Doctors Have a Legal Duty to Protect Children in Gender Transition

A young woman in the United Kingdom (U.K.) has prevailed in her lawsuit that doctors should have protected her from her gender transition.

Ms. Keira Bell, a 23-year-old woman who began taking puberty blockers when she was 16, was injected with testosterone at 17 and had a mastectomy aged 20, before 'detransitioning.'  She brought a law suit against the U.K.’s National Health Service gender clinic, arguing that she was too young and vulnerable to understand her circumstances, and that doctors should have challenged her transition.  The Daily Mail reported that while Bell was cancelled by social media for her legal actions, the U.K. High Court found in her favor, holding that children under 16 cannot properly consent to their own gender transition.  See Ms. Bell’s post-judicial video, putting her own voice to her concerns about protecting vulnerable children.

The Court held that children must understand “long-term consequences of treatment.” The judges said in their ruling: “It is highly unlikely that a child aged 13 or under would be competent to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers.”  It added, “It is doubtful that a child aged 14 or 15 could understand and weigh the long-term risks and consequences of the administration of puberty blockers.”  Hereafter doctors must seek court approval before prescribing puberty blockers. 

 

Adults who transitioned as children and are now regretting their gender transition may seek legal recovery in the U.K. for damages to their bodies and their lives.

 

Ms. Bell claimed she was treated like a 'guinea pig' at the clinic, and said doctors failed to carry out a proper psychiatric assessment and should have challenged her more over her decision to transition to a male as a teenager. Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice this afternoon, Ms. Bell said she was 'delighted' with the High Court's ruling. “This judgment is not political, it's about protecting vulnerable children. I'm delighted to see that common sense has prevailed.” Though she is now in the process of transitioning back to a woman, she faces further legal hurdles because by law she is now a man, and may be infertile.  

 

Her lawyers had argued that children going through puberty cannot properly consent to taking puberty blockers.  They said there was 'a very high likelihood' that children who start taking hormone blockers will later begin taking cross-sex hormones, which they say cause “irreversible changes,” something described by Abigail Schrier, and discussed elsewhere on this blog. 

 

Doctors, lawyers, and judges concerned for vulnerable children understand this process of protecting children dealing with gender dysphoria is key to family restoration.

An excellent web conference on this subject was held by the Child Protection Alliance called Justice for Children.  You can view the full conference at https://justiceforchildren.info/. Digital resource guides are available at www.ChildParentRights.org under Resources.

 

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) has drafted model policies for the treatment of transgender students which do not take this recent ruling into consideration.  Those proposed policies are meant for local school divisions to establish expansive transgender policies. Public comment is requested.  To learn more about this issue, read Family Foundation blogs here and here.