The administration of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has petitioned the state board of medicine to ban transgender treatment for kids in a letter sent by the State Surgeon General, Joseph A. Ladapo.
In the letter Ladapo says that transgender ‘treatment’ on kids could cause irreversible harm,
“As State Surgeon General, I recommended against certain pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical, and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria. The recommendations are based on a lack of conclusive evidence and the high risk for long-term, irreversible harms from these treatments.”
Ladapo goes on to say that the push to incorporate transgender treatment for kids is purely political saying,
“The current standards set by numerous professional organizations appear to follow a preferred political ideology instead of the highest level of generally accepted medical science. Florida must do more to protect children from politics-based medicine. Otherwise, children and adolescents in our state will continue to face a substantial risk of long-term harm.”
The letter from the Surgeon General was sent the same day another state agency wrote a report on the reasons that transgender treatment for people of any age should not be covered by Medicaid – this includes puberty blockers, hormone therapies or sex-change surgery. That report was 46 pages long.
Read the full letter below,
Members of the Board,
On April 20, 2022, the Florida Department of Health (Department) released guidance on the treatment of gender dysphoria for children and adolescents.
As State Surgeon General, I recommended against certain pharmaceutical, non-pharmaceutical, and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria.
The recommendations are based on a lack of conclusive evidence and the high risk for long-term, irreversible harms from these treatments. Since then, the Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) has conducted a full review to determine if these treatments are “consistent with generally accepted professional medical standards (GAPMS) and not experimental or investigational.”
The Agency’s review included an overview of systematic reviews on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, surgeries, or a combination of interventions. While some professional organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Endocrine Society, recommend these treatments for “gender affirming” care, the scientific evidence supporting these complex medical interventions is extraordinarily weak.
For instance, the overview conducted by Dr. Brignardello-Peterson and Dr. Wiercioch states that “there is great uncertainty about the effects of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries in young people with gender dysphoria.”
The current standards set by numerous professional organizations appear to follow a preferred political ideology instead of the highest level of generally accepted medical science. Florida must do more to protect children from politics-based medicine.
Otherwise, children and adolescents in our state will continue to face a substantial risk of long-term harm. The Agency ultimately concluded that “Available medical literature provides insufficient evidence that sex reassignment through medical interventions is a safe and effective treatment for gender dysphoria.”
I encourage the Board to review the Agency’s findings and the Department’s guidance to establish a standard of care for these complex and irreversible procedures.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD
State Surgeon General
