British Medical Association calls for the NHS to resume treating Trans Patients of All Ages

Archibald Tuttle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The British Medical Association(BMA) has passed a resolution calling on the National Health Service(NHS) to resume medically treating patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria of all ages, Erin Reed first reported.

For those who don't know the NHS stopped treating trans patients in the UK without allowing public comment when the Cass Review was made public.

Why this matters:

• The BMA the trade union that advocates for doctors in the UK is calling for a pause on the implementation of the Cass review while a evidence-based review can be completed.
• The BMA position aligns with major medical associations in the US, Canada, and Australia that subscribe to a medically affirming SOC and have identified the Cass Review as politics and not science.
• Most importantly the BMA recognizes that discontinuing medical care of patients diagnosed with gender dysphoria needlessly puts their health and welfare at risk.

The Cass review commissioned by the conservative government ignored "poor quality" studies that weren't "double-blind" according to the Cambridge Student because there were none.

A double-blind study requires a baseline, meaning some of the patients would be unknowingly administered a placebo and others given hormone blockers. The patients receiving a placebo diagnosed with gender dysphoria would continue to suffer and as studies have shown would be more likely to have suicidal ideation. 

The Cass review didn't recommend conducting a double-blind study. Instead, the Cass review recommended a "holistic" approach which in effect further pathologizes youth and at best offers conversion therapy to those diagnosed with gender dysphoria.

Studies show that youth who receive gender-affirming medications, like puberty blockers and hormones, have a lower risk of depression and suicidal thoughts. One Stanford University study found that transgender people who received hormones as teenagers had better mental health outcomes than those who received them as adults. Another study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that transgender youth who started gender-affirming hormones reported higher life satisfaction and lower depression and anxiety after two years.

A study conducted at Western Australian Pediatric Gender Clinic of 552 youth treated for gender dysphoria indicates that only 5% reidentifed to the sex of birth.