BODY DYSMORPHIC DISORDER, RADICAL SURGERY AND THE LIMITS OF CONSENT

For most people, the idea that anyone would wish to have a perfectly healthy leg amputated must seem bizarre. Such people exist. In 2000 there was a media furore, when it was disclosed that a Scottish surgeon had operated upon two adult male patients reportedly suffering from a rare form of a psychological condition known as body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), in each case amputating a healthy leg. Since then, the question of whether such surgery is...