A Brighton-based transgender woman, Alice Litman, took her own life last May while she was waiting on a list of more than 11,000 people to discuss her transition. Her family claims that the delay in care was the cause of her death and has torn their family apart. Alice was 16 when she expressed her wish to live as a woman and had been referred to the NHS Gender Identity Development Service in August 2019, but was still awaiting an initial assessment at the time of her death at 20 years of age.
Ms. Litman’s family, including her mother Caroline and father Peter, is hopeful that the inquest due to take place in September will examine the accessibility to gender-affirming healthcare across the UK and is not just limited to Alice’s case. They believe that the waitlists have put her life on hold and that she just couldn’t tolerate it anymore.
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The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, to which Alice had been referred, expressed its sadness at her death but declined to comment as the inquest is ongoing.
