BostonHerald.com – Dave Wedge
A beloved Somerville family doctor has dropped a bombshell on his patients by revealing he is transsexual and will begin seeing patients as a woman.
?After almost 18 years of practicing medicine in Davis Square, I am looking forward to many more years as your family physician. There will be only one major change that will occur in July – I will begin practicing medicine as a woman,? Dr. Roy Berkowitz-Shelton wrote in a letter to patients.
Berkowitz-Shelton, the married father of two, said in the letter that he will return from a hiatus ?to live my life as I believe it was meant to be lived? and will change his name to Deborah Bershel.
Patient Amy Branger and her husband have been taking their 3 -year-old daughter to Berkowitz-Shelton since the baby?s birth and says they have no plans to change doctors, despite the shocking revelation.
?Of course I was surprised,? Branger said. ?But I?m totally supportive. He has just been a wonderfully caring and compassionate doctor for all of us.?
Branger admitted their first visit after the doctor?s transformation will be ?weird,? but said, ?we?ll get over it.? Of their daughter, she said: ?I?ll just tell her that Dr. Berkowitz used to be a boy and now he?s going to be a girl. And that?s it.?
Berkowitz-Shelton declined to be interviewed. His parents said they too were shocked but are standing behind their son.