The Plague of Self-Diagnosis ...
... And the Gender-Affirming Care Construct
Thanks to the American Thinker for running this piece. You can visit the website at: https://www.americanthinker.com/
I have cancer.
I mean I must have cancer. I’ve got this new pain in my head that just won’t go away, and I looked on the internet and that’s a symptom of it and I talked to my friends and one said she felt so sorry for me and asked if there was anything she could do and another friend said he had a friend that had the same pain and – poof! – four months later he was dead. Of cancer.
I am transgender.
I mean I must be transgender. I’ve got these new thoughts in my head that just won’t go away, and I looked on the internet and that’s a symptom of it and I talked to my friends and one said she felt so sorry for me and asked if there was anything she could do and another friend said he had a friend that had the same thoughts and – poof! – four months later he was dead. Of suicide.
Doctor, I have cancer. I have this new pain and I talked to my friends and I looked on the internet and it can’t be anything other than cancer. You have to start me on radiation and chemotherapy right now or I’ll die.
The doctor says take a breath and slow down – let’s do some tests, find out what the pain is, and see what the issue really is. And you should know to never diagnose yourself through the internet; people always assume the worst or the most extreme when they do that. As to your friends, I think they are trying to be supportive and kind but they may not be the best source of information on this right now.
Doctor, I am transgender. I have these new thoughts and I talked to my friends and I looked on the internet and it can’t be anything other than being transgender. You have to start me on hormones and schedule me for surgery right now or I’ll die.
The doctor says – sure - when do you want to start?
In other words, if you think you have cancer your doctor will check. If you think you are transgender, too many doctors will simply take your word for it, “affirm” your almost assuredly transitory state of mind, and then go right ahead with procedures that cause permanent damage.
And while the scenarios above my be fictional, they are not at all hypothetical. In fact, they are all too real as many “detransitioners” will attest to.
Recently, lawsuits have begun to be filed by detransitioners against the doctors and clinicians and establishments that, they say, simply moved them down the conveyor belt towards transition without taking into account other factors, such as looking at the general mental health of the person, their overall well-being, and the reasons for seeking to transition in the first place.
In the first Canadian lawsuit brought - https://www.dailywire.com/news/detransitioner-files-first-lawsuit-in-canada-against-medical-providers - the claim is made that doctors, etc. allowed Michelle Zacchigna “to self-diagnose as transgender and prescribe her own treatment without providing a differential diagnosis or proposing alternative treatments…”
Further, she discovered the concept of “gender identity” online, became certain that was issue, and sought treatment for gender identity issues. A few doctors’ appointments later, Zacchinga was prescribed testosterone.
In the United States, one of the nation’s health care behemoths, Kaiser Permanente, is also being sued for having “performed, supervised, and/or advised transgender hormone therapy and surgical intervention for Chloe Cole when she was between 13-17 years old.”
According to Kaiser’s gender-related web pages, they practice “gender affirming” care as outlined by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (https://www.wpath.org/ ) guidelines. To say WPATH has become a lightning rod in the gender discussions is an understatement and criticisms of its “affirming” approach abound - https://www.manhattan-institute.org/how-to-respond-to-medical-authorities-claiming-gender-affirming-care-is-safe .
Despite the red flags, Kaiser continues to take this approach, noting on its site that “(I)t's important to us to know how you identify yourself and how we can best meet your needs - https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/health-guide/gender-affirming-care .
For exactly what is physically and chemically involved in meeting those needs, see here https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/structured-content/#/Treatment_Puberty_Blocker_Medications_and_Gender-Affirming_Care_-_Pediatric_Endocrinology.xml and here: https://mydoctor.kaiserpermanente.org/ncal/structured-content/#/Treatment_Phalloplasty_Surgical_Options_-_Plastic_Surgery.xml .
It should be noted that there is scant mention of mental health evaluations, therapy options, or even any other possible approach for the patient to take other than medicalization.
But it is specifically noted, rather encouragingly it seems, that “(Y)oung people can talk with their doctor about gender-related questions. Part of every appointment is confidential for youth age 12 and older.”
Twelve and older.
Most doctors want to do the best they can by their patients and the community; some, sadly, do not, whether it be about this issue or with other past medical tragedies -
As with the social contagion spreading transgenderism through teens -
it appears that a parallel process is happening in the medical field. Doctors are people and people like to be popular and seen as caring and at the vanguard of change and well paid and one of the cool kids and people do not like being stigmatized, censured, mocked, fired from their job, and becoming a pariah in their peer group, in this case other doctors who claim to be “experts” on the subject.
And that is a tragedy … for society, for medicine, and, most importantly, the patient.