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[[File:MCvsAaronson.jpg|thumb|M.C.]]'''{{Construction SiteFULLPAGENAME}}''' is a groundbreaking lawsuit against the [https://dss.sc.gov South Carolina Department of Social Services], [https://www.ghs.org/ Greenville Hospital System], {{UNI|Medical University of South Carolina|MUSC}} and individual employees, including Dr. [[Ian Aaronson]], over a sexual reassignment/normalization surgery performed on a baby born with [[Intersex traits]], while the baby was in the custody of the state.<ref name="white2014">{{REFjournal |last=White |first=Ryan L. |init=RL |author-link= |title=Preferred Private Parts: Importing Intersex Autonomy for ''M.C. v. Aaronson'' |journal=Fordham International Law Journal |date=2014 |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=777-821 |url=https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2334&context=ilj |accessdate=2020-07-10}}</ref>

{| class="infobox vcard" style="175px; font-size:90%" border="0" cellspacing="4" align="right" |- | align="right" | [[Image:MCvsAaronson.jpg|175px]]|- style="background: #DCDCDC"| align="center" | MC|} M.C. vs Aaronson is a groundbreaking lawsuit against the South Carolina Department of Social Services, Greenville Hospital System, Medical University of South Carolina and individual employees, including Dr. [[Ian Aaronson]], over a sexual reassignment/normalization surgery performed on a baby born with [[Intersex traits]], while the baby was in the custody of the state. It is the first lawsuit of its kind filed on behalf an [[intersex ]] child who was given sex assignment surgery while too young to give [[informed consent]].<ref name="bennett-smith2013">{{REFnews |title=Mark And Pam Crawford, parents of intersex child, sue South Carolina for sex assignment surgery |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mark-pam-crawford-intersex-child_n_3280353 |last=Bennett-Smith |first=Meredith |coauthors= |publisher=Huffington Post |website=www.huffpost. (huffington)com |date=2013-05-15 |accessdate=2020-07-10 |quote=}}</ref>

M.C. was born a premature twin at [https://www.ghs.org/ Greenville Memorial Hospital ] in November 2004. The biological parents would not take them home. One baby died. M.C. was abandoned in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.<ref name="wyff2014">{{REFweb |url=https://www.wyff4.com/article/dss-loses-motion-to-delay-case-of-intersex-child/7008304 |title=DSS loses motion to delay case of intersex child |last= |first= |date=2014-04-10 |accessdate=2020-07-10}}</ref>

Court records indicate that at birth, M.C. was identified as a male. During a reflux surgery, "female organs were discovered" (In current nomenclature, this is referred to as [[Ambiguous genitalia]]). Doctors at the Greenville Hospital System concluded the baby was a "true hermaphrodite." (The word 'hermaphrodite' is no longer used to describe intersex or [[DSD ]] conditions because it's biologically inexact and also offensive). M.C. was born with a relatively rare intersex disorder called ovotesticular DSD, which doctors say makes it particularly difficult to predict gender.

They referred the case to the {{UNI|Medical University of South Carolina |MUSC}} where ultimately, sex re-assignment surgery was performed in April 2006 on the then 1-year-old.

Mark and Pam Crawford adopted M.C. a few months later.<ref name="sausser2015">{{REFnews |title=Lawyers prepare for medical malpractice trial in rare ‘intersex’ lawsuit |url=https://www.postandcourier.com/archives/lawyers-prepare-for-medical-malpractice-trial-in-rare-intersex-lawsuit/article_8100bb96-7d0e-57e9-a76a-e1bd14763e3b.html |last=Sausser |first=Lauren |coauthors= |publisher=The Post and Courier |website=www.postandcourier.com |date=2015-05-24 |accessdate=2020-07-10 |quote=}}</ref>

M.C.'s biological mother consented to the surgery and a South Carolina family court judge signed an order relative to the surgery following a hearing on April 12, 2006.<ref name="splc2013">{{REFweb |url=https://www.splcenter.org/seeking-justice/case-docket/mc-v-aaronson |archived= |title=M.C. v. Aaronson |trans-title= |language=English |last= |first= |author-link= |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |website=www.splcenter.org |date=2013-05-14 |accessdate=2020-07-10 |format= |quote=}}</ref> On April 18, 2006, when M.C. was 16 months old, Dr. [[Ian Aaronson]] operated on him at the {{UNI|Medical University of South Carolina |MUSC}} (MUSC). He reduced M.C.’s [[penis ]] to look more like a [[clitoris ]] ([[Clitoroplasty]]), cut up his scrotum to form labia, and removed his internal testicle tissue ([[Orchiectomy]]). Two other specialists also treated M.C.: Dr. Yaw Appiagyei-Dankah, who worked at MUSC, and Dr. James Amrhein from Greenville Hospital.

