Activists carry an LGBT flag. (Photo credit: MONIRUL BHUIYAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Growing numbers of teenagers are being given puberty blockers after being deemed transgender. Those puberty blockers can lead to fragile bones, hip fractures, and other harms caused by early-onset osteoporosis. Teens are not being informed about this potential harm by most doctors and clinics that profit from performing transgender treatments. That is classic medical malpractice, in my view, and the view of other lawyers who also have practiced law for decades.
As Michael K. Laidlaw, MD, notes, "'treatment' with puberty blockers is leading these adolescents to a much higher risk of early osteoporosis and fractures." Normally, bone density increases a lot during adolescence -- but not for teens on puberty blockers, which prevent this essential process at a key time in life. As Will Malone, MD notes, "humans acquire more than half the bone density they will ever have during their teen years. This is the most critical time for long term bone/skeletal health."