Hospital Pushes Children Into Gender Transition Treatments: Documents
Seattle Children’s Hospital strongly motivates medical professionals to provide transgender medical treatments for young patients with gender identity issues, even when treatments are risky and patients question the side effects, according to documents published by the hospital.
The hospital published multiple guides to instruct medical professionals on their treatment decisions regarding “gender-affirming medical care” for youth.
The procedures that medical professionals are recommended to provide for transgender youth include puberty blockers and menstrual suppression drugs and do not list mental health screenings as a necessary step before medications are administered to patients.
Puberty blockers can cause menopausal symptoms, decreased bone density, limited growth including height, and, when followed by cross-sex hormones, limited fertility, according to the protocols (pdf).
If the patient is interested in any of these treatments, but the parents are unsure, doctors can still be allowed to make puberty blockers available and refer the young patient to a gender clinic and provide advice on binding and tucking, according to the document (pdf).
“Screen for depression, anxiety, and suicidality, and refer to a mental health therapist if there are any concerns, or for continued gender exploration. Please note: Gender Clinic does not provide long-term mental health therapy,” the guide states under a section for patients who aren’t interested in transgender medical procedures.
Cross-sex procedures come with a wide range of negative side effects, but the hospital insists that their protocols are put into place to protect patients during their procedures and treatments.
“Gender-affirming care is provided in line with the evidence-based standard of care guidelines for adolescents published by the WPATH and the Endocrine Society,” a Seattle Children’s spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “For patients under age 18, gender-affirming medical care requires consent from any parent or guardian that has medical decision-making rights for that patient.”
Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, former associate dean for curriculum at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and current chair of Do No Harm, says not providing mental health care to the youngest of trans patients is causing more harm during their transition treatments.
“The most damning aspect of these documents is the repeated assertion that the gender clinic does not provide mental health services,” Goldfarb said in a statement. “The notion that these children, who are often depressed, anxious, and even autistic, are not provided with those services in a way that is closely linked with the activities of the gender clinic is appalling.”
A Seattle Children’s Hospital guide titled “Algorithm: Gender Affirming Medical Care for Youth” (pdf) listed various pathways to receiving gender-affirming treatments, such as puberty blockers, hormones, or surgery options for young patients to follow. The guide also mentions mental health treatment as an “additional resource” only for patients not interested in blockers, hormones, or surgeries.
Indiana recently became the 14th state to ban gender-affirming care for minors, joining 10 other states with similar legislation.
“Permanent gender-changing surgeries with lifelong impacts and medically prescribed preparation for such a transition should occur as an adult, not as a minor. There has been and will continue to be a debate within the medical community about the best ways to provide physical and mental health care for adolescents who are struggling with their own gender identity, and it is important that we recognize and understand those struggles are real. With all of that in mind, I have decided to sign SB 480 into law,” Gov. Eric Holcomb said in a prepared statement.
