Missouri hospitals halt trans care

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They really are the lowest of the low….
 
There needs to be some clarification here. The title of this thread and the gop position of the 2 candidates listed above is in regards to minors.
 
I understand this forum in particular is going to lean heavily to the left side of the political aisle. But without going into a political debate, again, a distinction needs to be made in that the position of the hospital referenced in the title as well as the gop candidates is in regards to minors, not ALL transgender care. We do have a precedent of minors not being able to consent for many many instances, procedures etc. Once they’re adults, they are free to do whatever they wish. We don’t have the studies to suggest any long term results of these procedures being performed on minors has positive outcomes. We do know that the specific community we are discussing has typically much higher utilization of mental health services, even after gender affirming care is rendered in adulthood, compared to the general population though some small number studies suggest improvement in certain areas (one Swedish study that was over a 10 year period and had thousands of participants actually showed worsening of mental health over that period of time after transition). We don’t know what the impact will be on minors long term mental health and could possibly be damaging based on the limited studies we have now. I’m not saying it will but that is certainly a risk many are willing to take. A risk though that many feel minors specifically don’t have the capacity to consent to.
 
I understand this forum in particular is going to lean heavily to the left side of the political aisle. But without going into a political debate, again, a distinction needs to be made in that the position of the hospital referenced in the title as well as the gop candidates is in regards to minors, not ALL transgender care. We do have a precedent of minors not being able to consent for many many instances, procedures etc. Once they’re adults, they are free to do whatever they wish. We don’t have the studies to suggest any long term results of these procedures being performed on minors has positive outcomes. We do know that the specific community we are discussing has typically much higher utilization of mental health services, even after gender affirming care is rendered in adulthood, compared to the general population though some small number studies suggest improvement in certain areas (one Swedish study that was over a 10 year period and had thousands of participants actually showed worsening of mental health over that period of time after transition). We don’t know what the impact will be on minors long term mental health and could possibly be damaging based on the limited studies we have now. I’m not saying it will but that is certainly a risk many are willing to take. A risk though that many feel minors specifically don’t have the capacity to consent to.

There's a difference between gender surgery and putting someone on a puberty blocker or hormonal therapy.

I don't disagree with the importance of psychological therapy and intervention. I just think that doing hormone based therapy isn't permanent and is largely reversible.
 
There's a difference between gender surgery and putting someone on a puberty blocker or hormonal therapy.

I don't disagree with the importance of psychological therapy and intervention. I just think that doing hormone based therapy isn't permanent and is largely reversible.
My concern is that, regarding hormone therapy, we have limited studies on this but there is a growing body of evidence that suggest there actually are long term effects such as low bone density leading to higher risk of osteoporosis, lower than expected height/growth, reproductive issues such as sterility. Some short term studies up to a year have shown some improvement in mental health but the biggest long term study (over a 10 year period) that had thousands of participants in the study, ultimately did not show improvement in mental health with certain gender affirming treatments. I don't support the notion that minors have the capacity to understand the risks associated with the treatment and the risk is certainly there that we may be doing more harm than good to these individuals.
 
My concern is that, regarding hormone therapy, we have limited studies on this but there is a growing body of evidence that suggest there actually are long term effects such as low bone density leading to higher risk of osteoporosis, lower than expected height/growth, reproductive issues such as sterility. Some short term studies up to a year have shown some improvement in mental health but the biggest long term study (over a 10 year period) that had thousands of participants in the study, ultimately did not show improvement in mental health with certain gender affirming treatments. I don't support the notion that minors have the capacity to understand the risks associated with the treatment and the risk is certainly there that we may be doing more harm than good to these individuals.

I'm not going to deny that it's not clear. Also I'm not going to deny that there's a lot of people who I honestly think shouldn't get hormone therapy. I also agree there's not great data in pediatrics.

That being said, in pediatric patients we are more often than not buying time and dealing with tough mental situations.

There's not limited studies on that. We literally know and expect it. It's why we do a lot of work on trans patients and why endocrinologists and experts in trans medicine see patients as opposed to PCPs.

Also lets be honest, as far as the studies go it's the need for us to gate keep better, but also to acknowledge that transitioning isn't the end of a hard journey. The world is terribly cruel to these kids.