AIBU about transgender person taking legal action against NHS for allowing her to transition? [[title edited by MNHQ on OP's behalf]]

[HollyGoLoudly1]

A 23 year old is taking legal action against the NHS for giving her treatment to transition to male as a teenager. She has since decided to live as a female and is taking legal action against the NHS as they should have 'challenged her' more when she wanted to transition rather than giving her the treatment.

The NHS can't do right for doing wrong here. Cash strapped to the point of collapse and being sued for giving someone the treatment they asked for. I despair.

AIBU or is this absolutely ludicrous?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51676020
from MNHQ - this title and OP originally said the person concerned was suing the NHS. They are in fact just taking legal action. The OP has asked us to make this clear but you may find some of the early posts reflect the words in the original title

A 16 year old child in this country cannot legally drive a car, buy alcohol or a lottery ticket, vote, or get a tattoo. With good reason.

Yet this young woman, as a 16 year old child, was deemed by GIDS able to consent to being given damaging drugs - not licensed for the purpose they were prescribed - that have lifetime effects. All this after just three one-hour consultations.

Massive failure of duty care by the NHS, I think. And if this case prompts an immediate moratorium on this type of treatment for other children while some searching questions are asked, then I say Go Keira!

Just because someone asks for a particular treatment it doesn't mean it's the right one. The NHS should have investigated her reasons for wanting this treatment and then worked on an appropriate treatment plan, not just given her what she asked for.

This. As for suing the NHS does it come out of NHS budgets or from insurance or the government ?

Have to give you a YABU for this one.

The health system shouldn't be rushing kids (or vulnerable adults come to that) through physical transition. This legal case might be a turning point.

I was going to say exactly what 8by8 said. Lifetime altering decisions should not be made without adult capacity to decide, and only then with thorough psychological exploration and support.

I think the point is that teenagers don't necessarily understand the full implications of treatment and therefore it is unethical to allow them to take decisions at such a young age that will have life long consequences without more comprehensive support / investigation. So, for example, an 13 year olds is likely to have only a limited understanding of how important their sex life or the ability to have a family will be to them as an adult. So it is ethically problematic to allow them to take decisions about whether to start taking drugs which will have permanent and significant effects on both of these areas without proper support. The teenager in the case appears to have been given drugs after 3 one hour consultantions. Doesn't seem much to me. I think several people who work at the Tavistock and a board member have all resigned on exactly this issue, so concerns are being raised by people who work at the clinic in question too.

The NHS cant win. It's a time bomb.

If I was a minor and asked a doctor to cut off my arm and after three hours of chat they did it....then later as a grown adult, now disabled, I would sue! This is the whole point in a nutshell - nobody has the right to decide on unnecessary life-changing medical treatment for a minor.

Unfortunately the trans lobby has blinded professionals to the need for proper consent at an appropriate age and the need for children to grow up before they make adult decisions!

YABU. The NHS has been woeful in neglecting their basic duty of care under pressure from lobby groups. I hope she wins and I hope more people sue if that's what it takes to stop what amounts to child abuse.

Transitioning is a massive life changing decision with some irreversible consequences. Is this a decision a child should be making after a couple of meetings?
For some people transitioning is the right choice but it must be a properly investigated adult choice.

If I have body dysmorphia about my left arm and at 15 I ask the NHS to amputate it should they meet me a couple of times then start the process that will lead to amputation?

This is such a difficult issue, and I think that in the future it will be thought of as one of the biggest medical scandals since the inception of the NHS.

Good.

It was only a matter of time. What's been happening is a scandal and has been driven by people entirely unconcerned by the harm they may be causing to vulnerable children.

The only person she should be suing are her parents for supporting this nonsense.

That said anything that brings in restrictions for this barbaric trend can only be a good thing.

The next case will be brought by someone who is suing the NHS because they didn't allow them to transition.

This is the tip of a very huge iceberg

Maybe she should sue her parents for failure of their duty of care.

TedsFederationRep 16 year olds can buy lottery tickets, but I agree with everything else you've written.

It should not be allowed to give children the drugs/surgery to transition. The human brain is know to still be developing into the 20s, so something so life altering should not be done to young people.

What happened to “first do no harm”?

I feel the NHS could have got out of doing treatment on children very easily. I don’t think they would have been widely criticised.

The only person she should be suing are her parents for supporting this nonsense.

I agree and disagree. Parents absolutely shouldn’t be affirming however I’ve read countless stories from parents at their wits end and the child has transitioned regardless.

The Time Bob is ready to explode....

Maybe this woman's parents should be prosecuted for neglect/child abuse then? The responsability can't all fall on the shoulders of the NHS surely? I agree that allowing children to transition is wrong so where were the parents in all this? Correct me if I'm wrong (I may well be) at 15 they would've still had parental responsibility and as such, the final say?

Keira Bell is NOT suing. There are no claims for financial compensation involved

The case is asking the judiciary to examine how the child gender identity service operates and if it’s lawful for minors to consent to life altering treatment (bearing in mind there are no diagnostic tests for being trans, it’s all about what the patient says).

The individual concerned was allowed to transition as a child.

This is about the NHS choosing to abandon its protocols of 'watchful waiting' in favour of using drugs not licensed for this purpose, to permanently change children's bodies.

This is also about the fact that a child cannot be expected to provide informed consent to a process that involves life changing treatment, and often surgery, which will permanently affect them and in many cases be irreversible and require lifelong medical care.

YABU. This legal challenge is essential so that an honest and open review of current procedures is laid open to scrutiny.

It's good thing and will hopefully stop the NHS from transitioning children.

YABU. She says herself that what she wanted wasn’t necessarily what she needed. The NHS failed her and legal action can force them into reviewing how they approach these situations. Of course they should have challenged her. The NHS has been panicked into their current processes and they’re not robust or evidence based.

at 15 they would've still had parental responsibility and as such, the final say?

No. The entire case is about whether older teens can consent to this, as they do for things such as the contraceptive pill, under a thing known as ‘Gillick competency’.

The gender service say they are comparable, Keira thinks it isn’t. The judge will decide.