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Stanley Biber

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Dr.
Stanley H. Biber
M.D.
Born(1923-05-04)May 4, 1923
Des Moines, Iowa, US
DiedJanuary 16, 2006(2006-01-16) (aged 82)
Pueblo, Colorado, US
NationalityAmerican
EducationUniversity of Iowa (1948)
OccupationPhysician
Years active1948–2006
Known forSex reassignment surgery
Medical career
ProfessionSurgeon
InstitutionsMt. San Rafael Hospital

Stanley H. Biber (May 4, 1923 – January 16, 2006) was an American physician who was a pioneer in sex reassignment surgery, performing thousands of procedures during his long career.[1]

Early life

Biber was born to a Jewish family in Des Moines, Iowa as the older of two children and the only son of a father who owned a furniture store and a mother interested in social causes.[2][3]

After giving up plans to become a pianist and rabbi, Biber served as a civilian employee with the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, stationed in Alaska and the Northwest Territory. After the war, he returned to Iowa and enrolled in school, with plans to become a psychiatrist.

Later in life Biber said that he didn't see himself as a religious man.[4]

Career in medicine

Biber graduated from the University of Iowa medical school in 1948.[5] He began performing surgery while in residency at a hospital in the Panama Canal Zone. Biber then joined the Army, where he was the chief surgeon of a mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War.[6] He finished his service at what is now Fort Carson, Colorado, and in 1954 took a job at a United Mine Workers clinic in Trinidad, Colorado.[7] He delivered babies, set broken bones, and was considered an excellent surgeon by the town.[6]

Biber performed his first sex reassignment surgery in 1969[8] after a trans woman asked him if he would be willing and able to do so.[3] At first, he did not know how, but he learned by studying diagrams from Johns Hopkins Hospital.[6] He kept his first few surgeries secret from the Catholic nuns who operated the hospital, due to concerns that they would react negatively. Trinidad became known as the "Sex Change Capital of the World" because of his renown.[9][3] Biber's practice became the first private-practice transgender surgery center in the United States.[8] During his career, Dr. Biber performed more than 2,300 male-to-female genital reassignment surgeries and 1,000 female-to-male surgeries.[8]

In those early years, Dr. Biber's practice was controversial in Trinidad because it brought in a lot of people seeking surgery from outside of the community to the city. So Biber, who was respected within the town as an Ob/Gyn, gathered together citizens, clergy, and town officials to explain that the people he served needed help. After this the attitude towards this aspect of Trinidad became generally accepting.[8][10] He also made the point that the visitors brought in business to the local economy by staying in local hotels and eating at local restaurants with their families while they received and recovered from surgery.[3] As another more pragmatic point he said that the profits brought in from his expensive surgeries were a key element in making Mt. San Rafael Hospital profitable.[3]

Dr. Biber began performing vaginal construction surgeries when they were fairly rudimentary and refined the procedures around a half dozen times to achieve a more natural and realistic look.[10]

When Dr. Biber began his practice on gender confirming surgeries, they were so rare in number in the United States that none of it was covered by any medical insurance and there were no widely used restrictions or guidelines on who qualified for a procedure.[4] Biber made up his own criteria, trying to avoid performing an operation on someone who might later regret it. He identified schizophrenics and "effeminate homosexuals" and populations who may mistake themselves for transgender whom he wished to not operate on. Some of Dr. Biber's practices in restriction became codified with insurance companies or more common place among practices as the number of doctors performing the surgeries increased and insurance companies began to cover some operations. Those practices included psychological evaluations, a certain period of time spent with a psychiatrist, at least a year spent presenting in feminine dress, and at least a year spent taking feminizing hormones.[4] If Dr. Biber was unsure whether to approve a patient for surgery he would sometimes recommend a more reversible procedure such as breast implants and invite the patient to return if they still wanted the genital reconstruction after having done that.[4]

Biber also trained dozens of other surgeons in sex reassignment surgery techniques and maintained a regular surgical practice of delivering babies, removing tonsils, and replacing knee and hip joints.[11] In 1985 Biber reported that transexual surgeries accounted for about 20% of his total work.[4] Dr. Marci Bowers, another Ob/Gyn by practice and transwoman herself, was trained by Biber and began to study under him in order to take over his practice so he could retire in 1998.[8]

Retirement and late life

Biber retired in 2003, at age 80, because his malpractice insurance premiums had risen to levels which he could not afford.[12][13] Dr. Bowers finally took over his practice after five years of studying under him. Biber was hospitalized in January 2006 with complications from pneumonia, to which he succumbed on January 16.[14] Bowers said, shortly afterwards, that she never expected to "fill his shoes".