According to court documents, the decision to assign M.C. as female never went before a judge. No guardian was appointed. And it does not appear the doctors requested an ethical consultation.<ref name="wyff2014" />

Bioethicist Carmela Epright said, "I suspect strongly the reason this didn't go before a judge is because no one thought this was a hard question. They thought they had the answer. He wasn't sick in any way. What he was, was a problem from an adoption standpoint."<ref name="wyff2014" />

 From early age M.C. (then named S) showed signs of identifying as a boy. The Crawfords told ''The Atlantic'': "S didn’t want braided hair; S wanted a haircut “like dad’s.” At Halloween, S wanted to be a superhero, but not Wonder Woman. S wanted to use the men’s bathroom and liked to be referred to as a boy. S already tended to be perceived as a boy by strangers, after requesting a buzz cut about a month before the family’s vacation."<ref name="atlantic2014">{{REFnews |title=Should We 'Fix' Intersex Children? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/should-we-fix-intersex-children/373536/ |last=Greenfield |first=Charlotte |coauthors= |publisher=The Atlantic |website=www.theatlantic.com |date=2014-07-08 |accessdate=2020-07-10 |quote=}}</ref>

The Crawfords filed federal and state lawsuits in 2013 against MUSC, Greenville Health System and DSS. <ref name="wyff2014" />

M.C.’s lawsuit–supported by the [https://www.splcenter.org Southern Poverty Law Center], among others–brought § 1983 claims against all defendants, alleging that they violated substantive and procedural due process rights guaranteed to M.C. by the 14th Amendment. It also charged that that the doctors committed medical malpractice by failing to obtain adequate [[informed consent ]] before proceeding. The District Court for the District of South Carolina denied the defendants’ motions to dismiss and rejected their defense of qualified immunity.

On January 26, 2015, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed and remanded with instructions to dismiss the complaint. The Fourth Circuit stated that it did not “mean to diminish the severe harm that M.C. claims to have suffered” but that a reasonable official in 2006 did not have fair warning from then-existing precedent that performing sex assignment surgery on sixteen-month-old M.C. violated a clearly established constitutional right. <ref name="largent2015">{{REFweb |url=https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2015/03/05/m-c-v-aaronson-update/ |archived= |title=M.C. v. Aaronson – Update |trans-title= |language=English |last=Largent |first=Emily |author-link= |publisher=Bill of Health |website=blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu |date=2015-03-05 |accessdate=2020-07-10 |format= |quote=}}</ref> According to ''Post Courier'', "Defense lawyers successfully argued that doctors weren’t aware when they operated that they may have violated M.C.’s civil rights. "

In April of 2014, Dr. William F. Schmidt, medical director of the GHS Children's Hospital, sent WYFF a statement saying, "A thorough review of the medical files will show that treatment this child received while under our care was consistent with the highest standards of medical practice and medical ethics."<ref name="wyff2014"/>

* [[Ambiguous genitaliaThe Crawfords Speak About Groundbreaking Intersex Case]]* [[Genital normalization surgeries]] {{LINKS}}* http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/billofhealth/2015/03/05/m-c-v-aaronson-update/* http://aiclegal.org/m-c-v-aaronson-one-year-out/* http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/07/should-we-fix-intersex-children/373536/* http://www.advocate.com/society/youth/2013/05/14/lawsuit-filed-over-unnecessary-surgery-intersex-baby* http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20150525/PC16/150529773/lawyers-prepare-for-medical-malpractice-trial-in-rare-x2018-intersex-x2019-lawsuit* http://www.wyff4.com/news/dss-loses-motion-to-delay-case-of-intersex-child/25401094* http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/15/mark-pam-crawford-intersex-child_n_3280353.html* https://www.splcenter.org/seeking-justice/case-docket/mc-v-aaronson* http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj/vol37/iss3/2/