We have, in recent months, started to see a growing backlash against the lunatic notion of "transgendering" kids - of performing hormone treatments and even surgeries against minors, kids who cannot and never have been recognized as able to give fully informed consent. Yes, they have to have the consent of parents, but there's a shady level there, where in some circles having a "transgender" kid is a bizarre status symbol; and even with parental consent, this blatant violation of primum non nocere is beyond the pale.
Now, some of these "transgender" kids are recovering their identities - and are starting to call out the activist healthcare providers who pushed them into irreversible, life-altering treatments with very little in the way of counsel or preparation.
Claire Abernathy is one of these young people. She has gone public with her detransition, and she's calling out the surgeon who performed a double mastectomy on her when she was 15 - removing healthy tissue, in a clear violation of that primary medical ethical principle: First, do no harm.
A detransitioner who underwent a double mastectomy as a teenager is publicly confronting the surgeon who performed the procedure, accusing him in an open letter of removing her healthy breasts without adequately addressing the underlying causes of her distress.
Claire Abernathy's Thursday letter to plastic surgeon Dr. Alan Dulin details her regret over the surgery and describes the physical and emotional toll she continues to experience years later.
"You took advantage of a little girl’s confusion and a family’s trust to perform an unnecessary, disfiguring surgery on a child who was barely through puberty," Abernathy wrote. "You committed an act of violence that I have to wear on my skin for the rest of my life."
Key point here: Claire points out that she will wear this "on my skin for the rest of my life." She will indeed; these treatments on kids are life-altering and in this case, disfiguring, and they can never be taken back. That healthy tissue can never be replaced. Some plastic surgery may return a semblance of appearance, but it's only a semblance, and the function is forever gone.
Claire's story continues:
In a recent op-ed for Fox News, Abernathy wrote that she was put on testosterone at 14 years old and that eight months later, surgeons performed a double mastectomy on her.
"I am no longer that silent, vulnerable fourteen-year-old. I am a woman living in the wreckage of your carelessness, and I will spend the rest of my life ensuring that people know exactly what kind of ‘medicine’ you practiced,’" Abernathy said.
Take note of two things here: First, this wasn't just a surgical intervention. The abuse of medical ethics began when Claire was only 14, in the administration of hormonal treatments, again a permanent, life-altering treatment. This kind of treatment can make physical changes in a child at this age: Voice changes, changes to the sex organs; these treatments can be effectively sterilizing. Claire's ability to ever have children may have been altered by this treatment. Her ability to breast-feed any children she may have is gone, thanks to the surgery, which, again, was carried out when Claire was 15.
Read More: Therapists Pay Up Big Time in Detransitioner Double Mastectomy Lawsuit
Claire is forever changed, her body forever altered, in service to an activist healthcare provider serving a social contagion.
Some detransitioners are taking legal action - and succeeding.
A woman who had her breasts removed after identifying as “nonbinary” has reached a confidential settlement after suing her mental health providers, reportedly for $3.5 million.
Camille Kiefel, 36, filed a malpractice lawsuit against two Oregon therapists whom she alleges inappropriately approved her for the surgery after brief telemedicine sessions, despite her history of mental health diagnoses that included trauma, depression, suicidal ideation and ADHD.
Kiefel underwent a double mastectomy in August 2020, based on two referral letters for surgery from Amy Ruff, a licensed clinical social worker, and Mara Burmeister, a licensed professional counselor.
The complaint, filed in 2022, also names their respective employers, Brave Space, and the Quest Center for Integrative Health.
Here's the real shocker about Camille Kiefel's case:
The complaint alleged Kiefel was approved for surgery after two Zoom sessions, each lasting approximately an hour or less.
Two Zoom sessions. Two hours of counsel, and it's a safe bet that it involved not therapy, but persuasion - advocacy.
Here's the deal: Camille was, at least, an adult, capable of giving informed consent. Adults, we generally presume, are capable of making informed decisions, and if these decisions end up being bad, they also have recourse; lawsuits, as Camille Kiefel successfully pursued. But children cannot give fully informed consent. A 14-year-old lacks the judgement, the consideration, the perspective to suddenly decide on a life-altering series of chemical treatments and surgeries.
These healthcare providers are taking advantage of vulnerable kids and their gullible parents, and are administering life-altering treatments. Claire's case is the rule, not the exception, in these cases. It's time Congress acted. This isn't healthcare. It's fraud, a violation of medical ethics, and a violation of the safety and well-being of vulnerable kids.