Personal life

Biber was divorced several times. He raised nine children with the same wife on a ranch outside Trinidad.[3] He was survived by his wife of 11 months, Mary Lee Biber. He was survived by seven children, seven stepchildren and twenty-two grandchildren, including singer Snatam Kaur by his daughter Prabhu Nam Kaur Khalsa, also a new age singer.[15][16][17]

On March 9, 2005, the television show South Park first aired the episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina". In the opening scene, school-teacher Mr. Garrison believes that he is a woman on the inside, and decides to undergo a gender confirmation surgery, which is performed by a "Dr Biber" of the Trinidad Medical Center.

The documentary film Trinidad (2008) is about the town of Trinidad and its reputation as the "sex change capital of the world". Dr. Stanley Biber is mentioned often in the film, as is his protege Marci Bowers. The documentary-style reality series Sex Change Hospital (2007) gives a glimpse of Bowers's practice after Biber's retirement.[18][19]

References

  1. ^ Fox, Margalit (21 January 2006). Stanley H. Biber, 82, Surgeon Among First to Do Sex Changes, Dies. New York Times
  2. ^ Auge, Karen. "Well-known Trinidad sex-reassignment doctor leaves; Sex-reassignment doctor moves out of Trinidad, leaving the town to forge a new legacy", The Denver Post, December 13, 2010. Accessed February 24, 2013. "Mike Gerardo, like most Trinidadians of his era, was ushered into life by Bowers' predecessor, Dr. Stanley Biber. Doc Biber, as he's known, wasn't from Trinidad. He was Jewish in a town that, back then, was overwhelmingly Catholic."
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Dr. Stanley Biber profile on Sexual Reassignment Surgery". Arizona Daily Star. 1998-11-08. p. 26. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  4. ^ a b c d e "Colorado doctor transforms lives with sex changes". Austin American-Statesman. 1985-02-07. p. 45. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  5. ^ Martin, Claire (17 January 2006). "Pioneer sex-change surgeon dies at 82". Denver Post.
  6. ^ a b c Smith, Martin J. (2019-09-12). "He made this town the world's 'sex-change capital,' but he's not honored here". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2019-09-14.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Frazier, Deborah (19 January 2006). "Sex-change pioneer a beloved friend, mentor". Rocky Mountain News. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
  8. ^ a b c d e "New book highlights Seattle's role in transgender movement". The Seattle Times. 2021-04-15. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  9. ^ Brady, Jeff (19 January 2006). Sex-Change Pioneer, Dr. Stanley Biber. All Things Considered, National Public Radio
  10. ^ a b "Profile on Dr. Stanley Biber". The Los Angeles Times. 1995-01-23. p. 49. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  11. ^ "'Sex Change' Doctor From Trinidad Dies". cbs4denver.com. CBS Broadcasting. Associated Press. 17 January 2006. Archived from the original on 2007-09-26.
  12. ^ Associated Press (3 January 2005). Colo. Sex-Change Surgeon Retires After Losing Malpractice Insurance via Insurance Journal
  13. ^ Werner, Dan (17 January 2006). Colorado's famed sex change doctor dies[permanent dead link]. KUSA-TV.
  14. ^ Garrett, Mike (18 January 2006). "Sex-change surgeon Stanley Biber dies". Pueblo Chieftain. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007.(subscription required)
  15. ^ Fox, Margalit (2006-01-21). "Stanley H. Biber, 82, Surgeon Among First to Do Sex Changes, Dies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  16. ^ Post, Claire Martin | The Denver (2006-01-17). "Pioneer sex-change surgeon dies at 82". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  17. ^ "Prabhu Nam Kaur". Omega. 2013-10-23. Retrieved 2020-03-12.
  18. ^ DiNunno, Gina (11 November 2008). "Transgender Doctor Talks Sex Change Hospital". TV Guide. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  19. ^ Roberts, Michael (14 October 2008). "Trinidad Gets Its Closeup Tonight in Sex Change Hospital". Westword. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
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