Malpractice against children

A landmark study on the effects of gender identity services for children revealed compelling evidence of negligent, substandard care in the industry. The Cass Review, a 388-page report commissioned by Britain’s National Health Service, argues against the use of hormone blockers, among other treatments for “dysphoric” minors, and paints a devastating picture of widespread medical malpractice and academic fraud. 

The report finds unclear evidence for the rationale of puberty blockers and no proof that puberty suppression creates better outcomes for transgender youth. Due to a lack of long-term follow-up, the study says, no one knows how hormone blockers ultimately affect a child’s “cognitive and psychosexual development.” 

The bombshells here deserve universal front-page news and official responses from every related medical establishment. Of course, that’s not happening, because they deviate from the narrative of transgender advocacy at all costs. Even the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) has not informed its members of the study, the decade’s most groundbreaking publication in gender medicine. 

Since 2009, gender transitions among minors have skyrocketed. Before then, only a small number of children were referred to pediatric gender clinics and most of them were young boys. Every year since, the numbers have increased dramatically, with adolescent girls showing the sharpest incline. In 2014, things really took a turn when the numbers doubled from one year to the next. Things continued similarly the following year. 

As tribes of teens began to identify as transgender, few stopped to ask the question: Why is this happening? Instead, doctors began prescribing hormone blockers. Those who questioned a child’s stated gender identity were shunned. 

“Kids know who they are,” people said in defense of early transition. 

It’s nearly impossible to stop teens from transitioning medically if they want to. In the United States, an individual paying out of pocket can medically transition without even getting a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, according to the advocacy group, Do No Harm. 

The World Professional Association for Transgender Health recommends transition surgeries from the age of 15, but “gender-affirming” mastectomies are being performed at even younger ages. In just one example, Kaiser Permanente Oakland Hospital performed 70 “top” surgeries on teens ages 13-18 in 2019, a 1,300 percent increase from the five they did in 2013. 

Regulations for hormone blockers and surgeries are nearly nonexistent, with blockers being prescribed to children as young as eight. At trusted hospitals like Cedars Sinai, they’re still touting that blockers are “safe” and “reversible.” 

It’s medical heresy to “pause” one’s natural growth process for a non-medical reason, considering places like the Mayo Clinic report that long-term issues could include effects on bone growth, growth spurts, bone density, and fertility. 

Adolescents, amid the most confusing and emotional time of their lives, have been convinced that the source of their discomfort might be gender. “Maybe you were born in the wrong body,” write anonymous Reddit posters. “I feel so much happier now,” gloat rising transgender YouTube stars. 

Accordingly, this social contagion began with the rise of social media. It wouldn't have escalated so dramatically if the medical and media establishments hadn't defended it so fervently. Like anorexia in the 1980s and ’90s, the ideas are contagious and infect an entire population. 

Trusted institutions like the American Academy of Pediatrics denied research revealing a “social contagion.” Scientific American published a piece asserting that the “social contagion” narrative was just being used to push “anti-trans legislation.” Mainstream media outlets quick to repeat these talking points are hesitant to do the same with the Cass Review.

A brief and recent history of pediatric gender issues counter these arguments against social contagion.  When London’s Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) was launched in 1989, the patient count was low, and the main focus of the early services was therapeutic. In 2011, GIDS still had only 210 referrals, but by 2020, that number exploded to more than 5,000. 

Fifteen-year-olds now hold the weight of their lifetimes, including fertility, sex drives, and mental health, in their own hands. As a parent of young children, I learned that kids act like they want to control things but are desperate for adult guidance and protection. Like toddlers craving candy, pre-teens and teens may also react negatively when denied something they desire that isn't beneficial for them. 

As parents and medical professionals, we must guide them toward the best thing for their ultimate well-being. Thousands of children have been failed by those who were supposed to protect them. Most of us didn’t need an in-depth study to prove it, but now we have one. The medical establishment ignores it at their peril. They’re all out of excuses.