Hermaphrodite: Alan Finch

In an Australian-first, a sex change patient who reverted to living as a man is suing the medical team who performed his gender reassignment surgery.

Melbourne man Alan Finch is suing the Southern Health hospital network and surgeons at the city's Monash Medical Centre's gender identity clinic for unspecified damages.

Mr Finch alleges the hospital was negligent because it mistakenly diagnosed him as a primary transsexual before his gender reassignment in 1988.

But the case still has a hurdle to overcome - a six-year time limit on negligence cases.

Mr Finch said he was suffering a now-resolved psychological problem and was misdiagnosed as a candidate for sex-change surgery in the 1980s.

He reverted to living as a man in 1997, but said he was offered no counselling or assistance from the clinic.

"There are moments when I could really sink or swim, and moments where it seems all too hard," Mr Finch said.

"I suppose you could say there are times I feel suicidal, but at the moment those moments are getting further apart."

Mr Finch, who now runs a support service, Gender Menders, wants to hear from others in the same situation.

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