BOSTON AP – After a tormented existence as a father, a husband, a Coast Guardsman and a construction worker, a 57-year-old suburban Boston man underwent a sex-change operation. Then she wrote off the $25,000 in medical expenses on her taxes.

But the IRS disallowed the deduction – ruling the procedure was cosmetic, not a medical necessity – in a potentially precedent-setting dispute now before the U.S. Tax Court.