Unregulated online clinic gave teen dangerous hormone dose
A 15-year-old child was prescribed dangerous levels of hormones by an unregulated online clinic without speaking to a doctor, a court ruling has revealed.
Now 16, the teenager, known as J, was born female but identifies as a boy and has an autism diagnosis.
J got a prescription for testosterone and puberty blockers from Singapore-registered GenderGP in late 2022. He had previously been unable to get the treatment through the NHS.
Judge Sir Andrew McFarlane said: "There must be very significant concern about the prospect of a young person such as J accessing cross-hormone treatment from any off-shore, online, unregulated private clinic."
The judgement highlights the lack of NHS gender services for children and young people in England and Wales, after the closure of the Tavistock Gender Identity and Development Service (Gids) in April. Gids, rated as "inadequate" by inspectors in 2021, was the only specialist gender clinic for children and young people in the two countries. The judgement says that, as a result: "There is no relevant NHS service available for J."
Although the prescription was from a private doctor, J was given injections of testosterone by his local NHS GP every six weeks between January and August 2023.
An expert witness in the case, Australia-based consultant paediatric endocrinologist Dr Jacqueline Hewitt, was critical of the lack of physical and psychological checks carried out by GenderGP on J. Dr Hewitt also raised concerns about the size of the doses of testosterone given to J, describing the level of the hormone in his blood during his treatment as "dangerously high".
Source: BBC News, 2 May 2024