MADISON, Wis. — Two major medical groups issued guidance this week recommending delaying gender-altering medical interventions until adulthood. The American Medical Association and the American Society of Plastic Surgeons cited insufficient evidence and low-quality research about the long-term consequences.
“In the absence of clear evidence, the AMA agrees with ASPS that surgical interventions in minors should be generally deferred to adulthood,” said the AMA, the nation’s largest organization representing doctors, in its statement.
This follows growing scrutiny nationwide over gender-altering treatments for minors, including a recent New York jury verdict awarding $2 million to an individual who was administered irreversible breast removal surgery when she was 16. Jurors found that the patient was not adequately informed of the long-term physical and psychological consequences of the surgery, highlighting broader concerns about treating children’s mental health challenges with life-altering drugs or surgeries.
“Regardless of the motivation for the reversals by these two influential groups, policymakers should listen when leading medical professionals change course and urge caution. I firmly believe that we should be setting higher standards when it comes to medical treatments for children,” Hutton said.
Hutton is the author of Senate Bill 405, which creates a civil cause of action in state statutes for a minor who was harmed by a gender-altering medical treatment that was administered to them while they were under the age of 18. The bill allows a person to bring a lawsuit against the medical providers responsible up to the age of 33.
“Children with mental health challenges should be treated with compassion and care, not drugs and scalpels,” Hutton said. “This bill is about ensuring that minors who are harmed by untested procedures can achieve justice, and that medicine is held to the highest standards when children are involved.”
Senate Bill 405 acknowledges what the AMA and ASPS belatedly did—that the long-term physical, mental and cognitive consequences of gender-altering drugs like cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers, as well as surgeries, are largely unknown and remain poorly researched.
“Clearly the medical consensus is still evolving. The full consequences of these treatments will eventually become clear, but in the meantime, patients should be able to get justice if they become a victim of that learning process in the years ahead,” Hutton said.
