A Chinese hospital in Guangzhou has released graphic photos of a trans teenager after she went there for emergency treatment.

Ling Xue is a 17-year-old girl who went to Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou after she tried to remove her own testes.

A few days after Ling went to the hospital it published photos of her surgery with a detailed post on its public WeChat account.

According to a report in Sixth Tone, the WeChat post was filled with outdated and sensational language.

The photos posted included; ‘a pixelated photo of a hospital staff member measuring Ling’s swollen scrotum, a photo of Ling lying on the operating table with only her face obscured, and an ultrasound of Ling’s reproductive organs’.

Sixth Tone also reported that the post contained inaccuracies about Ling and included private details about the teenager. While the hospital used a pseudonym for Ling, she said people were still able to track her down on social media.

‘My spirit is close to collapse,’ Ling said.

Too little, too late

The hospital deleted the post a few hours after it published it at the request of Ling.

Ling told Sixth Tone hospital staff believed they had done nothing wrong but admitting they did not consider how the post might impact Ling.

The story has circulated across major Chinese media outlets. It has had more than 1.28 million views on Weibo – the Chinese Twitter.

‘Originally, I just wanted the hospital to undo the influence [of the post], but that’s no longer possible,” Ling said.

‘So now I am asking for a public apology and compensation for the psychological damage.’

Ling attempted the self-surgery because she felt she had no choice. Chinese policy requires a lot of paperwork to undergo gender reassignment surgery. One of the requirements is to get consent from family members regardless of how old the person is.

Ling has taken hormone replacement therapy for the past year but is worried about the long-term impact on her health.

In China, many trans people buy hormones through the grey market rather than seeing doctors for fear of discrimination and stigma.