a private sex-change practice.
Based in Marylebone, Central London, it is billed as a ‘one-stop shop’, and patients seeking to change gender are charged £240 for an initial consultation, lasting an hour, and £130 for half-hour follow-ups.
But Dr Curtis faces claims of breaching rules by prescribing sex-change treatments ‘inappropriately’.
The allegations include commencing hormone treatment in complex cases without referring the patient for a  second opinion, or before they had undergone counselling.
He also allegedly administered  hormone treatment at a patient’s first appointment, and referred patients for surgery before they had lived in their desired gender role for a year, as international guidelines recommend.
One patient allegedly underwent surgery within 12 months of their first appointment. He is also accused of administering hormones to patients aged under 18 without an adequate assessment.
One of the most serious complaints concerns a woman who now regrets embarking on the switc to become male. She had the double mastectomy, but never completed her ‘gender reassignment’.
Concerns about Dr Curtis led to the GMC imposing a number of conditions on his practice in November 2011.

Before: As Vanda Zadorozny before her sex-change (left) and aged seven (right)

Investigation: The General Medical Council, headquarters pictured, stepped in after a series of complaints about Dr Curtis

These included a ban on prescribing hormonal treatments for potential sex-change patients, and on referring any patients for sex-change surgery, unless those patients have undergone a recent psychological assessment.
Dr Curtis is accused of breaching some of the conditions. If the GMC decides he has a case to answer, he will be referred to a fitness-to-practise committee, which can strike a doctor from the medical register.
He was born Vanda Lorraine Zadorozny, to an English mother and a Polish miner father who came to Britain after the Second World War. As Vanda, she grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, with younger twin brothers.
She studied medicine at St Bart’s Medical College, London, and became a GP in 1995, working at surgeries in London. But feeling she was ‘a gay man trapped in a woman’s body’, she underwent two years of ‘gender-specific’ counselling before having sex-change surgery in 2005 and becoming Dr Richard Curtis.
She started with a £7,000 hysterectomy and had a double mastectomy six months later. As a man, he also took testosterone to lower his voice.
Although Dr Curtis, who lives in Richmond, South-West London, has never married, he had three serious heterosexual relationships in his past life as Vanda, which he described as ‘emotionally and physically poor’.
He is a keen sailor who won several races as a woman.
His mother Margaret died before he underwent the sex-change, but his father Mario, then 80, was supportive.
Dr Curtis said: ‘He said that after having been in a forced labour camp under the Nazis when he was 16,  nothing could really get to him.
‘He said, “Oh yes. I thought you sounded different the last time we spoke. It’s one of those things luvvie”.’
Yesterday neither Dr Curtis nor the Medical Defence Union, which is  representing him, wished to comment, citing ‘the ongoing investigation and his duty to patient confidentiality’.
There is a Facebook page supporting him entitled ‘Dr Curtis is Cool’, which says he has ‘helped many people with gender issues’.