Children’s hospital offers consultations on transgender treatments to kids younger than 10

(Daily Caller) – Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, affiliated with Oregon Health & Science University, offers consultations on transgender treatments to children younger than 10, the Daily Caller has learned.

Doernbecher’s Gender Clinic offers patients up to 18 years of age consultations with puberty specialists and experts on hormone therapy, as well as a “gender-affirming environment,” according to their website.

The hospital notes that it follows the recommended guidelines for transgender-identified youth from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH). WPATH, a leading advocate of child sex changes, recently pushed to remove any minimum age requirement to undergo sex change surgeries or cross-sex hormone therapy. WPATH also set standards of care for those with a “eunuch” gender identity in 2022, recommending orchiectomy, the removal of testicles, as a treatment option.

“Medical treatment usually doesn’t begin until puberty. This is commonly age 10 or 11. We are happy to meet with you and your child before that, though,” the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital’s website notes.

The hospital says it may recommend sex change surgeries for teens “before leaving for college.” The hospital also recommends puberty blockers as a way to give “adolescents time to explore their gender,” according to its website.

Puberty blockers, often touted by medical professionals and activists as a harmless way to delay puberty in gender-confused minors, have many long-term side effects. Puberty blockers can cause issues with bone development in children, potentially leading to an increased risk of fractures later in life. Cross-sex hormones can also affect a patient’s fertility, according to another handout from the hospital.

Some medical experts argue that the use of puberty blockers can make further sex change procedures more likely when gender dysphoric kids would have otherwise desisted. Despite this, the hospital claims that, “Pubertal suppression doesn’t necessarily lead to social transition or gender-affirming treatment.”

A study coming out of the Netherlands found that most teenagers who received pubertal suppressants went on to receive cross-sex hormones and sex change surgeries. The trajectory of these teenagers stands in stark contrast to other studies, that show that a majority of gender confused teenagers desist when left to continue a normal pubertal progression. A 2013 study found that the majority of children desisted later in adolescence. A 2008 study found that 88% of girls desisted after followups following feelings of gender dysphoria.

Doernbecher Children’s Hospital also offers resources on chest binding and “safe tucking,” harmful practices which can lead to long-term medical complications. Chest binding is a process where material is used to flatten a female’s breasts. Tucking is a process where a male can use tape to push back his penis to resemble a vagina. The “safe tucking” handout was first reported on by Fox News in 2022.

Experts warn that these processes can be painful and harmful.

“Chest binders can cause restricted breathing, break the skin around the edges of the binder, cause overheating and even bruise or fracture the ribs,” No Left Turn In Education Chief Communications Director Yael Levin told the Daily Caller News Foundation in September. “Tucking tape can cause chafing, urinary tract infections, problems with urine flow and twisting of the testicles. Further research is needed to determine if tucking tape might lead to hernias and to infertility in boys.”

“Some discomfort is normal, though not all people have it,” the handout on “safe tucking” notes. “Most people’s bodies get used to tucking this way. If you would like things to look a little smoother, wearing a pantyliner can help.”

The hospital’s handout on chest binding offers recommended stores to buy the binders, as well as detailed instructions on how to wear a binder.

The Oregon health and science Children’s Hospital gender clinic provides a detailed series of descriptions of the various maneuvers that children may receive at the clinic during their gender transition,” Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, chairman of the medical group Do No Harm, told the Daily Caller. “Nowhere in the descriptions for children is an opportunity for these often depressed, anxious, perhaps autistic children to receive psychological counseling or psychiatric therapy to help him deal with the incredibly complex and difficult transition that the unit continuously advocates.”