The Telegraph
The Court of Appeal hears that psychiatrists fear that children will be ‘coached’ to gain access to puberty blockers
The appellate court has heard that psychiatrists are afraid that transgender children will be ‘trained’ to give practiced answers when trying to gain access to puberty blockers. Dr David Bell, a former governor at an NHS Trust for Gender Identity, expressed concern that children, friends or websites could squeeze in children if they tried to address gender dysphoria. Dr Bell, who was a psychiatrist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust from 1996 to earlier this month, received permission on Friday from two senior judges to intervene in a major case to investigate whether transgender children can legally take puberty blockers. In November, the Supreme Court ruled that children should not receive the controversial drug unless they understand its ‘long-term risks and consequences’. The NHS was forced to change its guidelines overnight, preventing children from accessing hormonal treatment without a court order. The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust have since launched an appeal against the ruling. In a pre-trial hearing on Friday, lawyers on behalf of Dr Bell told the court he wanted to intervene in the appeal as he has since retired from the NHS Trust and feels he can speak more freely. In lawsuits filed before the court, Dr Bell is described as a ‘high-profile whistleblower’ after publishing a report in August 2018 that ‘launched a serious investigation’ by ten clinicians working at the Tavistock. The report found that the Tavistock’s gender identity clinic, GUI, “is not fit for purpose” and some young patients “will continue to have the harmful effects.” Dr Bell said he was “victimized by bell-ringing” in the aftermath of the report and consequently “was unable to participate” in the initial high court dispute. Dr. However, Bell resigned from the Trust on January 15 earlier this month and ‘is no longer subject to the same restrictions’, according to the legal documents. “There is evidence that staff members may be afraid to move forward,” the documents continued. “Dr Bell, a highly regarded psychiatrist who until recently held a senior position with the appellant, is now free from his service and can describe the concerns, which he has investigated in detail.” Lady Justice King and Lord Justice Dingemans have granted his application to intervene in the appeal, which will be heard in two days in April, while other groups, including the LGBT charity Stonewall, have rejected their application. Lawyers for Dr Bell said he wanted to tell the court about concerns raised by gender identity practitioners, including that ‘children’ could be ‘coached’, either by parents, peers or online sources, to provide answers in response to particular questions . The practitioners were also concerned that ‘extremely complex factors’ – including historical child abuse and family decay – could influence children’s attitudes towards gender, which means that puberty blockers are not always the best treatment. The most important case on puberty blockers was first launched against the Trust by Keira Bell, a 23-year-old woman who started taking puberty blockers before deciding to reverse the process of gender reassignment. Ms Bell said the clinic should have challenged her more about her decision to move to a man when she was 16. It was also brought by a woman who can be legally identified as ‘Mrs A’, the mother of a 15-year-old autistic girl who is currently on the waiting list for treatment. At the initial trial in the High Court in October, their advocates said that children going through puberty could not fully understand the nature and effects of hormone blockers. They argued that there was a “very high probability” that children who started taking hormone blockers would later start taking cross-sex hormones, which they said were causing “irreversible changes”, and that the NHS Trust was offering “fairy tales” to children because they unable to give their consent to the gender reassignment process.